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Dr. Fredrik Hiebert Assistant Curator, Near East Section University of Pennsylvania Museum Assistant Professor, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies University of Pennsylvania | ||
| Left: Excavation unit in which stamp seal was dicovered | ||
| Over the summer of 2000, the University of Pennsylvania Museum Central Asia archaeology project completed its third season at Anau depe in Turkmenistan. In Turkmenistan, desert oasis settlements dating from as far back as the Bronze Age dot the trail of the historic Silk Road. This region, part of the Soviet Union for most of the twentieth century, is surrounded by ancient civilizations which had writing systems and literate elites: China, the Indus valley, Mesopotamia, and Iran. The ancient societies of Central Asia had cities, temples, palaces, irrigated landscapes, and vivid artwork, but lacked evidence of number or writing systems. | ||
| The origins of the desert settlements can be found along the edge of the Iranian Plateau just north of the Kopet Dag mountains (map). Our expedition to the mounded site of Anau has been investigating the origins of the Central Asian cultures and has found that this region developed in a similar but distinctive way to the growth of civilizations in neighboring regions. We like Anau because it was occupied for almost every period. Deposits stretch from the earliest village way of life (4500 BC) to a Bronze Age town (2300 BC) to a walled classical city (2nd c. BC) which was eventually topped by a medieval mosque (1500th c AD) with glistening blue-green glazed tiles. In the 2000 season, we focused on investigating the Bronze Age origins of urban life during a period contemporary with the cities of Mesopotamia. | ||
| Excavations highlight differences: Anau generally is a very small site compared to nearby Kopet Dag sites such as Namazga depe and Altyn depe. At Anau, we began this year by excavating at the base of the Bronze Age mound, where we uncovered the eroded top of a very large room complex (see illustration). We did not expect such large and well-built construction. We spent our season excavating this building, whose walls, even now, stand more than 2 meters tall. The fill from these rooms contained finely made ceramics and many pieces of clay used to seal vessels or parcels. Within the building we found a unique engraved stamp seal. The small, beautifully carved seal is made of shiny black jet, and the inscription is emphasized with a reddish brown pigment (see illustration). | ||
| This object has parallels only at the Central Asian site of Altyn depe. The symbols or letters in the engraving were unknown to us. At first, we thought the inscription might be Harappan, from the Indus valley, but we now realize that it is unconnected with writing systems in Mesopotamia, Iran, Harappa, or China, and most likely reflects a local symbolic system. Seals are used in the administrative system of an economy that needs to keep track of goods such as supplies for temples, barracks, or palaces. Even a small site like Anau has imposing architectural remains, and now we have recovered evidence for its involvement in a managed system of distribution. This pattern of small and large sites having elite and bureaucratic functions is unique to the Central Asian Bronze Age. | ||
| On October 10, 2000, I had the honor of announcing the find of the stamp seal at a conference presided over by the President of Turkmenistan, Sapmurat Niyazov. Mr. Niyazov frequently mentions the archaeology of the Kopet Dag region, and Anau in particular, as evidence of the greatness to which Turkmenistan can aspire. We intend to continue our research at Anau in a spirit of collaboration and look forward to celebrating the 100th anniversary of archaeological research at Anau in 2004. | ||