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The catalogue
29 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Namazga II–IV 3200–2000 BCE (Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze) · Namazga oasis (Pre-BMAC) → BMAC (Bactria-Margiana)
Middle–Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze oasis town (c.3200–2000 BCE, Namazga II–IV) between Namazga and the Karakum — 26 ha walled town famous for its Ziggurat-like mudbrick 'altar' complex (massive…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Buried city
Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) · Bronze Age
Merv — Sultan Kala Buried Citadel North in Mary, Merv, Sultan Kala, Turkmenistan is a Neolithic to Bronze Age (6000–1200 BCE) buried city attributed to Bro…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Namazga I–VI 4000–1800 BCE (Chalcolithic to Bronze Age) · Anau–Namazga oasis civilization (Pre-BMAC Kopet)
Bronze Age mega-tell and type-site for Namazga chronology (c.4000–1800 BCE) near the Tejen River fan 100 km east of Ashgabat — 50 ha tepe (largest in Turkmenistan) with 30 m stratigraphy (Namazga…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Temple complex
BMAC (2200–1800 BCE) · Oxus civilization
Togolok 21 — BMAC Fire Temple in Mary Province, Turkmenistan is a BMAC (2200–1800 BCE) temple-complex attributed to Oxus civilization.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Tell
Chalcolithic to Bronze Age (5000–2000 BCE) Namazga Sequence · Anau–Namazga culture
Namazga Depe — Outer Lower Town in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan is a Chalcolithic to Bronze Age (5000–2000 BCE) Namazga Sequence tell attributed to Anau–Namazga culture.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Tell
Neolithic–Chalcolithic (6000–3000 BCE) · Jeitun to Namazga I
Anau — North Mound Obsidian Workshop in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan is a Neolithic–Chalcolithic (6000–3000 BCE) tell attributed to Jeitun to Namazga I.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Tomb
Old to Middle Kingdom (2700–1800 BCE) · Old–New Kingdom Egyptian
Gonur Depe — Royal Necropolis Tomb 3220 in Mary, Gonur Depe, Turkmenistan is a Old to Middle Kingdom (2700–1800 BCE) tomb attributed to Old–New Kingdom Egy…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Temple complex
BMAC (2100–1700 BCE) · Oxus (Gonur phase)
Adji Kui — Murghab BMAC Sanctuary in Mary Province, Turkmenistan is a BMAC (2100–1700 BCE) temple-complex attributed to Oxus (Gonur phase).
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Bronze Age BMAC (3200–2000 BCE) · Namazga V – Altyn Depe
Altyn Depe — South Craft Quarter in Ahal Province, Turkmenistan is a Bronze Age BMAC (3200–2000 BCE) ancient-city attributed to Namazga V – Altyn Depe.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
Altyn-Depe — North Craft Quarter (Mary) in Mary Province, Altyn-Depe, Turkmenistan is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed t…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Bactria-Margiana (BMAC) Gonur (2400–1600 BCE) · Oxus civilization (BMAC)
Gonur North Extension — Margiana in Mary Province, Turkmenistan is a Bactria-Margiana (BMAC) Gonur (2400–1600 BCE) ancient-city attributed to Oxus civilization (BMAC).
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient village
Jeitun Neolithic 6000–5000 BCE → Pessejik phase · Jeitun culture (Central Asian Neolithic)
Type-site for Neolithic Jeitun culture (c.6000–5000 BCE) in the Kopet Dag piedmont north of Ashgabat — 10 house settlement (0.8 ha) excavated 1952–62 by Vadim Masson, the earliest permanent farming…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Jeitun (6000) → Anau–Namazga (4500–1800) → BMAC → Achaemenid–Parthian 500 BCE–300 CE · Kopet oasis continuous (Jeitun → BMAC → Persian)
Longest-lived oasis tell in southern Turkmenistan (c.6000 BCE–Medieval) at Dushak north of Kaahka — 15 ha mound 32 m high with continuous 8000-year stratigraphy excavated since 2001 by Olivier…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Tell
Chalcolithic to Iron Age (5000–500 BCE; Bronze Age city 2500–1500 BCE) · Anau–Namazga to Oxus (BMAC) to Yaz
Ulugh Depe is Turkmenistan's largest tell — 26-m-high (5000 BCE–500 BCE), 13-ha Bronze Age citadel with Yaz I citadel (1500 BCE) and Namazga IV–VI ceramics.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Hydraulic works
Seljuk 11th c. (Sultan Sanjar) with Abbasid foundation · Seljuk Islamic (Merv oasis)
Sultan Kala – Medieval Merv oasis headworks on Murghab: 12m Sultan Dam (Murghab bifurcation barrage), Razik canal, Majan canal lattice and 55 km Abdullah canal irrigating 2,500 km² oasis supporting…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Parthian Arsacid 3rd c BCE–3rd c CE (peak 1st c BCE–1st c CE) · Parthian / Arsacid
Parthian ceremonial and administrative capital (3rd c BCE–3rd c CE) of two tells: Old Nisa (Mithridatkert fortress 14 ha with 43 towers, wine rhytons and ivory rhytons inscribed Arsacid) and New Nisa…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Tell
BMAC Bronze Age (c.2400–1600 BCE; Togolok phase 2200–1800) · BMAC (Togolok temple of Gonur)
Togolok 1 is the BMAC temple-fort satellite of Gonur — 140-m square enclosure with corner towers, central bastioned cult fortress and fire ritual basin. Sariani...
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
BMAC / Oxus Civilization 2500–1500 BCE (peak 2300–1700 BCE) · Bactria-Margiana / Oxus / Indo-Iranian
Fortified Bronze Age capital (2500–1500 BCE) of Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC, Oxus Civilization) in Murghab delta, discovered by Viktor Sarianidi 1972.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Achaemenid 6th c BCE to Timurid 18th c CE (Seljuk peak 11th–13th c) · Parthian / Seljuk / Timurid (Persian-Central Asian)
Four superimposed cities of Merv oasis on Murghab alluvium: Erk Kala Achaemenid citadel, Gyaur Kala Hellenistic-Parthian double-walled (Antiochia Margiana), Sultan Kala Seljuk capital (world's…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Gonur / Togolok phase BMAC 2300–1700 BCE · Bactria–Margiana (Oxus) civilization
BMAC (Bactria–Margiana) monumental temple-fortress (c.2300–1700 BCE) on Murghab alluvium, satellite of Gonur Tepe, built of mud-brick with central fortified court 30×40 m, fire temple, part of Viktor…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Khwarezmshah to Golden Horde 995–1388 · Khwarezmshah / Seljuk / Golden Horde
Lost capital of Khwarezm in Amu Darya delta, flourishing 10th–14th c. with 60 m Kutlug Timur minaret tallest in Central Asia and Turabek Khanum mausoleum (1360s) with world's most complex girikh dome…
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient village
Geoksyur period (Namazga I–III) Chalcolithic–Early Bronze · Anau cultures (Jeitun→Geoksyur→Altyn)
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age tell cluster (4500–3000 BCE) forming proto-urban oasis with 10 villages up to 10 ha each, the largest Namazga-period centre in Kopet Dag piedmont before BMAC.
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Anau IA–II (Namazga I–II) 4500–3000 BCE → Bronze → Iron → Sejuk · Jeitun–Anau → Namazga → Bronze Age BMAC → Iranian
Oasis-town pair (c.4500 BCE–1000 CE) on the Kopet Dag fan near Ashgabat — Anau North (Chalcolithic Anau IA–II, 4500–3000 BCE) and Anau South (Bronze–Iron Age 2000 BCE–Islamic) twin mounds excavated…