A Russian archaeological mission may appear in Turkmenistan, as well as in the CIS countries where excavations are being conducted.

The proposal for such a mission was voiced by the chief researcher of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Margiana archaeological expedition in the southeast of Turkmenistan Nadezhda Dubova.

This was reported by Science TASS with reference to N. Dubova’s words.

“In Ashgabat, during a meeting with the Russian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ivan Volynkin, I spoke about the need and expediency of creating archaeological missions in the CIS countries where excavations are being conducted. Among them, it is definitely worth highlighting Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and, of course, Turkmenistan,” the scientist said.

The missions could include exhibition halls where the finds and excavation sites would be described, as well as various rooms for archaeologists to work in and their lives. They would help to better acquaint residents of the CIS countries with the work that is being carried out by Russians together with local colleagues, and would allow those interested to master or improve their qualifications in the field of archeology.

At the same time, during a conversation with the ambassador, N. Dubova suggested that the excavations being carried out in Turkmenistan be covered more widely. For example, after each season of excavations, something like a briefing on their results should be held.

This year is an anniversary year for Gonur-Depe: exactly 50 years ago, systematic excavations began here. This monument was discovered by the Russian-Turkmen Margiana Archaeological Expedition, the history of which is associated with the name of the outstanding archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi. By the end of the 1980s, in the Merv oasis in southeastern Turkmenistan, he discovered more than 200 settlements, the center of which was Gonur-Depe. These excavations testified to the existence of a previously unknown center of the civilization of the Ancient East – the Bactrian-Margiana archaeological culture, dating back to the Bronze Age in Central Asia.

Earlier we reported that a unique artifact was discovered during archaeological excavations in Turkmenistan.