View source for Gonur Depe

{{Short description|Early Bronze Age settlement in Turkmenistan}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Gonur Depe
| native_name = Goňur depe {{in lang|tk}}
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| map_type = Turkmenistan#West Asia
| map_alt = Location in Turkmenistan
| map_caption = Location in Turkmenistan
| map_size = 300
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| coordinates = {{coord|38|12|36|N|62|02|06|E|display=inline,title}}
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| epochs = [[Bronze Age]]
| cultures = [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]]
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'''Gonur Depe''' ({{langx|tk|Goňur depe}}) is an archaeological site, dated from 2400 to 1600 BCE,<ref name="Frenez">Frenez, Dennys, (2018). [https://www.academia.edu/34596109/Manufacturing_and_trade_of_Asian_elephant_ivory_in_Bronze_Age_Middle_Asia._Evidence_from_Gonur_Depe_Margiana_Turkmenistan_ "Manufacturing and trade of Asian elephant ivory in Bronze Age Middle Asia: Evidence from Gonur Depe (Margiana, Turkmenistan)"] in Archaeological Research in Asia 15, p. 15.</ref> and located about 60&nbsp;km north of [[Mary, Turkmenistan|Mary]] (ancient [[Merv]]), [[Turkmenistan]] consisting of a large early Bronze Age settlement. It is the "capital" or major settlement of the [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]] (BMAC).
==Archaeology==
[[Image:Gonur ruins.jpg|thumb|Part of the Gonur Depe ruins, 2011]]
The site was discovered by Greek-Russian archaeologist [[Viktor Sarianidi]]. There he took first pottery shards from surface in 1972,<ref>Dubova, Nadezhda A., (2019). [https://www.academia.edu/39304898/Gonur_Depe_City_of_Kings_and_Gods_and_the_Capital_of_Margush_Country_Modern_Turkmenistan_Its_discovery_by_Professor_Victor_Sarianidi_and_recent_finds "Gonur Depe – City of Kings and Gods, and the Capital of Margush Country (Modern Turkmenistan)"], in: ''Urban Cultures of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Karakhanids'', Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, '''p. 29''': "...in 1972, Professor Victor Sarianidi picked up the first fragments of pottery from the surface of a huge hill named by the local people 'Gonur Depe' ('Grey Hill' in Turkmen). Excavations were not carried out there every year after that: Sarianidi was busy excavating near the Kopet Dagh Mountains, at other sites in ancient Murghab Delta, and in northern Afghanistan..."</ref> and excavated the site since 1974 to 2013. Sarianidi uncovered a palace, a fortified mud-brick enclosure, and temples with [[Fire temple|fire altars]] which he associated with the [[Zoroastrian]] religion.<ref>Starr, S. Frederick, (2013). ''Lost Enlightenment''. Princeton University Press, '''p. 73''': "predating [[Zoroaster]] [1000 BC?] by at least fifteen hundred years but linked with what would become the rituals of his faith."</ref>
Gonur Depe has a total area of about 55 hectares, and is divided by archaeologists in three main sectors: '''Gonur North''', the '''Large Necropolis''', and '''Gonur South'''. The northern part of the complex called Gonur North had a central citadel-like structure about {{convert|100|by|180|m|ft|abbr=on}} in size.
==Gonur North==
The main fortified complex is the almost elliptical sector known as Gonur North, (ca. 330 × 460 m), from ca. 2400 to 1900 BCE, which includes the "Monumental Palace" and annexed buildings, ritual areas and many temples, as well as the "Royal Necropolis" and various water reservoirs.<ref name="Frenez" /> The Monumental Palace was at the centre, (ca. 150 x 140 m), and was surrounded by a double wall, featuring two big courtyards and an axial corridor, as well as a large deposit for products, and inner dwellings which could have been a throne room and audience halls.<ref name="Vidale">Vidale, Massimo, (2017). [https://books.google.com/books?id=QBiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 Treasures from the Oxus], I.B. Tauris, p. 20.</ref> Near the entry of the Monumental Palace, there were water sources connected to ceramic pipes, maybe for visitors' ritual cleansing.<ref name="Vidale" />
[[File:BMAC bronze tools.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Bronze tools from Gonur Depe and other BMAC sites.<ref name="DB">{{cite journal |last1=Berger |first1=Daniel |title=The rise of bronze in Central Asia: new evidence for the origin of Bronze Age tin and copper from multi-analytical research |journal=Frontiers in Earth Science |date=2023 |volume=11 |doi=10.3389/feart.2023.1224873 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023FrEaS..1124873B }}</ref>]]
The Royal Necropolis or Royal Graveyard, located to the southeast in Gonur North, consists of eight underground houses for sepulture and three big pits for the same purpose; artefacts of gold, silver, stone, and bronze were found there, showing the high status of the people buried.<ref name="Dubova">Dubova, Nadezhda A., (2019). [https://www.academia.edu/39304898/Gonur_Depe_City_of_Kings_and_Gods_and_the_Capital_of_Margush_Country_Modern_Turkmenistan_Its_discovery_by_Professor_Victor_Sarianidi_and_recent_finds " Gonur Depe – City of Kings and Gods, and the Capital of Margush Country (Modern Turkmenistan)"], in Christoph Baumer and Mirko Novák (eds.), ''Urban Cultures of Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the Karakhanids, Proceedings of the First International Congress on Central Asian Archaeology held at the University of Bern, 4–6 February 2016'', Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 29-53.</ref>{{rp|p.31}} In the last phase of this necropolis, many objects made of elephant ivory were found, and this level is contemporary to late layers in [[Altyndepe|Altyn Depe]] in Turkmenistan, and [[Mohenjo-daro]] in Pakistan.<ref name="Frenez" /> In excavations at a brick-lined burial pit, grave number 3200 of this Royal necropolis, a horse skeleton was found in period I, dated around 2200 BCE along with a four-wheeled wooden wagon with bronze rims.<ref name="Bonora" /> Archaeologist Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, mentioning N. A. Dubova's (2015) article, comments that this was an "almost complete skeleton of a foal" resting on the wagon with "wheels circled by bronze bands" and radiocarbon-dated to 2250 BCE.<ref name="Bendezu">Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio, (2021). [https://www.academia.edu/48987305/2021_J_BENDEZU_SARMIENTO_Horse_domestication_history_in_Turkmenistan_and_other_regions_of_Asia_MIRAS_1_p_17_29 "Horse domestication history in Turkmenistan and other regions of Asia"], in MIRAS 1 (81), pp. 22-24.</ref> So he considers this horse and the wagon are "one and a half century prior" to similar burials of [[Sintashta culture]].<ref name="Bendezu" /> A stone statuette that seems to be a horse with saddle was found in burial number 3210 also in the Royal necropolis and was reported by Sarianidi in 2005, and in burial 3310 parts of a stallion's body were found, the stallion lacked its head, rump, and tail, and was considered as a cult burial of a domestic horse by archaeologist Sarianidi in his 2008 publication.<ref name="Bonora" />
==The Large Necropolis==
There is also a Large Necropolis, with more than three thousand graves of many types in an area of ca. 10 hectares, around 200 m west of Gonur North.<ref name="Frenez" /> Only adults and young people over eight years old were buried in this necropolis, children were buried near houses or in abandoned buildings.<ref name="Dubova" />{{rp|p.33}}
In the so-called "tomb of a warrior", number 2380 at this necropolis, a mace head made of bronze and featuring a horse with prominent ears was found.<ref name="Bonora">Bonora, Gian Luca, (2020). [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315193359-30/oxus-civilization-northern-steppes-gian-luca-bonora?context=ubx&refId=013cc55c-54f6-4b5f-b2ec-342bc8ae48f8 "The Oxus Civilization and the northern steppes" ], in ''The World of the Oxus Civilization'', Routledge, p. 749.</ref>
== Mosaics ==
Numerous mosaics compositions have been discovered in the Necropolis. These were decorating some of the walls, as well as found on many large wooden trunks and boxes that once held rich royal offerings. These mosaics have been dated to the end of the third millennium BC.<ref name="DKVY">{{cite journal | last1=Dubova | first1=Nadezhda A. | last2=Kovaleva | first2=Natalia A. | last3=Veresotskaya | first3=Galina E. | last4=Yuminov | first4=Anatolij M. | title=Mosaics from the Bronze Age Necropolis in Gonur Depe, Turkmenistan | journal=Journal of Mosaic Research |url=https://www.academia.edu/41268526| date=2019-11-30 | issn=1309-047X | doi=10.26658/jmr.614841 | page=| s2cid=202900673 | doi-access=free }}</ref>
Such mosaics are almost unknown elsewhere in ancient East Asia, yet numerous parallels to these Gonur Depe mosaics have been found in [[Mari, Syria]]. Other clear parallels are also found in the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]].<ref name="DKVY"/>
==Gonur South==
Gonur South is a smaller, square complex, (ca.130 × 120 m), about 1.5 hectares in size, inhabited between ca. 1900 and 1600 BCE, fortified with two series of massive concentric walls featuring round towers in their perimeters.<ref name="Frenez" /> The so-called ''Temenos'', also located in Gonur South, is a parallelogram shrine with strong walls, round towers at the corners, and half-towers in the perimeter, that was considered a [[Soma (drink)|Soma]]-cult-related precinct by archaeologist Sarianidi.<ref name="Dubova" />{{rp|p.39}} Inside the ''Temenos'' a small temple designated as "the fort" was built, the shape of the building is cruciform, bearing twelve round towers, one in each angle of the cross, these towers had a narrow door each one. As it is a later development, this "fort" was not finished, but is very similar to the "fire temple" in Tepe Nush-i Jan.<ref name="Dubova" />{{rp|p.39}}
Gonur is among the largest ruins in the [[Murghab river]] delta region; over 150 ancient settlements have been found here.
==Chronology of the site==
Considering the data of early research in Gonur Depe and recent stratigraphic studies, conducted from 2014 to 2018,  Robert M. Sataev, Nadezhda A. Dubova, and Muhamed A. Mamedovone mention five periods, or construction horizons, of this settlement:<ref>Sataev, Robert M., Nadezhda A. Dubova, and Muhamed A. Mamedov, (2019). [https://www.academia.edu/41268724/The_internal_chronology_and_periodization_of_Gonur_Depe "The internal chronology and periodization of Gonur Depe"], in ''Antiquities of East Europe, South Asia and South Siberia in the context of connections and interactions within the Eurasian cultural space (new data and concepts): Proceedings of the International Conference, November 18–22, 2019,'' St. Petersburg, p. 41.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Phase
! Chronology
! Features
|-
| 1
| (~2500/2300–2000 BCE)
| the foundation of the site until the construction of the palace.
|-
| 2
| (~2000–1900 BCE)
| the construction of the palace until the "big fire" in the palace.
|-
| 3
| (~1900–1700 BCE)
| the restoration of the palace after the fire till it ceased as a residence of the rulers.
|-
| 4
| (~1700–1600 BCE)
| the departure of the rulers and the use of the palace by common members till its desolation.
|-
| 5
| (~1600–1500 BCE)
| the desolation of the palace till the abandonment of this territory by the people.
|}
Two sherds in the Geoksjur style of [[Namazga]] III period (c. 3200-2800 BCE) were found in Gonur North in the first period of the site, and three radiocarbon samples from Gonur Depe belong to Geoksjur/[[Sarazm]] period from narrow walls showing a short-term occupation.<ref>Lyonnet, Bertille, and Nadezhda A. Dubova, (2020). [https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Bertille-Lyonnet/dp/1138722871?asin=036753309X&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1 "Questioning the Oxus Civilization or Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC): An overview"], in Bertille Lyonnet and Nadezhda A. Dubova (eds.), ''The World of the Oxus Civilization'', Routledge, London and New York, p. 20.</ref>
==Genetics==
Genetic sequencing of individuals from Gonur finds that the majority of their ancestry is similar to Neolithic Farmers from the Iranian Plateau, with minor amounts of [[Early European Farmers|Anatolian Neolithic Farmer]], and [[Eastern hunter-gatherer|Eastern European Hunter-Gatherer]]-related ancestry. A number of outliers at the site, while also being of majority Iranian Neolithic related ancestry, also had some South Asian-related ancestry and less Anatolian-related ancestry, possibly as a result of contact with the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shinde |first=Vasant |last2=Narasimhan |first2=Vagheesh M. |last3=Rohland |first3=Nadin |last4=Mallick |first4=Swapan |last5=Mah |first5=Matthew |last6=Lipson |first6=Mark |last7=Nakatsuka |first7=Nathan |last8=Adamski |first8=Nicole |last9=Broomandkhoshbacht |first9=Nasreen |last10=Ferry |first10=Matthew |last11=Lawson |first11=Ann Marie |last12=Michel |first12=Megan |last13=Oppenheimer |first13=Jonas |last14=Stewardson |first14=Kristin |last15=Jadhav |first15=Nilesh |date=October 2019 |title=An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867419309675 |journal=Cell |language=en |volume=179 |issue=3 |pages=729–735.e10 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2019.08.048 |pmc=6800651 |pmid=31495572}}</ref>
==Soma drink==
Sarianidi found what appears to be the boiler for the ritual drink [[soma (drink)|soma]], which is mentioned in the ''[[Rigveda]]'' and also in the [[Avesta]] as [[haoma]]. Sarianidi says he also found dishes with traces of [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], poppy and [[Ephedra (plant)|ephedra]]. According to him, this discovery strengthens the theory that these were the [[Botanical identity of soma–haoma|ingredients of soma]].<ref name="Sarianidi">Sarianidi, Victor, (2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20171127201041/http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/merv/sarianidi.htm Margiana and Soma-Haoma.] Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS), Vol. 9 (2003) Issue 1c (May 5); archived 10 May 2020</ref>
The excavations of the settlement of [[Ulug Tepe]], near [[Dushak]] in south [[Turkmenistan]], found similar implements for making soma drink, described as a "pressure set". The finds were made in the Late Bronze layers.
The implements,
: "... consisted of a huge stone mortar and a pestle, a pressing stone with a half-spheric projection in its centre and next to it a similar one with a half-spheric deepening."<ref name="Sarianidi" />
South Turkmenistan also belonged to the area of [[Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex]].
==Historical context==
Scholars believe that the ancient [[Oxus river]] culture (Bactria-Margiana) may have its origin at sites like [[Anau culture|Anau]], on the northern slopes of the Kopet-Dag mountains. Anau dates back to 6500 BCE. Later settlements like Gonur may have been founded by people who moved there from the Kopet-Dag area because of changing climate.<ref>Andrew Lawler, [https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/central-asias-lost-civilization Central Asia's Lost Civilization] -- The unveiling of a 4,000-year-old civilization calls into question conventional ideas about ancient culture, trade, and religion. November 29, 2006 discovermagazine.com</ref>
There were increasing incursions of nomadic encampments of the [[Andronovo culture]] at the site during the period 1800-1500 BCE. According to Lamberg-Karlovsky, the presence at Gonur of Andronovo pottery (the characteristic ceramics of the Eurasian steppes, where the modern horse was domesticated) certainly implies that the horse was known to the BMAC. However, Sarianidi disregards the steppe connection for the presence of the horse in BMAC.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Lamberg-Karlovsky|first=Clifford Charles|title=The Oxus Civilization / La Civilización del Oxus|url=https://revistas.uam.es/cupauam/article/download/1116/1063|journal=CuPAUAM|volume=39|pages=21–63}}</ref>
[[J. P. Mallory|Mallory]] (1997) points out that the BMAC fortified settlements such as Gonur and [[Togolok]] resemble the [[qila]], the type of fort known in this region in the historical period. They may be circular or rectangular and have up to three encircling walls. Within the forts are residential quarters, workshops and temples.<ref>"BMAC" in: Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q., ''[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]]'' (1997), p. 72.</ref>
The site was most likely abandoned after the course of the [[Murghab River (Afghanistan)|Murghab River]] shifted to the west.
==See also==
{{History of Turkmenistan}}
*[[Anau, Turkmenistan]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{cite web|last=Eduljee|first=K. E.|title=Gonur Mouru Region|url=http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/merv/gonur.htm|access-date=23 April 2013}}
*{{cite video|people= [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]]|date=January 2009 |title = The Story of India: Beginnings  |medium = DVD |publisher  = PBS Home Video/British Broadcasting Corporation |time = 0:37 |oclc = 368005891}}
*[http://blacksandsfilm.wordpress.com/ Black Sands documentary] {{cite video|people=Anastasis Agathos |date=June 2010 |title = Black Sands (52min, documentary trailer)|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LMvFI8gPAU,  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/0LMvFI8gPAU |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|publisher  = Urgh Productions }}{{cbignore}}
{{Central Asian history}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Tells (archaeology)]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Turkmenistan]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Turkmenistan]]
[[Category:Mary Region]]
[[Category:Murghab basin]]