About four thousand years ago, an agricultural civilization flourished in the ancient delta of the Murgab River, leaving numerous traces of a high culture. The archaeologist, founder and long-term leader of the Margiana expedition, academician Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi, devoted many years to the search for the capital of this civilization.

The very first find of the scientist was a tiny plate, consisting of winding grooves that form some kind of intricate pattern. Turning over the find, Sarianidi made sure that the plate contains a special drawing depicting either a bull or a musk ox surrounded by snakes and dragons. It was an amulet with a plot composition, which became for the scientist the first material evidence that people inhabited these places several thousand years ago.

Large-scale excavations begun after the discovery of the amulet led a team of scientists and archaeologists to incredible results. The capital of ancient Margiana, the city of Gonur-Depe, was found. It was not only the largest settlement in all of Margiana, but also one of the largest cities of its time. A palace and temples were discovered, which in their elegance were in no way inferior to similar structures of ancient Assyria and Babylon.

Archaeologists have found that the city was founded in 2300 - 2250 BC and existed for about 600-800 years. Only the central part of the monumental structures occupied an area of more than 25 hectares by the time people left the settlement.

In Gonur-Depe were found unique samples of ceramic dishes, imprints of seals and amulets with various plot images, items made of gold, bronze and ivory.

Most of the finds from the capital of Margiana, which are among the most valuable exhibits of several Turkmen museums, have no analogues in the whole world.

Mukhammed Annayevich Mamedov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the National Department of Turkmenistan for the Protection, Study and Restoration of Historical and Cultural Monuments, notes that the discoveries made in the ancient Murghab delta have become one of the greatest archaeological sensations of the 20th century. Victor Sarianidi, on the basis of data obtained as a result of many years of research, was able to convincingly prove that Ancient Margiana was the fifth center of world civilization along with Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China.

Specialists currently working in the ancient Murghab delta, who are part of the Turkmen-Russian Margiana archaeological expedition, note the contribution of the head of state to the study of the unique historical oasis and the great attention that President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov pays to the study and preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Turkmen people.

Roman Teplyakov