Away We’ll Go Sailing in a Race Among the Ruins Written June 24, 2008

There is a rich and varied history in Turkmenistan. Going backwards, there has been the invasion of Afghanistan—launched from my very own sweet Mary. There was the valiant stand at Gokdepe, where the Russian forces finally brought the Turkmen tribes of the desert to heel. There were the countless acts of banditry and violence that kept the Russians out until the last stand of Gokdepe. There were the Silk Roads and the pashas, shahs, and merchants that commerce brings. This was the age of the later versions of Merv and the Sultan Sanjar. Earlier still was the conquering by Alexander the Great. He, too, built at Merv back when the Ama Daryia flowed to the Caspian. Before this still, when the Sumerians were experimenting with cuneiform, there was Gonor Depe.

Gonor Depe is the ruin of a city that is 5,000 years old. There are mysterious allusions to it in less ancient history text, but it remained unknown until 1979. I went with another volunteer and some of his English students. It was carefree and careless, but incredible. It is an ongoing excavation, and the ground is littered with pottery shards and metal tools. They—an amorphous collection of scholars—believe that Gonor Depe is a civilization rather than a settlement, and I’m inclined to agree.

The king’s palace had indoor plumbing. They have uncovered a series of ceramic pipes that run through the palace. There was also advanced metalworking, both for tools and for pleasure. We were taken around by an excavator, who proudly showed us both ax heads and hairpins. They also had massive pottery kilns capable of great heat. They had copper based glazes, whose remains are still caked in the inside of the kiln. The pots they made where everywhere, and stunning. They also had an advanced and possibly monotheistic religion. They—again amorphous scholars—see links between the religion practiced in Gonor Depe and Zoroastrians. The role of fire—eternal and sacred flames—was prominent. Water was also sacred. They had an advanced filter system to purify water to be used in religious rituals. Traces of a hallucinogenic drink, along the lines of Absinthe have also been found. They were found in a massive brewery. It is speculated that this drink was used in religious rituals.

The coolest thing, though, and the most awe-inspiring was the burial of the king. Like the Egyptians, the king was buried with all of his worldly goods. They have found the bones of a horse, decorated with silver amour. Also with the king were gold and silver chalices and plates. There was a chariot; the oldest wheeled cart ever found in Central Asia.

It was fantastic to be there, but the trip was an ordeal. We left from Garagum at 7 a.m. and spent 2 hours driving through the desert in two soviet mini-vans. There was less of a road than tracks in the sand. Both minivans got stuck on several occasions, and we were left wondering how we were going to get out. Never underestimate the strength of young Turkmen when faced with such ordeals. We were routinely pushed free. The desert is spectacular in its sparse way. There is more aliveness here than in the deserts I’ve seen in Namibia, but it’s still not somewhere I want to be indefinitely.

We hike around the site for about 2 hours. It was HOT! But completely worth it. I drank 3 liters of water in those two hours. We went back to the excavators’ station to have lunch. The girls of Garagum had prepared a feast for us. There were somsas, cakes, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I don’t think I will eat a tomato like an apple anywhere else in the world. There were also, at the station, of all things, Americans. There were tourists. The kids were excited because they got to practice their English. The Americans were excited because they got to speak it and interact with real Turkmen. We laughingly jested after the fact that they would return to America thinking all Turkmen could speak English.