An international webinar dedicated to new scientific discoveries in the Bactrian-margian archaeological complex (BMAC) was held by the Embassy of Turkmenistan in France together with the Turkmen-French archaeological mission MAFTUR. This is reported by the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan".

Gonur-Depe, where archaeological research has not stopped for almost half a century, is the largest identified BMAC settlement. Professor V. I. Sarianidi started the excavations of the settlement, and today a joint Turkmen-Russian expedition under the leadership of doctor of historical Sciences Nadezhda Anatolyevna Dubova continues.

The MAFTUR expedition, led by Dr. Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, has been working for about twenty years in the huge settlement of Ulug-Depe, located in the foothills of Kopetdag near the village of Dushak in the Akhal velayat.

The last webinar was another action aimed at popularizing knowledge about the rich historical and cultural heritage of our country abroad, and the speakers were authoritative experts from Turkmenistan, France, Italy, Russia, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

The virtual forum was moderated by the Ambassador of Turkmenistan to France Shohrat Dzhumayev. Nadezhda Dubova and another member of the Margian expedition, archaeologist Alexey Fribus from Kemerovo University (Russia), told about the most interesting results of recent excavations at Gonur-Depe, as well as plans for the upcoming field seasons.

Dr. Barbara Cerazetti from the University of Bologna (Italy) shared the results of the Turkmen-Italian archaeological mission, which has also been exploring the old Murghab Delta and the bronze age archaeological sites located in its zone for many years. French archaeologists Dr. Bendezou-Sarmiento from the National center for scientific research in Paris and Dr. Joanna Luiller from Lyon presented striking MAFTUR finds made at Ulug-Depe and convincingly confirm that this monument belongs to the BMAC culture.

Over the years of joint work of Russian and French specialists and their Turkmen colleagues from the two state historical and cultural reserves "Ancient Merv" and "Abiverd", a huge amount of research has been carried out. Professor Shapulat Shaidullayev from Termez state University (Uzbekistan) and Bashir Rustaki, a post – graduate student at Kabul University and the Sorbonne Department in Kabul (Afghanistan), presented their reports on the Bactrian part of the BMAC.

Research fellow, Department of Oriental antiquities of the Louvre Museum François Bridey (France) expressed his sincere admiration for those artifacts that were found during excavations in Margiana and Ulug-Depe, and hope that in the coming years, the parties can reach agreement and organize an exhibition of these Turkmen antiquities in the Louvre.

Margush, as the Ancient Margiana is often called, based on the mention in the Avesta, is placed on a par with such early centers of the world's first agricultural civilizations as Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and Harappa in the Indus valley.

Earlier, we wrote that a French archaeologist conducted a video lecture for Turkmen students.

Read on the topic:

• "La Recherché" magazine published an article about archaeological excavations in southern Turkmenistan;
• Recent archaeological finds with the image of a horse will be presented in Turkmenistan;
• Gonur-depe - evidence of the ancient history of the Turkmen.