Gonur Depe

Gonur Depe, 'grey hill', lies in the Karakum Desert roughly 60 km north of Bayramali, on what was once the delta of the Murghab river before it shifted west. Around 2400 to 1600 BC it was the largest centre of a Bronze Age culture that archaeologists call the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, or the Oxus civilisation, which stretched across today's Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Its builders traded with Mesopotamia, Elam and the Indus valley, and they built in mud brick on a scale unknown elsewhere in Central Asia at the time.

Excavation

The site was identified and dug from 1972 by the Soviet and later Russian archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi, who worked here almost every season until shortly before his death in 2013 and argued that Gonur was the capital of ancient Margiana. Some of his interpretations, especially about fire and haoma rituals linked to early Zoroastrianism, remain debated, but the scale of what he uncovered is not.

What you see

The northern complex is a walled rectangle with a central palace, courtyards and towers, surrounded by what are interpreted as temples with fire altars, pools and workshops. Parts of the walls have been capped with new brick to protect them, so the plan is easy to read. Outside lies a vast necropolis of several thousand graves. The so-called royal tombs contained wagons, bronze objects and sacrificed animals, and one grave preserved the skeleton of a foal buried with its owner. The finest objects, including seals, mosaics, gold and stone figurines, are displayed in the museum in Mary and the National Museum in Ashgabat.

How to experience it

Getting there is part of the adventure: the last stretch is a sandy track that needs a four-wheel-drive vehicle and takes around two hours from Mary, so it is usually combined with Merv over a long day or two half days. There is no shade or facilities on site; bring water, a hat and sun protection, and avoid summer middays.