4 hours drive east of the Turkmen capitol Ashgabat is the ancient city of Merv. Established over 2000 years ago it reached its peak in the 11th and 12th centuries AD when, as a major centre on the silk route it stood alongside Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo as one of the great Islamic cities of the world. It is said that Merv was the inspiration for Scherezade’s One Thousand and One Nights. In a story that is to be repeated throughout central Asia, in the 1200s Merv was approached by envoys of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. They demanded grain and a pick of the city’s most beautiful women in return for protection. Merv’s rulers responded by killing the envoys. Three year’s later Khan’s son arrived at the head of the mighty Mongol army. Merv surrendered and all 300,000 of her citizens were rounded up and slaughtered by the Mongols who then destroyed the mighty city.
I meet my guide for the next couple of days a burly middle aged Russian called Oleg. He tells me later he is actually one of the partners of Stantours. He has a passion for archeology and really brings these lifeless that otherwise would look like rubble and sand to life. His English is good but literal and, unsurprisingly, does not read nuances very well. I also found a cultural barrier of some sort between us that made him very hard to read.
First afternoon we head off to the complex of Merv. The heat was a reasonable 37 degress outside and s this complex covers hundreds of hectares we drive between monuments. there is a surprising amount left standing with tombs, mosques and palaces in evidence. The photography was magic/
The next day it was a 3 hour each way bone jarring 4WD out to the 4500 year old ruins at Gonur. The lack of anything than an unsignposted dirt track through the scrub is surprising for such a significant archeological site. What is even more surprising is that there is a little withered old man in a mudbrick house out there to collect an entry fee! All around is flat desolate and sandy. The temperature today is over 40 degrees but as we walk through the ruined foundation Oleg brings to life the buildings and the culture and customs of people who thrived here in an era that was as far removed from the birth of Christ as we are today. Most impressive are the massive pottery kilns and everywhere are shards of exquisite ancietn pottery work. We go into a mudbrick hut one of only two buildings in the ruins to see the well preserved ecavation of horse and sheep bones. All around there is a ledge filled with the best of the intact pottery. We are free to pick them up and examine them. 4500 year old pots in my hands, museum pieces!!! I’m glad I didn’t drop one!
Well satisfied we head back. I have “rescued” a couple of pottery shards from the thousands laying unloved on the ground that are classified as archeological junk. Hopefully I will get them home intact.
Dear reader I do actually have some photos to accompany this article. Unfortunately the internet cafe here has blocked me from uploading any onto the computer. I will try elsewhere later, until then I am sorry