Gonur Depe and the ancient Oxus Civilization



The ruins at Gonur Depe (Depe = layered mound) in southern Turkmenistan are the remains of a bronze age city dating back to ~ 2000 BCE. Contemporary with the earliest cities in Babylonia, it is one of the main monuments of the little known Oxus Civilization. Many of the artifacts uncovered here are in the museum in Ashgabat. This site was once the well-watered oasis at the end of the Murgab river just north the present city of Mary. Today it is desert.