The Foreign Service Journal, April 2003

This site is most associated with the famous Russian archae- ologist, Victor Sarianidi, who began digging here in the 1970s and continues to this day. His first famous find was a golden treasure of Bakhtrian artifacts in Tillya-Tepe, near the present Afghan town of Shibirgan, not far from Margiana. Subsequently, he located a vast palace and a monumental Zoroastrian fire temple in Gonur-depe, a major town in Margiana. Data obtained there have permitted scientists to determine that Margiana was probably the birthplace of one of the world’s major religions, Zoroastrianism (commonly referred to as “fire worship”). For example, in the necropolis of Gonur unusual burial chambers have been unearthed where the walls had evi- dently been burnt by fire — the first time such a practice was documented in Central Asia. Archaeologists believe that this was done to purify the walls, since Zoroastrians believe that corpses defile the “pure” earth. Interestingly, these burial sites have a lot in common with present-day Turkmen burial sites known as “mazars.” It should be noted that though Zoroastrianism has seen the number of its adepts shrink thanks to inroads by Islam and Christianity, it is still practiced openly in parts of India and the Caucasus and some of its cultur- al traditions persist to this day in Central Asia. Indeed, while most Turkmen are at least nominal Moslems, they readily acknowledge that many of their beliefs, folk holidays, customs, and traditions include a great number of pre-Islamic, including Turkic pagan and Zoroastrian, elements. Examples of “fire worship” include springtime festivals, during which young cou- ples jump over fires holding hands; people ride in large swings over open fires; and fires are built to honor forks in the road. What is the origin of this formidable city-state, or possibly nation? It can truly be said to be shrouded in the dusk of ages. As far as Sarianidi figures it, by the second and third millennia B.C., Aryan-Indo-Iranian people had started occupying the lands of present-day Turkmenistan and other parts of Central Asia. In the Stone Age, the Jeitun culture of agriculturalists and herdsmen formed there — one of the earliest in Central Asia. As the centuries passed, the local population mastered the arts of metal smelting, livestock (especially camel) breeding, and horse domestication. In addition — and most visibly seen at the Margiana site — the ancient Margianians perfected the diffi- cult science of crop irrigation, leading to exceedingly high agricultural yields. What is left of these achievements can now be found in the scattered oases of southern Turkmenistan. Archaeologists interested in this site have docu- ments pertaining to it only from the middle of the first millennium B.C., when it was part of the Achaemienian dominion, where the ancient Zoroastrian religion held sway. By the end of the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great occupied this territory (as well as neighbor- ing Afghanistan) with his army, leading to the forma- tion of the better-known Bakhtrian state (mostly in pre- sent-day Afghanistan). When Alexander left his con- quests to his successors, near-by Margiana fell to the lot of his general, Seleucides. In the middle of the third century B.C., the Parthian kingdom was founded in the foothills of the Kopet Dagh mountains. A Long View Finally, a mere half-hour from the American Embassy in Ashgabat are two exciting archaeological sites. Destroyed by the 1948 earthquake that leveled Ashgabat, the 15th-century mosque of Anau is one of Central Asia’s most picturesque ruins. Gorgeous blue and green dragons used to twist their tails over the doorway. Now pieces of mosaic are strewn about. The tomb of a reputed Moslem saint is nearby, festooned with ribbons, safety pins and even pacifiers because local lore says leaving offerings will make the barren fertile. Farther on are three tumuli, or mounds, which display an impressive chronological stratification; where they’ve been excavated, you can see items dating from the Bronze Age to the 19th century. Possibly Central Asia’s most important archaeologi- cal site is the ancient Parthian capital of Nissa, referred to by the Parthian kings as their “patrimonial nest.” F O C U S A P R I L 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 With their arbitrary slicing up of Czarist-era Turkestan (another name for the whole of present-day Central Asia), the Soviets cut right through the city of Urgench.