Transcript
The desert of Karakum in Turkmenistan holds some of the best-kept secrets of Central Asia. The fact that it was once inhabited by man remained unknown for many years. It was not until the 1970s that archaeologists began to uncover traces of several settlements, dating from the 3rd millennium before Christ. Until then, it had been supposed that the ancient world revolved around the great urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Elam, and the Indus. Expeditions to the Karakum Desert brought to light a whole chain of settlements spread out along a very old trading route. This is the Oasis civilization, so named because its great centers received the merchant caravans which plied the ancient world. Excavations have proved that this was an original culture characterized by fine craftsmanship and unusual feminine statuettes. And yet, many questions remain unanswered.
What were the beliefs and the lifestyle of the inhabitants of these settlements? How did they relate to other contemporary cultures? The Italian archaeologist Gabriel Rossi Osmida has today started a new expedition to the heart of the Karakum Desert to try and solve some of these mysteries. What he discovers there will lead him to the origins of the first great myths of humanity, to the time when man was inventing the stories that would form the foundations of his beliefs.
Gabriel Rossi-Ozmida has been studying the Oasis Civilization for over 10 years. Now he wants to move his research forward by exploring other sites. In May 2003, with the Russian archaeologist Berdy Udeum-Muradov, Gabriel set out for an area of ancient settlements known as Adji-Kui. The site was identified nearly 30 years ago by Karakum’s first explorers, who carefully noted down its geographical location. So many pottery. The information seems to be accurate. At the spot indicated, the ground is strewn with shards of pottery, which bear witness to a habitation that probably dates from several thousand years before Jesus Christ.
Typical. Yes. It’s okay. Typical stone. Typical birds. Or maybe the scientific scientific scientific scientific scientific advice? Beautiful. Not bad. Nice. Eagle with snake. In heraldic position. Another eagle and a little eagle.
One month later, the workers hired for the dig set up camp. Karakum, after so many centuries of silence, is suddenly alive with the activity of new inhabitants. And yet the archaeologists still know nothing about the site of Ajikui. Nothing about its size, its history, nor even if it is typical of the Oasis civilization. And where in this vast expanse are to be found the remains left by humans 5,000 years ago?
Two weeks of surveying and probing have identified the location of a necropolis. For Gabriel, the first tombs are decisive. The rituals and offerings will show if this is indeed a site of the Oasis civilization. The dig quickly reveals the presence of stacks of pottery, which confirm the archaeologists’ intuitions. The vases and bowls used to contain food offerings were delicately fashioned, slightly inverted around the rim. The refined and original forms attest to a perfectly accomplished work of art.
In the following tomb, the pottery has not survived the ground subsidence. However, other treasures are concealed within. This is a magnificent bronze work. It’s a flask. Here it is. This little flask was intended to hold a cosmetic product. Probably some kind of eye shadow, as it was found together with a tool that was typical for this kind of application. The presence of such equipment in a tomb emphasizes the importance accorded to beauty by the inhabitants of Ajigui. This is one of the customs that characterizes the Oasis civilization. As previous discoveries have shown, the objects designed for cosmetics and healthcare are always the most refined and the most precious ones.
In a few days, the inhabitants of a world that has been buried for 5,000 years re-emerge into the light of day. The first of them appears from under the fallen archway of his tomb, as if emerging from under a stone blanket. The second, lying on his side, face turned towards the rising sun, looks as if he has been rudely awakened from a deep sleep. This is a ritual position common to all necropolis inhabitants. What is eerie here is not the spectacle of death, but that of life being prolonged through the positioning of the bodies. Face to face, throughout eternity, a mother watches over her sleeping son, just as she must have done before they both died, probably as a result of the same calamity.
Anthropologist Horace Babakov becomes involved when, theoretically, there is nothing left to examine but the skeletons lying on the floor of the sepulchers. This time, however, an object is found beneath the skull. It had escaped the attentions of the diggers. The discovery evokes another feature of this civilization. This small stamp seal was deliberately placed beneath the head of the deceased, a gesture which, although it was made 5,000 years ago, is still of great significance for archaeologists. This seal is typically found in female tombs. It is a woman, right? A woman who was no doubt of high rank because she owned a few goods and was buried with this symbol of her wealth. The stamp seal is a sign of ownership of an object or of a product, an emblem of power linked to the control of trade. All the specimens so far discovered come from female tombs. This is how we know that the women held power.
In the third millennium BC, the Oasis Society was still strongly matriarchal in nature. Its development depended more on the management of agricultural resources than on conquest and warfare. Its divinities were a homage to fertility. Curiously, the last sepulchre in the necropolis was not built for a human being. The animal that can be made out at the bottom of this tomb was an alibi, or desert dog, typical of these regions. Its descendants are today used by the shepherds of Karakum to guard their flocks. 5,000 years ago, this one probably had the job of watching over the animals and protecting its masters. The fact that he was buried in a human cemetery shows that his role in their society was an important one.
It has rained all night, and the bad weather continues through the day. The north wind from the Kazakhstan plains has brought the temperature down by 30 degrees Celsius. The desert, heavy in clay, is immediately transformed into a lagoon, and excavations are halted. When the sun returns after 48 hours, the desert immediately bursts into flower. This explosion of color reminds us of the potential fertility of the area. The rain has other uses, though, and proves to bring unexpected assistance to the archaeologists. The earth dries out irregularly according to the density of the bedrock, and reveals the outlines of walls below the surface of the desert. One kilometer away from the necropolis, the form of a town has become visible on the surface. Berdy immediately begins to trace the first contours of a previously unseen settlement. The town is there, asleep for 5,000 years under the sands of Karakum, and with it, a part of the history of the Oasis civilization.
The task now is to remove the earth along the lines of the buildings, down to the ancient ground level. Neither the size nor the shape of this town is known yet. Digging must proceed with great care in order not to destroy what the desert has preserved. Finally, more than two meters below the surface, mud-brick walls appear, marking the most ancient foundations. They are the perimeter walls, over two meters thick. By following their lines, the workers gradually explore the edges of the constructed area. The result surpasses expectations. Two weeks’ work reveals the contours of a vast city spread out over about 10 hectares, which guarded its wealth behind a continuous fortified wall. It was here that flourished one of the great urban centers of the Oasis civilization.
Gabriel, I await you! Gabriel, I await you! Gabriel, I await you, because we find so beautiful things. Beautiful tomb, I await you. Come here, Gabriel. A approximately rectangular shape. Look from this side. One, two, three, four walls. Such pottery signifies the presence of a furnished tomb within the very buttresses of the ramparts. A sepulchre placed in such a strange manner that it seems as if endowed with special meaning. Booo. Oh, that’s it.
The eagle and the serpent. This is the fourth amulet of its type found on the site. These figures recur too often to be purely decorative. The eagle and the serpent can be found in a number of ancient cultures. They symbolize the opposition of the earthly world of fertility and the cycle of life with the spiritual one of thought, imagination, and the gods. These motives from the amulets found in Ajiqui are not only related, they constitute a series of images which seem to represent the various parts of a narrative. All these images represent a conception of good and evil, of divinity and of religion. They are linked to messages about the religious beliefs of this people. This shows that something is concealed behind this image of an eagle with a serpent. We don’t yet have many amulets, but we hope to find others to complete the picture of the religious beliefs and myths of this people.
For the archaeologist, it’s clear that the images refer to a story that was told throughout the region about 5,000 years ago. A narrative which for the time being consists of nothing more than a few jumbled pictures. After June, the project is put on hold, while the unbearable heat of the Karakum summer passes. Already, the temperature is above 40 degrees Celsius. The winds are full of sand and begin to darken the horizon. Back in Venice, Gabriel immediately starts looking into the images depicted on the amulets of Karakum. Are there any similar images discovered on other archaeological sites? What do they represent? It quickly becomes clear that there are many potential answers leading to numerous regions of the ancient world. The eagle and the serpent appear in the mythology of the kingdom of Elam in Iran, but also in that of Mesopotamia. Is the same story concealed behind all these images? And what does it relate?
Gabriel decides to call on Sylvia Winkelmann, professor at the Martin Luther University in Germany. She is a renowned specialist in the myths of this ancient world of the Orient. They meet in Venice at the headquarters of the Ligabui Foundation, which is supporting the excavations.
The eagle with two snakes. Do you know these? Do you know these? Let me see. It’s an eagle with two snakes. They are completely... We have so many eagles, snakes. Wonderful. And they are all from Ajikui? Ajikui, only Ajikui. Only Ajikui.
You know these? Yeah, I know this. It’s one of the oldest myths. Yeah. You know the myth of Etana? We have here the beginning. There’s an eagle living on a tree. And in the roots of the tree, there are living snakes. And the snakes and the eagle, they... The myth of Etana is one of the most ancient founding narratives. It begins with the story of an eagle and a serpent and is told by the pictures found on the amulets of Karakum, here redrawn and placed in order.
The eagle and the serpent lived together in harmony in the tree of life. One day, the bird had evil thoughts and with his young decided to eat the serpent’s eggs. In the council of the gods, the serpent planned his revenge and hid inside the body of a dead animal. When the eagle landed to eat the carcass, the serpent rose up in front of him, confronted him, and threw him into a pit where he perished. This is the beginning of a narrative found on cuneiform texts, dating back to the second millennium BC. But the origins of the myth are much older. I think this is a story known throughout the world, but it has only been found in written form in Mesopotamia, under the name of the myth of Etana. This myth was not transcribed until the second millennium, but it was portrayed a long time before that.
I have found portrayals of it that go back to the fifth and even sometimes to the tenth millennium BC. Myths and rituals always emanate from specific social circumstances. This is how man tries to explain the world around him, through the actions of the gods, of men, or of heroes. This is how man tries to explain the world around him, through the actions of the gods, of men, or of heroes. This is how man tries to explain the truth.
Sylvia Winkelmann’s revelations confirm that the Karakum amulets do indeed tell a story. However, in order to prove that it really is the myth of Etana, Gabriel has to find images of the rest of the narrative. Back in Turkmenistan in September 2003, Gabriel informs the archaeological world of his findings. Two days later, he is visited by a Turkmen journalist. Volodya Tubinikan is an expert in his country’s history. He owns a few objects that he thinks might be of interest to the archaeologist.
These cylindrical stamp seals are traditional in the region and were found locally by peasants or amateur archaeologists. They tell the rest of the myth of Etana. The cycle of Etana. The eagle, Etana, the bowl. And there’s another. The king!
I thank you for everything you are doing for Turkmenistan. You are revealing to the world our civilization’s history. The archaeologist now has the whole narrative in his possession. For the first time, this myth is told in its entirety by the cylindrical seals and amulets. Each image represents a particular phase in the story, but together they tell of the birth of a new power, that of Etana, the first king in human history.
Etana was named king by the gods, but he does not know how to guarantee his succession as he cannot have children. He goes to the pit of the eagle, where the bird perished after betraying the serpent. He offers to make a deal. I will free you and look after you if you take me into the sky to the home of the goddess of fertility. The eagle accepts the deal. At the end of his voyage, Etana meets the goddess. After listening to his story, she holds out a bowl to him containing the elixir of life, which will allow him to procreate and guarantee his succession. From this time on, power belongs to men, who pass it on from father to son.
This is the story which was told in the towns of Karakum 5,000 years ago. But what did it mean for the inhabitants? What does it reveal about the society itself? A myth conceals a historical event, which needs to be remembered. What is this important historical fact? It is the transition from a typically matriarchal culture, from the Stone Age, from the Neolithic, a purely agricultural age, to a different age. The age of fire, the masculine age, that of metal. We know that the typical symbol of fertility is the goddess mother evoking fertility and reproduction. Etana wants to steal the secret of life from the matriarchy.
Transported by an eagle, he goes to see the great goddess in the sky, in order to obtain the power to create a new civilization based on patriarchal rather than matriarchal values. And so the myth bears witness to the evolution of Oasis society to a patriarchy. A cultural shift, which had by this time already affected the ancient world as a whole. From the beginning of the third millennium, the patriarchal system developed gradually within the majority of the great cities, built by other civilizations. From now on, the political head is the king.
Veritable dynasties reigned in Uruk and in Ur, in Mesopotamia, in Susa, in Elam, in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa on the banks of the Indus River. For Gabriel, the objective is now to find hard evidence on the site concerning the change described in the myth of Etana. Perhaps it is hidden here, at the heart of this town, whose outline can now be seen in the desert, as if it were under construction. The earth removed by the workers contains many pieces of pottery, showing how active the area was 5,000 years ago. The expert eye of the archaeologist recognizes the fact that some of these shards are not from the kind of pottery usually found on the site. These fragments belong to statuettes of a type which is completely new to the region.
These are both men. The presence of masculine statuettes in a context where feminine statuettes dominate is totally novel. It’s a pity the head wasn’t found, because this would have given the exact image of the man represented by this statuette. Men, perhaps this marks the change that Oasis society was going through at the time. However, without faces, it is impossible to say if the statuettes originated from local tradition or if they were imported. The final pieces of the puzzle must now be found. But the missing fragments have perhaps already disappeared in the tons of sand that have been removed. No matter, they decide to sift through everything again. Each piece is examined and put aside.
The ground has already been turned over and there is little chance of finding the fragments. Gabriel returns to the area where the first discoveries were made. On one of the pieces, he notices irregularities in the colour. They are red-brick inclusions showing that the structure of the wall was reinforced, perhaps to insert storage spaces or hiding places. And indeed, a few hours later, the archaeologist discovers a small niche hidden in the wall. Beautiful! The head! That’s beautiful. And the shoe. All back together.
When reassembled, these statuettes reveal a part of the mystery surrounding their identity. Their strangely stylized faces perfectly resemble those of goddesses already found on the various sites of the Oasis civilization. There is no doubt, it’s definitely the masculine version of the statuettes that had up till then been devoted to the worship of fertility. So after having glorified goddesses, the people of Karakum added the male god to their pantheon. This evolution in beliefs reflects the changes taking place within the civilization itself, and its gradual transformation from a matriarchal society to a system governed by men.
But what was this society like? What about the inhabitants’ way of life? The dig now reveals a vast collection of buildings of various shapes. The outline of the streets can clearly be made out, as can public squares, the sites of buildings and of the various rooms inside them. For the time being, the archaeologists are trying to understand what the different spaces were used for. Research is focused on the north zone, which is made up of a maze of small, interconnecting rooms. For what and for whom were they intended? The answer lies at the bottom of an earthenware jar buried up to the neck. Its primary function was to keep food cool.
This was where, 5,000 years ago, a craftsman decided to hide his tools. There is a whole collection of small chisels and awls that were used for shaping stone objects. We are probably in his workshop. The fruits of his labour are stored a few metres away, in the room next door. So the...
In other rooms, the excavations bring to light storage spaces equipped with receptacles which are sometimes of an impressive size. According to the archaeologists, this part of the town was used for the preservation and control of merchandise. The hypothesis is expertly proved when Gabriel starts to excavate a small room set back from this zone. We are in the accounting archives of the town of Ajikui. The system worked like this. Stones like these were used for counting. One, two, three, which corresponded to so many vases, jars or objects. There were other stones with signs denoting multiples of a particular unit.
These stones were then placed in a ball. On the outside of the ball, the same number of signs were printed as were stones inside. We can thus conclude that Ajikui was a commercial centre that exported and imported objects, foodstuffs and other products from Elam, Susa and Bactria. Like a primitive form of writing, the objective of the system was to keep track of transactions carried out within the city. The care taken in archiving the exchange of goods can only be understood in the context of a commerce-based society. Inside a town through which passed the majority of the resources produced in the region.
Other settlements probably existed in the area. Satellite towns of the great trading city. It was not necessary to look very far. One kilometre away, the ephemeral shoots of spring show the traces of other walls in the earth of Karakum. It’s immediately decided to open a second excavation site. The teams are split up and redistributed around the site. In a few days, a new settlement emerges from the desert. This one is a small town of an entirely residential nature. For Anumarad, the architect, this is a mine of information on the structure of the houses.
The average dimensions of the rooms, the shape of the openings, the size of these big alcoves in the walls, the design of the chimneys, even a system of hinges to allow the door to pivot. Made with a fragment of pottery placed in the bottom of a hole. Anumarad can now start building a model Bronze Age dwelling of Karakum. As it would have been 5,000 years ago, the house is built with sun-dried bricks and sealed with adobe. It’s then totally covered with a mud coating, which, when dry, provides isolation from variations in the climate.
As it would have been 5,000 years ago, the roof is made from branches placed across beams and covered with earth. As it would have been 5,000 years ago, night falls slowly over Karakum.
In most of the houses, the living space comprised a single room and provided shelter for an entire family. They cooked goat’s meat or chicken here. They milled barley to make bread, and they spun wool using a hand spindle. They ate, and the mother goddess protected them when they slept.
The excavation of the Great Trading City is now almost complete. Over an area of about 10 hectares, it has the appearance of a vast labyrinth. One can imagine what it was like. The main entrance opens into a winding street, intended to reduce the speed of arriving visitors and make it easier to control them.
We then come to the central square, given over to commerce. This is where goods brought by caravan or locally produced were put on display and traded. At the end, near the administrative centre, the archaeologists have discovered the largest room in the town. Completely covered with a stucco coating, it has a rostrum, from where important dignitaries were probably welcomed during official meetings.
Around this commercial hub, over a radius of 10 kilometres or so, the archaeologists have finally discovered eight other settlements, whose layout can be seen on the ground. The nine towns of Aji Kui make up the largest urban complex of the oasis civilisation yet found. Their population is thought to have been several tens of thousands of people. Traces of irrigation channels prove that in between the towns, the earth was worked for agriculture. 5,000 years ago, the desert here was an oasis.
Since they began excavating the second town, the archaeologists have made some macabre discoveries. Small, doubled-over skeletons near the walls, accompanied by a few offerings. Dozens of these bodies have now been found. Horace Babakov examines them and finds no evidence of sacrifice. These children died from illness, or sometimes during birth. Too young to fully participate in the social life of the town, they had not earned the right to a necropolis burial.
How could it be, then, that they were simply deposited inside the houses? For the archaeologist, the answer is simple. This town was abandoned and then used as a children’s cemetery by the inhabitants of the surrounding towns. An act which, according to Gabriel, marks the gradual decline of the oasis civilisation, which was competing against the great cities of the Indus, Elam, and Mesopotamia.
The importance of the great urban civilisations of Ur, Susa, and Mohenjo-Daro grew significantly. The kings were no longer simple shepherds. They were sophisticated and sought beauty, luxury, and things of the highest value. This attracted a number of craftsmen and a large workforce to their courts and their towns. There was an exodus from the country as people were drawn towards these commercial and cultural centres. This resulted in a decrease in population in the outlying areas. The countryside became depopulated. The irrigation systems and canals were neglected. The soil was abandoned.
The archaeologists estimate that the oasis civilisation, which was a victim of this rural exodus, began to fall into decline around 1700 BC. At this time, of the nine towns of Adjikwi, there probably remained only the trading town, where the last inhabitants lived together. Finally, they also departed, leaving behind them the vestiges of a civilisation, which had lived for nearly a thousand years.
Thanks to Gabriel’s excavations, its story is now starting to emerge from the desert. It has already transformed our vision of the ancient world. But several more expeditions will be necessary to reveal what these men created and imagined 5,000 years ago. Karakum has by no means surrendered all its secrets yet.
