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ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

improve the basic condition of the , Ancient , : by removing modern agriculture from within the walled areas and generally research, conservation and management at improving access to the monuments. How- a World Heritage Site ever, there are daunting conservation issues facing the . In 1999, Merv Tim Williams was declared a World Heritage Site and in In the first issue of AI, Georgina Herrmann described the Insti- 2000 it was placed by the international organization World Monuments Watch on tute’s initial involvement, from 1992, in survey, recording and the list of the world’s 100 most threatened excavation at the ancient site of Merv. Now, a decade sites, and it remains on that list today. later, the Institute has embarked on a further collaborative project at this vast multiperiod site. A new project In the autumn of 2001, a new five-year Turkmen–British collaboration was started “I caught my first glimpse of the old cities World Heritage Site between the Institute of Archaeology and of the plain – the ancient capitals of Mar- The conservation and management of the the National Department for the Protec- giana. A long line of walls and turrets, cities and their hinterlands also requires tion, Study and Restoration of Historical dominated by some towering domes, broke urgent attention. In 1987 the Turkmeni- and Cultural Monuments within the Min- the line of the horizon . . . I could scarcely stan Ministry of Culture made the far- istry of .4 The express my anxiety to proceed there and sighted decision to establish an archaeo- project aims to: then to this mysterious spot, concerning logical park to protect the walled cities and • improve our understanding of the sur- which so much has been written and so lit- the principal outlying monuments within vival and potential of the archaeological tle known.” Edmund O’Donovan, 1882.1 the oasis. This has already done much to resource • undertake active research into the cities, t is not only nineteenth-century 0 km 200 to aid in both their management and European travellers who react with interpretation “ excitement and awe to the ruins of KAZAKHSTAN • develop local skills in archaeology, con- UZBEKISTAN the ancient cities of Merv. Today it is servation and management one of the world’s greatest urban N • promote the active management of the archaeological sites, positioned on one of Amu-darya archaeological resource the main arms of the ancient Silk Roads • make research data and interpretations that connected Europe and Africa to east- TURKMENISTAN available to the widest audience. ern Asia. The broad delta of rich alluvial KARA KUM Several more specific objectives have DESERT land created by the Murghab river, which Sumbar also been identified (although what can be Merv

flows northwards from , forms Murghab achieved will be conditioned partly by the A Ashgabat an oasis at the southern edge of the Kara trek resources that can be raised). They are to: Mary Kum desert. Merv lies at the heart of this Tedjen • develop an integrated site-management oasis, close to where the main channel of plan the Murghab flowed in antiquity. A suc- 0km2N • identify and tackle specific manage- cession of cities, together encompassing ment and conservation issues Erk Kala over 1000ha, developed there from the G • create an information platform, estab- fifth century BC to the present day (Fig. 1).2 lish essential reference collections, and Sultan Kala There is a long history of archaeological Muhammad Beni Makhan develop a GIS (geographic information Ibn Zayd exploration at Merv. The site was intermit- Sultan Sanjar G system), to aid both management and mausoleum G tently explored during the late nineteenth Gyaur Kala research and early twentieth centuries, before a Great Kyz Kala • develop several research projects aimed concentrated campaign of fieldwork was Little Kyz Kala G at improving our understanding and undertaken by the South Turkmenistan interpretation of the site, its hinterland Multidisciplinary Archaeological Expedi- and its role in wider social, economic tion (YuTAKE) in the mid-twentieth century and political spheres. and, most recently, the International Merv Specific issues for research include: 3 Project. Despite this, we still know rela- Bairam Ali Abdullah standing long-term urban dynamics, as seen through Khan Kala Khan tively little about the ancient cities of Kala monuments the development and infrastructure of the G Gyaur Kala Merv. We have broad dates for their devel- gates of Gyaur Kala; the nature of the tran- opment, although uncertainty remains sition between Gyaur Kala and Sultan about some major events, such as when the Figure 1 The location of Merv in south- Kala, and the establishment of the early Islamic city of Sultan Kala was founded. ern Turkmenistan and (below) its ancient Islamic city; the organization and charac- We have some information about specific cities. The earliest city, Erk Kala, was ter of the Seljuk city; continuity, re-use and buildings and monuments, but we lack founded c. 500 BC. Around 280 BC it change in Mongol Merv; and the develop- insight into the broader rhythms and became the citadel for the much larger Hel- ment of strategies to communicate the details of urban life, such as the speed and lenistic city of Antiochia (known results of research to the widest possible fluctuations of urban development, the today as Gyaur Kala). In the seventh or audiences and, particularly, to facilitate range of industries and amenities, sanita- eighth century AD a new Islamic city, Sul- access for the local community. tion, trade, and the general organization of tan Kala, was built to the west, although We have begun to establish a pro- the urban community. Much work remains Gyaur Kala continued in use as an indus- gramme for future action by carrying out an to be done to develop more complex inter- trial suburb. In the early fifteenth century initial overview of the most pressing pretations of the dynamic cultures that the Timurid city of Abdullah Khan Kala management, conservation and research occupied what were once among the most was constructed to the south, to which was issues, in collaboration with the staff of important cities on Earth. added a suburb, Bairam Ali Khan Kala, the archaeological park and local-interest probably in the eighteenth century. groups.

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Remedial work has begun. The staff of the archaeological park have started to tackle the situation with a programme of repair, together with temporary works such as buttresses to support the most vul- nerable structures. But, with a very small annual operating budget, there are limits to what can be achieved, especially given the scale of the problems. However, the ability of the park to tackle these issues is being steadily increased. A team from CRATerre- EAG4 has built a laboratory for the park to facilitate research into the chemical prop- erties of the soils and the best methods for developing sustainable new mudbrick and earth materials with which to repair and consolidate the structures. Experimental work and emergency remedial conserva- tion is now under way, in which both tra- ditional and modern techniques are being developed (Fig. 5). Training of members of Figure 2 A view of the medieval Great Kyz Kala at Merv. This is the most impressive the park staff in these methods is an impor- of the surviving köshks (defended houses) at the site, the massive corrugated mudbrick tant element of this programme.7 walls of which stand 12m high upon 4m-high platforms, making them the most striking A further important part of building and unusual buildings to have survived at ancient Merv. Note the eroding foundations conservation is the careful recording by of the walls. members of the archaeological team of the Building conservation have suffered the same fate (Fig. 3). As a re- areas to be conserved before the work During 2001–2002 we evaluated all the sult, there are features of the fortifications starts. In most cases this means photo- standing historical structures within the that now survive in only very limited graphic recording, but sometimes excava- core area of the archaeological park and locations. One of the unique aspects of tion is required. What is perhaps most assessed their current condition, research Merv is the ability of visitors to appreciate heartening is the way that the archae- and display potential, and conservation the scale of the urban development over ologists, the conservators and the park priorities. This has been instrumental in many centuries: a mainly uninterrupted managers are working closely together to shaping our emergency conservation pro- landscape is laid out before them, enabling provide an integrated approach to these gramme. them to visualize the impressive scale of complex problems. There are several ancient mudbrick the successive cities. This is greatly en- buildings still standing at Merv, many of hanced by the continuous circuit of the Previous excavations which are examples of a unique architec- defensive walls, which provides a focus for Over the course of the past century, many tural tradition (Fig. 2),5 but they are threat- the eyes when gazing across the expanse of archaeological interventions have been ened by wind, rain and, particularly, rising these once-great cities. The loss of large made at the site of Merv. We have managed groundwater. The fortifications of Sultan stretches of the circuit – all too possible at to locate some 230 separate trenches, rang- Kala and Abdullah Khan Kala (Fig. 1) face the moment – would severely detract from ing from small-scale exploratory holes to the same problems. For example, the exte- this experience. There are also several substantial excavations, the results of only rior faces of the walls of Abdullah Khan mudbrick monuments at risk, such as the some of which have been published. These Kala have been eroded in the north of the Seljuk mausoleum of Mohammed Ibn old excavations present several problems: city, and in the south the interior faces Zayd and the Timurid icehouses (Fig. 4).6 few have ever been backfilled, and plants are growing in the relatively well watered hollows, destroying the underlying depos- its; exposed mudbrick walls are eroding; exposed walls of fired brick are being robbed for modern uses; and the sides of the excavations are collapsing, destroying yet more of the archaeological resource.8 So we have started a campaign to consoli- date and backfill most of them. When doing so, however, we record the exposed archaeological remains and, where appro- priate, resample them. This is providing invaluable insights into the development and character of the ancient cities. In some cases, excavated structures are potentially useful as a means of presenting the site to visitors, and we hope to secure resources sufficient to enable them to be properly understood, conserved and displayed (Fig. 6). In the short term, however, some exca- vated structures will be reburied to avoid further damage and erosion. Figure 3 A corner tower of the Timurid city of Abdullah Khan Kala, built early in the fifteenth century AD, showing the erosion at the base of the walls caused by rising water and by the wind.

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Figure 5 Repairing the roof of the mau- soleum of Mohammed Ibn Zayd, a Shiite cleric. The concrete roof that had been added early in the twentieth century was too heavy for the structure and stopped it Figure 4 Part of the interior of a Timurid icehouse at Merv, showing the high quality drying out when damp penetrated. It was of its mudbrick construction. therefore removed and replaced with a tra- ditional earthen roof, which requires low Displays and reference collections New excavations maintenance and provides an effective The project team has undertaken a review Continuing research is vital for the suc- weatherproof surface that allows the struc- of existing material from Merv, held cessful management and conservation of ture to breathe. in museum collections in Turkmenistan, the archaeological resource, and for en- which is enabling us to explore the poten- hancing its display and educational value. planning of the city, and its excavation can tial for new displays. The British Embassy We are keen to advance research at Merv, potentially inform us about several aspects in Turkmenistan has kindly made a grant but we are also conscious of the need to of the city’s history: the date of its construc- to help the park establish a small interpre- avoid compromising unique aspects of the tion, an important indicator of the early tation centre at its entrance. This will ena- archaeological record. plans for the city; its maintenance over ble local people and international visitors In 2002 we excavated a sample trial time, for evidence of the city’s infrastruc- to appreciate the scale and complexity of trench across the Madjan canal, the central ture; and its later use and ultimate aban- the site and the conservation problems that waterway through the medieval Islamic donment, for an insight into the Mongol it now faces. city of Sultan Kala. The canal appears to occupation of the city. The material already excavated is also have been an integral element in the Preliminary results of the excavation being studied to provide the basis of new reference collections that will be valuable not just for future research at Merv but also to colleagues working in Iran, Afghanistan and the rest of . It will also help us to develop plans for the long-term con- servation and curation of material arising from the Merv project. The fortifications of Abdullah Khan Kala According to historical sources, the city of Abdullah Khan Kala was constructed in the early fifteenth century, some three cen- turies after the walls of Sultan Kala were built. The later defences, at Abdullah Khan Kala, provide an interesting complement to the work we have already undertaken on the defences of Sultan Kala,9 and, if an early fifteenth-century date for the con- struction of the walls of Abdullah Khan Kala is correct, this interval of about 300 years encompasses the transition from pre-artillery military architecture to an architecture fully adapted to the cannon. In 2002 we completed a survey of the defences of Abdullah Khan Kala which has Figure 6 Part of the interior of a water cistern in the Beni Makhan mosque, Gyaur Kala, provided an initial interpretive sequence, built in the eleventh or twelfth century AD. This impressive structure has gradually been and we are now developing a programme collapsing since it was excavated in the 1980s. Resources are now being sought to con- for their future research and conservation. serve it and re-excavate the surrounding area in order to be able to interpret the site to visitors.

42 ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL suggest that the canal gradually ceased to great challenge, but one that the Turkmen- between the eleventh and the fifteenth be maintained to the standard achieved istan Ministry of Culture, the staff of the centuries AD. during the heyday of the Seljuk city in the archaeological park, and all of us associ- 7. UNESCO has provided support for the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The sub- ated with the project, are keen to take up. initial development of the conservation stantial well built walls that originally In addition to its archaeology, the park project, and the World Monuments Fund has generously provided resources to ena- retained the canal were later replaced with area contains habitats of rare plants and ble the UCL–CRATerre-EAG–Turkmen roughly built walls, retaining a narrower animals, which reinforces the need to team to start a programme of mudbrick channel. After these had collapsed or been develop a sustainable management plan consolidation. removed, the channel became little more for the World Heritage Site. The park staff 8. L. Cook, Mitigating the impact of excava- than an open stream, and a small oven was have started educational programmes with tions: documentation and conservation built into the bank. There is also evidence local schools, although more resources strategies for the extant intervention of industrial activity in the area, suggesting are needed to develop better access. At trenches, archaeological park of ancient that the urban landscape had changed con- present, foreign tourism is not a major fac- Merv, Turkmenistan (MA thesis, Institute of Archaeology, University College Lon- siderably by the fourteenth century. This tor, although what there is makes a valua- don, 2002). trial excavation of part of the canal has ble contribution to the local and regional 9. P. Brun & A. Annaev, “The fortifications of revealed both great complexity and great economy. The scale of tourism is, however, Sultan Kala”, Iran 39, 33–41, 2001. potential, and we hope to undertake a large likely to change over the next decade, and 10.The satellite imagery has provided a geo- excavation in the area in 2003, to explore meanwhile we have an opportunity to plan referenced base map, creating a platform the canal sequence and to integrate this for this on a sustainable basis, before for integrating the other spatial data. This with an understanding of the surrounding increased numbers of tourists overwhelm has been achieved through the hard work properties. the infrastructure and facilities. of Marek Zeibart and Cordelia Hall (UCL), Merv faces many challenges in terms of and of Peter Dare (University of New Brunswick, Canada). Managing the information both management and research. What is so 11.We are particularly grateful to our spon- A vast amount of information exists on encouraging is the willingness of so many sors, including a grant from American modern land use and irrigation systems, participants – the archaeological park, the Express, through World Monuments areas of flooding, the below-ground archae- Ministry of Culture, academic and schol- Watch (a programme of the World Monu- ological resource, standing buildings and arly institutions in Turkmenistan, the inter- ments Fund), which is enabling us to landscape change. We have begun to national community (not least UNESCO, the develop a French–Anglo–Turkmen develop a GIS to manage this information World Monuments Fund, and the Institute collaboration; the Max van Berchem and to integrate it with historical maps, of Archaeology) – to take up the challenge Foundation, Geneva; the Metropolitan aerial photography and satellite imagery.10 of developing a sustainable future for this Museum of Art, New York; the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board; and the Outside the walled cities, the archaeo- unique site.11 British Institute of Persian Studies. logical resource is not confined to indi- Thanks also go to the Turkmen Ambassa- vidual standing monuments, which are Notes dor to Britain, His Excellency C. M. nothing without an appreciation of the 1. Quotation on p. 202 of E. O’Donovan, The Babayev, who has done much to facilitate landscape in which they functioned. Aer- Merv oasis: travels and adventures east of our work, and to the Landscape Research ial photographs and fieldwork show the the Caspian during the years 1879–80–81 Centre, Yedingham, North Yorkshire, for intervening buildings, gardens, orchards (London: Smith, Elder, 1882). the loan of surveying, computing and pho- and cemeteries, but, at present, protection 2. See G. Herrmann in Archaeology Interna- tographic equipment, and, through them, tional 1997/98, 32–6, for a résumé of the of these is limited. A (a build- the loan of hand-held computers, kindly setting and development of the cities. donated by the Handspring Foundation of ing to accommodate travelling merchants) 3. The International Merv Project (IMP), Mountain View, California, which con- and potters’ quarter, both west of Sultan directed by Dr Georgina Herrmann Insti- siderably enhanced our ability to record Kala, are being destroyed by agriculture, tute of Archaeology) and Dr St John Simp- information in the field. the robbing of pottery for the antiquities son (British Museum), in collaboration trade, and modern trackways. Analysis of with Dr Kakamurad Kurbansakhatov aerial photographs taken over the past 25 (then of the National Institute for the His- years shows the scale of the loss, but it is tory of Turkmenistan of the Cabinet of also enabling us to plan, with the park, for Ministers). See the interim reports pub- lished annually in the journal Iran from the future management of the areas most at 1992 to 2001, and G. Herrmann, Monu- risk. ments of Merv: traditional buildings of the Karakum (London: Society of Antiquaries Conclusion of London, 1999). Merv is a unique and exhilarating archae- 4. The project is co-directed by Dr Kakamu- ological landscape. It differs from cities rad Kurbansakhatov (State Institute of such as and in that it Cultural History of the Peoples of Turk- has fewer standing buildings (although menistan, Central Asia and the East), and those it has are spectacular and unique), myself (Institute of Archaeology), with the valuable help of Assistant Director Dr but the scale and complexity of entire Gabriele Puschnigg (Institute of Archae- urban landscapes are laid out before the ology). In addition, the project is a collab- visitor. It takes imagination, but Merv is a oration with the Turkmenistan Ministry place to capture the imagination of anyone of Culture (Mukhammed Mamedov and who sees it. Until you have visited it, it is Ruslan Muradov), the Ancient Merv State hard to appreciate the scale of what was Park for Historical and Cultural Monu- achieved in this oasis. Helping to research ments (Rejeb Dzaparov) and CRATerre- and conserve this extraordinary site, and to EAG (the International Centre for Earth Construction of the School of Architec- develop sustainable tourism – enabling the ture in Grenoble) (Sébastien Moriset and visitor to explore the scale of the urban Mahmoud Bendikir). achievement and the histories of these 5. See footnote 3 in Herrmann 1999 (n. 3 once vibrant cities that lay on one of the above). most important cultural crossroads the 6. The Seljuks and Timurids were dynasties world has seen – will be a challenge. It is a of Islamic rulers who occupied Merv

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