Altin-Depe

A large Chalcolithic and Bronze Age site in southern Turkmenistan which is similar to Namazga-Depe. The urban phase of the early 2nd millennium BC has a large artisans' quarter where there is evidence for specialized pottery production. The residential quarter has rich grave goods, including jewelry of precious and semi-precious stones and metals and imported materials. There is a complex of monumental structures which are similar to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, with three main periods of construction. The settlement declined early in the 2nd millennium BC and was abandoned mid-millennium.

A large Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement in southern Turkmenia, Soviet Central Asia, similar in nature and history to Namazga-Depe. In its urban (Namazga V) phase of the early 2nd millennium bc (later 3rd millennium bc), it was smaller in size than Namazga-depe itself, covering c45 hectares, but it has been studied more folly than the larger town. A large artisans’ quarter, known as the ‘Craftsmen’s mound’, has been discovered, covering c2.5 hectares, where there is evidence for specialized pottery production. Another area seems to have been the residential quarter of the wellto-do, yielding graves with rich goods, including jewellery of precious metals and semiprecious stones, mostly imported materials. One of the most important discoveries was a complex of monumental structures, showing some similarities with the ziggurats of Mesopotamia and interpreted as a religious building, with three main periods of construction. Altin-depe declined in the earlier 2nd millennium bc and was abandoned by about the middle of the millennium.