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In-Depth Information
hand, for the interested, there is the Factory Museum of Cotton seeds, next
to the cotton oil factory. It is also possible to buy handcrafts like jewelry
and rugs from the central bazaar in Bayramali (Brummel, 2005).
Merv settlements must be studied in two main categories. The first one
of these is the northern Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements, dated back
to 2500 B.C., and the second is the settlement called “the old Merv” (Fig.
5), which reaches the present day from the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.,
covering the settlements of Erk Kala, Gyaur Kala, Sultan Kala, Abdullah
Khan Kala and Bayramali Khan Kala.
FIGURE 5
Old Merv Monuments from Atagarriev: 1 - Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum 2 -
Divanhane 3 - Palace 4 - Yusuf Hamadani Mausoleum 5 - Shahriyar Ark 6 - Muhammed
Ibn Zayd Mausoleum 7 - Lesser Kyz Kala 9 - Greater Kyz Kala 10,11 - Icehouses 12 -
Mausolea of Two Askhabs 14 - City walls, 15 - Erk Kala, 16 - Gyaur Kala, 18 - Abdullah
Han Kala, 19 - Bayramali Khan Kala, 20 - Modern Bayramali (Aslanapa, 1996).
The archeological excavations initiated by Russians in Merv and Turk-
menistan are being continued heavily at present by Russian, English,
American and Italian excavation teams and research institutes, with the
big support of the government (Durduyev, 1998). In the excavations done
around Merv during approximately the past 40 years, many settlements
were unearthed which are thought to belong to the Margush country men-
tioned in the Behistun inscriptions (Sarianidi, 1986), and 1000 archeologi-
cal sites were unearthed in the 80,000 km
2
region in the Murgab delta. The
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