Margiana: A Bronze Age Kingdom in Turkmenistan

Neues Museum, Berlin

NOW CLOSED

Ornamental needle depicting a Bactrian camel (18–15th century BC), Gonur Depe. Turkmenistan State Museum, Ashgabat. © Herlinde Koelbl

Four thousand years ago, the region of Margiana in present-day eastern Turkmenistan was the locus of a little-known yet sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation, also known as the Oxus civilisation. This exhibition presents archaeological remains from Margiana, centring on the results of archaeological investigations undertaken in the ancient city of Gonur Tepe, where the discovery of building structures provides evidence of an impressive early instance of urban planning.

More than 220 objects from Gonur Tepe will be shown for the first time outside Turkmenistan, alongside contemporary photographs of Turkmenistan taken by German photographer, Herlinde Koelbl. The result is a symbiosis of unfamiliar archaeological remains and photographic art from a largely unknown country. Find out more about the ‘Margiana’ exhibition from the Neues Museum website.

Preview the exhibition below | See Apollo’s Picks of the Week here

Figurine (1800–1400 BC), Gonur Depe. Turkmenistan Museum of Fine Arts, Ashgabat © Herlinde Koelbl

Clay figurine (early 2nd millennium BC), Gonur Depe. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte / Herlinde Koelbl

Seated Ceramic figure (late 3rd–mid 2nd millennium BC), Gonur Depe. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte/Herlinde Koelbl