Exhibition “Margiana: The Kingdom of the Bronze Age on the territory of Turkmenistan” is opened in New Museum, which is located on the famous Museum Island in the centre of German Capital. The exhibits from museum collections presented at the exhibition were presented for the first time abroad. It became possible due to the support of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and adoption of the Law on Protection, Import and Export of Movable Values of National Historical and Cultural Heritage that came into force two years ago.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition turned into real celebration. The concert programme prepared by the art masters of the country left unforgettable impressions to the participants of the event.
Current exhibition organized in the year, which is held in our country under slogan “Turkmenistan is the Heart of the Great Silk Road”, gives the opportunity to numerous foreign visitors to see the artefacts witnessing that old period of history when international contacts between separate kingdoms of the East have just been originated.
Visual evidence were received by the archaeologists during the excavations on the territory of ancient Margiana. Funeral attributes and jewelleries of its citizens strike the imaginations with its magnificence. These are high artistic items of stone, metal, ivory and clay, which in skilful hands of potters and sculptors is turned into the finest ceramic vessels of fancy shapes and figures of gods of pagan pantheon, which accompanied the residents of Gonur and other ancient Margiana settlements through all life.
These precious findings that used to be hidden under the layer of earth are the exhibits of several museums of Turkmenistan today, while the houses, king’s palace and sanctuaries around became the facilities of Ancient Merv State Historical and Cultural Reserve.
Archaeological collections of the State Museum of the State Cultural Centre of Turkmenistan, the Museum of Visual Arts of the country and Mary Local History Museum give the idea on the level of arts development in one of the earliest sources of the world civilization with the centre of huge ancient settlement Gonur-Depe, which is located in Karakum etrap, Mary Velayat today.
It is symbolical that our treasuries are presented in Berlin New Museum, which was opened recently after seven years of pause and includes three important collections of the state museums of German capital – Egyptian Museum with its unique collection of papyruses, the Museum of Primitive and Early History as well the Museum of Antique Classics of Ancient Greece and Roman Empire.
The exhibition presents the works of famous German photographer Herlinde Koelbl who visited our country in January this year to make the series of pictures of archaeological excavation and facilities of Ancient Merv, striking landscapes of Murgab Oasis, museum treasuries of Turkmenistan and other.
Gonur-Depe is wonderful and unique archaeological monument. This is the largest of more that three hundred settlements of the Bronze Age located in the old delta of Murgab River and until our days hidden in the sands of Karakum Desert. All of them existed in the second millennium BC and were abandoned by people when the drought came or Murgab waters were not able to irrigate this fertile land.
Gonur-Depe, which was distinguished by the sizes and height in the area, was discovered by the world famous archaeologist Victor Sarianidi in 1972. Two years after, his Margiana archaeological expedition has started excavations of this settlement, which he led for more than forty years until his last days.
At present, the studies are continued under the agreement between the Ministry of ethnology and Anthropology of Russian Academy of Sciences and Turkmenistan National Department for Protection, Study and Restoration of Historical and Cultural Monuments. These days, another field season has started at Gonur-Depe, during which the scientist and restorers plan to continue the study of unique monument of the past and conservation of its valuable ruins.
Unfortunately, historical name of the city is unknown as there is no any written evidences that it used to be administrative, cultural and religious centre of the country that had similar however slightly different names – Mouru (this is how it was mentioned in Avesta, the Sacred Book of Zoroastrians), Margush (as it is mentioned in the famous Behistun Inscription by Darius the Great in 521 – 520 BC), Margiana (the name of the place in antique times) and Merv of the Middle Ages.
Special city where only the ruler and his family lived bit where the citizens of entire country used to come to make a prays and important rituals was founded in 2250 – 2300 BC by the tribes, which moved from the west to the east searching for new lands.
It was built from clay bricks not tempered but dried out in the sun. Ruler palace with spacious halls decorated with the niches, large yards and special ritual premises was erected in the centre of the city. It was surrounded by different buildings and high wide walls that looked like fortress walls with triangle loopholes and rectangular towers.
However, these loopholes were just decorative elements and not designated for shooting. The same is with the towers; much probably they served to put ritual fires on religious holiday.
These were the Fire and Water elements, which were sacred, pure and worshipped. Hence, the Fire Temple was located on the eastern side of the walls and Water Temple from the southern part. Public dining occupied important place in the rituals of ancient Margiana residents. They used to come from different parts of the country and making sacrifice to the gods, ate the meat of sacrificial animals cooked in special double-chamber ovens, which prevented direct contact of meat with fire, drunk homa-saoma tonic drink, which was made of different herbs as well as watched the performances of acrobats and dancers.
The residents of Margush country were excellent potters – the furnaces for tempering of clay vessels gave very high temperature what allowed to make the items of very high quality. They knew how to melt the bronze and make not only agricultural tools, weapons, chisels, awls and other tools but also wonderful jewellery as well as how to work with the gold and silver making beautiful vessels and jewelleries out of it.
The people of Margush learned about the dromedary well before than in Egypt and in Mesopotamia what is indicated by the pictures on the vessels as well as learn how to make mosaic panels with complicated topical compositions. Wooden plates were covered with special adhesive layer on top of which they draw a picture by black, red and white paint while some details like heads, wings and legs of animals were made of stone inlays.
The technology of painting and selection of inlays, preparation of mineral stones for such inlays are worth special mention. To make it easy to work with as well as to make it more solid the minerals were treated with high temperature. Sometimes before the tempering they were saturated or covered with various pigments.
The population of Margush had several important items, which were typical only for them and neighbouring Bactria. These are stone composite statuettes, which torsos were made of dark stone while the heads and arms of white stone. They were found only at the graveyards and much probably had some connection with the cults of the deceased.
Bronze, so-called cloisonné seals that belonged to women, which images were designated to scary the evils from people or any items (for example from the content of ceramic vessels) were very common. Stone discs, so-called miniature columns (it is not quite clear how it was used) as well as stone and bronze sticks and batons, axes with blunt cutting edge, which were the symbols of high social status were typical for Bactrian Margiana archaeological complex.
Population of Murgab delta bred the sheep, camels and cows; they were hunting gazelles and boars. They have been already using the horses and possibly could ride them. The dog occupied special place in their life. Margiana people selected several dog breeds including the biggest one, which looks like modern Turkmen alabay as well as smaller, the hunting one of “tazy” breed. They were growing wheat, barley, melons, grapes, apples, plums and other cultural crops.
Same as other people of that epoch, people of ancient Margush placed the most precious things to the graves of their deceased relatives. The walls of the tombs as well as special wooden chests containing funeral donations were decorated with rich mosaic unlike the living quarters.
Treasures of precious jars were placed in hidden places of the tombs including under the floor from probable riders. For example, one of such hidden place had 24 jars made of gold, silver and bronze. There are also numerous ceramic jars, hewn stones, stone and bronze items among archaeological findings what indicates the residents of Margush were worshiping sheep and other animals.
Gonur-Depe residents were outstanding engineers of that time. The main constructions were covered with the drainage network represented by clay pipes inserted to each other, which take out the water from the open premises of the complex not allowing the walls and floors to break down.
Besides, special water filter was built of clay bricks in one of water pools in the south of the complex. Muddy Murgab water was coming to the filter by special chute. It was settled down in the filter in the thick layer of the reeds and after clean water was pouring from the hole on another wall of the filter and was filling small reservoir.
The remain of people found in Gonur-Depe allowed the anthropologists reproducing how they looked like and speaking that the variety of faces that can be observed in modern Turkmenistan started to form up in the ancient epoch of the Bronze Age.
All what was said above as well as other facts allowed Academic Victor Sarianidi statting that previously unknown Central Asian centre of the world civilization existed in Southeast Turkmenistan in abandoned sands of Karakum desert. Outstanding samples of art of Turkmen ancestors are valuable part of the collections of the museums of Ashgabat and Mary. Today, Europeans have an opportunity to see ancient artefacts from Turkmenistan.
The excavations are continued in Gonur-Depe and large-scale work aimed at protection of this architectural monument for future generations is carried out at the same time. Today, this objective is a part of integrated government programme for further study and conservation of unique ensemble, which have not revealed all secrets yet.
Soft plastic clay was used from the old times as the simplest and cheapest hence the most common construction material. It was widely used in Central Asia from the beginning of the transition of people to settled life style. Same as it is made today for construction of the walls, the raw clay mixed with chopped straw was tightly compacted to special wooden forms and afterwards was dried out in the sun until it became stone hard.
Such clay bricks were used to build the houses of poor people, beautiful palaces and temples of the first cities of the East. It was counted that several million formed bricks were necessary for construction of one palace in Gonur. The walls built of such bricks and fastened with liquid clay solution were often plastered from both sides and the cladding was thoroughly smothered.
These are the methods that were used to build all monumental constructions of Margusg country. however, no matter how the ancient master tried, clay constructions cannot live forever and only the foundation and lower parts of the walls remaind after thousands of years covered by the layers of broken bricks that turned back into clay and buried in Karalum’s sand brought by the wind.
It was natural conservation. But when the monument is excavated and protection layer is removed , it starts melting from the rains and winds if it is not protected with special cover. This is what specialist and restorers do when archaeologists finish their work.
All recent years, Margiana expedition and administration of Ancient Merv Reserve carry out steadfast conservation and restoration of the walls of the Gonur palace. It requires big expenses, manpower resources and time. However, now the visitors can see how the fortress walls with towers and loopholes, king’s sanctuary and parade halls of the palace looked like. The premises of the funeral rituals complex is fully conserved and partially restored.
The conservation works were forestalled by special experiments held taking into account the experience gained in Turkmenistan. The restorers also save the most interesting mausoleums of the king’s necropolis. They install special covers on top of them to reduce the erosion of excavated walls and allow to enter inside to look rare articles. These covers become some kind of field museums with the exposition about Gonur in general, its excavation and conservation.
Gonur-Depe is recognized tourist facility. Many people comes to Turkmenistan knowing that it has ancient city among its numerous places of interests that is recongnized as one of the centres of the world civilization. The guests can see large scale of the constructions of ancient Turkmen ancestors who in those time have already been skilful architects, jewellers and sculptors.
Rich historical and cultural heritage of Turkmen people is the brand that country demonstrate to the world. international tourism serves as the most efficient and actual way of the advertisement of the achievements of the state in revival of spirituality and protection of priceless evidence of the past epochs.
In XXI century, ancient country of Margush becomes of the brightest symbols of unbreakable connection of times, succession of the generations and human value of the world cultural heritage. This is supported by current exhibition in Germany organized by the Museum of Pre- and Early History Period, which is the part of the association of the state museums of Berlin, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan.
The exhibition will last until October 15 and after Berlin, it will be presented in two other German cities. During four month, it will be held in Archaeological Museum of Hamburg and after, in Reiss Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim until June 2019.
Bright catalogue was published specially for this event. It is designated for scientists and for other history lovers who will have an opportunity to see the original items from fantastic ancient Turkmen kingdom
The opening ceremony of the exhibition turned into real celebration. The concert programme prepared by the art masters of the country left unforgettable impressions to the participants of the event.
Current exhibition organized in the year, which is held in our country under slogan “Turkmenistan is the Heart of the Great Silk Road”, gives the opportunity to numerous foreign visitors to see the artefacts witnessing that old period of history when international contacts between separate kingdoms of the East have just been originated.
Visual evidence were received by the archaeologists during the excavations on the territory of ancient Margiana. Funeral attributes and jewelleries of its citizens strike the imaginations with its magnificence. These are high artistic items of stone, metal, ivory and clay, which in skilful hands of potters and sculptors is turned into the finest ceramic vessels of fancy shapes and figures of gods of pagan pantheon, which accompanied the residents of Gonur and other ancient Margiana settlements through all life.
These precious findings that used to be hidden under the layer of earth are the exhibits of several museums of Turkmenistan today, while the houses, king’s palace and sanctuaries around became the facilities of Ancient Merv State Historical and Cultural Reserve.
Archaeological collections of the State Museum of the State Cultural Centre of Turkmenistan, the Museum of Visual Arts of the country and Mary Local History Museum give the idea on the level of arts development in one of the earliest sources of the world civilization with the centre of huge ancient settlement Gonur-Depe, which is located in Karakum etrap, Mary Velayat today.
It is symbolical that our treasuries are presented in Berlin New Museum, which was opened recently after seven years of pause and includes three important collections of the state museums of German capital – Egyptian Museum with its unique collection of papyruses, the Museum of Primitive and Early History as well the Museum of Antique Classics of Ancient Greece and Roman Empire.
The exhibition presents the works of famous German photographer Herlinde Koelbl who visited our country in January this year to make the series of pictures of archaeological excavation and facilities of Ancient Merv, striking landscapes of Murgab Oasis, museum treasuries of Turkmenistan and other.
Gonur-Depe is wonderful and unique archaeological monument. This is the largest of more that three hundred settlements of the Bronze Age located in the old delta of Murgab River and until our days hidden in the sands of Karakum Desert. All of them existed in the second millennium BC and were abandoned by people when the drought came or Murgab waters were not able to irrigate this fertile land.
Gonur-Depe, which was distinguished by the sizes and height in the area, was discovered by the world famous archaeologist Victor Sarianidi in 1972. Two years after, his Margiana archaeological expedition has started excavations of this settlement, which he led for more than forty years until his last days.
At present, the studies are continued under the agreement between the Ministry of ethnology and Anthropology of Russian Academy of Sciences and Turkmenistan National Department for Protection, Study and Restoration of Historical and Cultural Monuments. These days, another field season has started at Gonur-Depe, during which the scientist and restorers plan to continue the study of unique monument of the past and conservation of its valuable ruins.
Unfortunately, historical name of the city is unknown as there is no any written evidences that it used to be administrative, cultural and religious centre of the country that had similar however slightly different names – Mouru (this is how it was mentioned in Avesta, the Sacred Book of Zoroastrians), Margush (as it is mentioned in the famous Behistun Inscription by Darius the Great in 521 – 520 BC), Margiana (the name of the place in antique times) and Merv of the Middle Ages.
Special city where only the ruler and his family lived bit where the citizens of entire country used to come to make a prays and important rituals was founded in 2250 – 2300 BC by the tribes, which moved from the west to the east searching for new lands.
It was built from clay bricks not tempered but dried out in the sun. Ruler palace with spacious halls decorated with the niches, large yards and special ritual premises was erected in the centre of the city. It was surrounded by different buildings and high wide walls that looked like fortress walls with triangle loopholes and rectangular towers.
However, these loopholes were just decorative elements and not designated for shooting. The same is with the towers; much probably they served to put ritual fires on religious holiday.
These were the Fire and Water elements, which were sacred, pure and worshipped. Hence, the Fire Temple was located on the eastern side of the walls and Water Temple from the southern part. Public dining occupied important place in the rituals of ancient Margiana residents. They used to come from different parts of the country and making sacrifice to the gods, ate the meat of sacrificial animals cooked in special double-chamber ovens, which prevented direct contact of meat with fire, drunk homa-saoma tonic drink, which was made of different herbs as well as watched the performances of acrobats and dancers.
The residents of Margush country were excellent potters – the furnaces for tempering of clay vessels gave very high temperature what allowed to make the items of very high quality. They knew how to melt the bronze and make not only agricultural tools, weapons, chisels, awls and other tools but also wonderful jewellery as well as how to work with the gold and silver making beautiful vessels and jewelleries out of it.
The people of Margush learned about the dromedary well before than in Egypt and in Mesopotamia what is indicated by the pictures on the vessels as well as learn how to make mosaic panels with complicated topical compositions. Wooden plates were covered with special adhesive layer on top of which they draw a picture by black, red and white paint while some details like heads, wings and legs of animals were made of stone inlays.
The technology of painting and selection of inlays, preparation of mineral stones for such inlays are worth special mention. To make it easy to work with as well as to make it more solid the minerals were treated with high temperature. Sometimes before the tempering they were saturated or covered with various pigments.
The population of Margush had several important items, which were typical only for them and neighbouring Bactria. These are stone composite statuettes, which torsos were made of dark stone while the heads and arms of white stone. They were found only at the graveyards and much probably had some connection with the cults of the deceased.
Bronze, so-called cloisonné seals that belonged to women, which images were designated to scary the evils from people or any items (for example from the content of ceramic vessels) were very common. Stone discs, so-called miniature columns (it is not quite clear how it was used) as well as stone and bronze sticks and batons, axes with blunt cutting edge, which were the symbols of high social status were typical for Bactrian Margiana archaeological complex.
Population of Murgab delta bred the sheep, camels and cows; they were hunting gazelles and boars. They have been already using the horses and possibly could ride them. The dog occupied special place in their life. Margiana people selected several dog breeds including the biggest one, which looks like modern Turkmen alabay as well as smaller, the hunting one of “tazy” breed. They were growing wheat, barley, melons, grapes, apples, plums and other cultural crops.
Same as other people of that epoch, people of ancient Margush placed the most precious things to the graves of their deceased relatives. The walls of the tombs as well as special wooden chests containing funeral donations were decorated with rich mosaic unlike the living quarters.
Treasures of precious jars were placed in hidden places of the tombs including under the floor from probable riders. For example, one of such hidden place had 24 jars made of gold, silver and bronze. There are also numerous ceramic jars, hewn stones, stone and bronze items among archaeological findings what indicates the residents of Margush were worshiping sheep and other animals.
Gonur-Depe residents were outstanding engineers of that time. The main constructions were covered with the drainage network represented by clay pipes inserted to each other, which take out the water from the open premises of the complex not allowing the walls and floors to break down.
Besides, special water filter was built of clay bricks in one of water pools in the south of the complex. Muddy Murgab water was coming to the filter by special chute. It was settled down in the filter in the thick layer of the reeds and after clean water was pouring from the hole on another wall of the filter and was filling small reservoir.
The remain of people found in Gonur-Depe allowed the anthropologists reproducing how they looked like and speaking that the variety of faces that can be observed in modern Turkmenistan started to form up in the ancient epoch of the Bronze Age.
All what was said above as well as other facts allowed Academic Victor Sarianidi statting that previously unknown Central Asian centre of the world civilization existed in Southeast Turkmenistan in abandoned sands of Karakum desert. Outstanding samples of art of Turkmen ancestors are valuable part of the collections of the museums of Ashgabat and Mary. Today, Europeans have an opportunity to see ancient artefacts from Turkmenistan.
The excavations are continued in Gonur-Depe and large-scale work aimed at protection of this architectural monument for future generations is carried out at the same time. Today, this objective is a part of integrated government programme for further study and conservation of unique ensemble, which have not revealed all secrets yet.
Soft plastic clay was used from the old times as the simplest and cheapest hence the most common construction material. It was widely used in Central Asia from the beginning of the transition of people to settled life style. Same as it is made today for construction of the walls, the raw clay mixed with chopped straw was tightly compacted to special wooden forms and afterwards was dried out in the sun until it became stone hard.
Such clay bricks were used to build the houses of poor people, beautiful palaces and temples of the first cities of the East. It was counted that several million formed bricks were necessary for construction of one palace in Gonur. The walls built of such bricks and fastened with liquid clay solution were often plastered from both sides and the cladding was thoroughly smothered.
These are the methods that were used to build all monumental constructions of Margusg country. however, no matter how the ancient master tried, clay constructions cannot live forever and only the foundation and lower parts of the walls remaind after thousands of years covered by the layers of broken bricks that turned back into clay and buried in Karalum’s sand brought by the wind.
It was natural conservation. But when the monument is excavated and protection layer is removed , it starts melting from the rains and winds if it is not protected with special cover. This is what specialist and restorers do when archaeologists finish their work.
All recent years, Margiana expedition and administration of Ancient Merv Reserve carry out steadfast conservation and restoration of the walls of the Gonur palace. It requires big expenses, manpower resources and time. However, now the visitors can see how the fortress walls with towers and loopholes, king’s sanctuary and parade halls of the palace looked like. The premises of the funeral rituals complex is fully conserved and partially restored.
The conservation works were forestalled by special experiments held taking into account the experience gained in Turkmenistan. The restorers also save the most interesting mausoleums of the king’s necropolis. They install special covers on top of them to reduce the erosion of excavated walls and allow to enter inside to look rare articles. These covers become some kind of field museums with the exposition about Gonur in general, its excavation and conservation.
Gonur-Depe is recognized tourist facility. Many people comes to Turkmenistan knowing that it has ancient city among its numerous places of interests that is recongnized as one of the centres of the world civilization. The guests can see large scale of the constructions of ancient Turkmen ancestors who in those time have already been skilful architects, jewellers and sculptors.
Rich historical and cultural heritage of Turkmen people is the brand that country demonstrate to the world. international tourism serves as the most efficient and actual way of the advertisement of the achievements of the state in revival of spirituality and protection of priceless evidence of the past epochs.
In XXI century, ancient country of Margush becomes of the brightest symbols of unbreakable connection of times, succession of the generations and human value of the world cultural heritage. This is supported by current exhibition in Germany organized by the Museum of Pre- and Early History Period, which is the part of the association of the state museums of Berlin, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan.
The exhibition will last until October 15 and after Berlin, it will be presented in two other German cities. During four month, it will be held in Archaeological Museum of Hamburg and after, in Reiss Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim until June 2019.
Bright catalogue was published specially for this event. It is designated for scientists and for other history lovers who will have an opportunity to see the original items from fantastic ancient Turkmen kingdom
