Ulug Depe is an ancient Bronze Age site in the foothills of the Kopet Dag Mountains in the Karakum Desert of Kaka District (Kaahka) in the Ahal Province of south-eastern Turkmenistan. It covers around 13 hectares and lies on a mound at a height of about 30 meters, displaying the longest stratigraphic sequence of Central Asia, from the Late Neolithic, represented by Jeitun culture, until the pre-Achaemenid period.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Ulug Depe
Ulug depe (in Turkmen)
Location in Turkmenistan
Location in Turkmenistan
Location in Turkmenistan
Location in Turkmenistan
Location in Turkmenistan
Ulug Depe (West and Central Asia)
Coordinates37°9′20.23″N 60°1′46.02″E / 37.1556194°N 60.0294500°E / 37.1556194; 60.0294500
History
PeriodsBronze Age
CulturesBMAC

Discoveries edit

Excavations in the Late Bronze layers also found a "pressure set" for making soma drink. This set, similar to those found in Gonur Depe,

"... consisted of a huge stone mortar and a pestle, a pressing stone with a half-spheric projection in its centre, and next to it a similar one with a half-spheric deepening."[11]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Lhuillier, J., (2016)."Ulug-depe and the transition period from Bronze Age to Iron Age in Central Asia: A Tribute to V. I. Sarianidi" Archived 2020-12-23 at the Wayback Machine in Transactions of Margiana Archaeological Expedition Vol. 6, p. 509. (Academia.edu Archived 2020-12-23 at the Wayback Machine)
  2. ^ Lecomte, Olivier, (2011)."Ulug-depe: 4000 Years of Evolution between Plain and Desert" Archived 2020-06-23 at the Wayback Machine, in Historical and Cultural Sites of Turkmenistan, p. 223.
  3. ^ Lhuillier, Johanna; Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio; Lecomte, Olivier (2013). "Ulug-Depe in the frame of Turkmenistan Iron Age: an overview". Iranian Archaeology. IV. Wahesht Mina International Institute.
  4. ^ Lhuillier, Johanna; Dupont-Delaleuf, Armance; Lecomte, Olivier; Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio (2013). "The Middle Iron Age in Ulug depe: a preliminary typo-chronological and technological study of the Yaz II ceramic complex". In Wagner, Mercin (ed.). Pottery and chronology of the Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Warszawa: Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw. pp. 9–28. ISBN 9788361376651.
  5. ^ Xin, Wu; Lecomte, Olivier (2012). "Clay sealings from the Iron Age citadel at Ulug Depe". Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan. Vol. 44. Dietrich Reimer Verlag GmbH for Deutsches Archäologisches Institut & Eurasien-Abteilung Außenstelle Teheran. pp. 313–328.
  6. ^ Lhuillier, Johanna; Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio (2016). "Some more exceptional discoveries at Ulug-depe". Transactions of Margiana Archaeological Expedition. Vol. VI. Moscow: Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography. pp. 522–528. ISBN 978-5-89930-150-6.
  7. ^ Lhuillier, Johanna; Bendezu-Sarmiento, J. (2021). "Recent discoveries on the Hellenistic and Parthian Occupation of Ulug-depe". Archaeological News. 32. St. Petersburg: 212–227. doi:10.31600/1817-6976-2021-32-212-227.
  8. ^ Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio; Lhuillier, Johanna; Caroline, Hamon; Luneau, Elise; Caubet, Annie F. (2015). Ulug depe: a forgotten city in Central Asia. Paris: Ginkgo éditeur for MAFTur (Mission Archeologique Franco-Turkmene).
  9. ^ Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio (2019). A Unique Discovery: Alabaster Vases. Ashgabat: Fine Arts National Museum of Turkmenistan for MAFtur (Mission Archéologique Franco-Turkmène).
  10. ^ Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio (2010). "New Archaeological Researches in Ulug-Depe: Some Burials of the Second Millennium B.C.". On the Track of Uncovering a Civilization: A Volume in Honor of the 80th-Anniversary of Victor Sarianidi. Transactions of the Margiana Archaeological Expedition (in Russian). St-Petersburg: Aletheia. pp. 513–535.
  11. ^ Sarianidi, Victor I. (2003). "Margiana and Soma-Haoma". Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 9 (1): 53–73. doi:10.11588/ejvs.2003.1.787. ISSN 1084-7561.

Further reading edit