Geography of Turkmenistan

A brief history of archaeological research in Turkmenistan from the beginning of the 20th century until the present

Geography of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan covers 488,100 square kilometers and is located in southwestern Central Asia. It is bordered by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to the north and northeast, the Caspian Sea to the west, and Iran, Afghanistan to the south and southeast. The country’s greatest extent from west to east is 1,100 kilometers, and its greatest north-south distance is 650 kilometers.
Around 80% of Turkmenistan is taken up by the Karakum (Garagum, “Black Sands”) Desert, and has very little agricultural potential. Turkmenistan’s mountains include the northern reaches of the Kopetdag (meaning “many mountains”) Range in the south and the western edges of the Pamir Mountain Range in the east.
Turkmenistan’s main rivers are located only in the southern and eastern peripheries. The most important river is the Amudarya, which flows across northeastern Turkmenistan. In the south are other rivers – the Tejen, the Murgab and the Etrek. The Karakum canal (built in the 1950-60s) extends from east (from Amudarya river) to west until the modern town of Bereket (former Kazandjyk) and supplies water to agricultural fields and towns (including a capital of country – Ashgabat) in southern Turkmenistan.

1904-1917

In the second part of the 19th century the territory of modern Turkmenistan was conquered by the Russian Empire. In 1904 the archaeological expedition of the Carnegie Institution (Washington, D.C.) under the direction of R. Pumpelly, with permission from the Russian Imperial Archaeological commission (Saint-Petersburg), conducted archaeological excavations in Anau and in the region of Merv (Erk-kala). These were the first archaeological excavations in Turkmenistan in the 20th century.

Soviet period (1917-1991)

After the October revolution in Russia (1917) Turkmenistan became part of the Turkestan Soviet Socialist Republic. The post-revolutionary development of archaeology in Turkmenistan during the Soviet time can be divided into two periods:

•