Ancient mystery appears in the Turkmenistan desert

More than four millennia ago, the fortress town of Gonur-Tepe may have been a rare civilization before it was buried for centuries under the sands of Turkmenistan's Kara Kum desert.

After being discovered by former Soviet archaeologists in the last century, Gonur-Tepe, once home to thousands of people and the center of a thriving region, has gradually revealed its mysteries with new artifacts being found after each summer excavation.

Gonur-Tepe still holds many secrets (Source: AFP)

The scale of the site is immense, spanning over 30 hectares, and can only be fully appreciated from the air. From above, the old buildings of the town look like a maze in the desert, surrounded by high walls.

Just 50km from the famous ancient city of Merv and outside the city of Mary, the ruins of Gonur-Tepe are a sign of the archaeological richness of Turkmenistan, one of the world's most isolated countries.

Around 2000 BC, Gonur-Tepe was the main settlement of the Margush or Margiana region and was home to one of the most advanced but little-known civilizations of the Bronze Age.

The site was discovered by the famous Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi, who at 84 years old plans to spend another summer working at the ruins.

"I remember very clearly my joy when I first came into contact with the Klondike archaeological site. A very strong feeling lies right under your feet," the Russian professor told AFP news agency.

Each archaeological season at Gonur-Tepe often brings important discoveries, revealing the high level of craftsmanship of the town's Bronze Age artisans.

They could smelt metals, make gold and silver bars, create materials for worship, and knew how to craft bones and stones.

"It's amazing to know that people here had very modern skills. The craftsmen here transformed the shape of natural stone with high heat and then glazed it on the outside," said archaeologist Nadezhda Dubova.

"This year, Gonur brought us another surprise, a beautiful mosaic," she said, adding that such mosaics predate the era of mosaic making in Greece and Rome.

The ruins of Gonur-Tepe were the center of a network of towns and settlements located in the delta of the Morghab River that flowed through Turkmenistan from its source in Afghanistan.

Gonur-Tepe is about a three-hour drive from the center of Mary province, passing through collective farms that now lie unused.

Mary, 380km from the capital Ashgabat, is a typical provincial city in Turkmenistan, home to 200,000 people and built largely in the Soviet style with connecting railways and high-rise apartment buildings.

About 30km from Mary is another of the area's crowning glory: the ruins of the city of Merv, which was once very important under the Persian Empire and reached its peak under Turkic rule in the 12th century AD.

Merv fell into decline after being sacked by the Mongols in 1221 in a deadly conquest that left tens of thousands dead. Its ruins are now as desolate as Gonur-Tepe.

The ruins' greatest treasure is the well-preserved mausoleum of Seljuk Sultan Sanjar, whose reign saw Merv become a city of 200,000 people and one of the most densely populated settlements in the world.

According to Turksmen architect and historian Ruslan Muradov, the mausoleum is more than 17 meters in diameter and is itself a revolution in design.

The mausoleum's dome design was "300 years ahead of the ideas of the great Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi", who designed the great dome in Florence Cathedral.

Unlike Gonur-Tepe, the Merv ruins were excavated during the time of the Russian Tsars, when Turkmenistan was still an outpost of the Russian Empire. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.

According to Viktor Turik, a historian working at the Mary history museum, archaeologists have only explored a small part of the Mary area, which is rich in archaeological sites.

"There are 354 archaeological sites in this area and 95% of them have not yet been studied by experts," he said.

Turkmenistan remains one of the most isolated countries in the world, but still attracts large numbers of visitors each year, mostly on specially organized tours.

Mary has only three hotels, although President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov recently ordered the construction of a 350-room hotel to boost tourism.

Meanwhile, there are still unanswered questions about what to do with the gold and silver artifacts that have been excavated in the area and will need to undergo careful restoration and conservation.

An anonymous employee of Turkmenistan's national heritage agency said that a conservation project was once planned with the Louvre museum in Paris, but it did not succeed.

"Many unique discoveries, unlike anything else in the world, are lying quietly waiting for their moment to shine in the warehouses of Turkmenistan's museums," he said./.

According to (Vietnam+) - VT