Location
Gonur Depe
Not long ago, in the 90s, among the sands of the eastern Karakum, archaeologists uncovered a huge necropolis in the Mary oasis, dating back to the 2nd-1st millennia BC. There was a capital city here, now called Gonur-Depe (translated from Turkmen - Gray Hill), with its own palace and several temples that could compete with the buildings of Assyria and Babylon. Excavations of this place brought scientists and historians many amazing discoveries. The temple city kept its secrets in the sands of the desert for several millennia. Gonur-Depe was the largest settlement in all of Margiana. The complex was located on a low hill on the right bank of the Murghab riverbed. Excavations are still ongoing, and there are no exact figures yet, but according to preliminary data, the area of the ancient settlement ranges from 30 to 50 hectares. In this supposed "capital" there was most likely not a ruler with certain powers, who governed the entire country, but a spiritual leader - the high priest. People worshiped him not by force, but by free will, driven by faith. Gonur-Depe is the capital temple city of the country of Margush. Archaeologists have managed to discover convincing facts of spiritual rituals and traditions proving that the Gonur people adhered to the Zoroastrian faith. In the very center of the settlement there was a palace with many large ceremonial rooms, surrounded by powerful, thick walls and several square towers. Most likely, the high priest lived here. Around the palace, on all four sides, there were temple buildings connected by one wall. At the corners, the wall was also reinforced by square towers, but not as huge as in the surrounding wall of the palace. Outside the walls, on the southern side, there was a pool measuring 180 by 80 m and 2 m deep. On the northern and western sides of the temple complex there were two more pools, but smaller. All these structures were surrounded by another low and not so wide wall, reinforced with pilasters on the inner side. Scientists believe that this wall served as a kind of symbol of the limitation of the holy place from the rest of the world and was erected symbolically, and not for the purpose of defense. Archaeologists have found fragments of the facade parts of buildings, indicating that stone mosaics were used to decorate the walls. But the technique of the Gonur masters is unique in that initially the image on the wall was painted with paints and only then it was decorated with stones. Nowhere in the world has such a technology for laying out mosaics been found. A number of pottery workshops were also found on the territory of Gonur-Depe, indicating that such products were in great demand at that time.
