Namazga-Depe

Large Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement in southern Turkmenia (western Central Asia) on the north slope of Kopet Dagh. The Namazga phases I-III are assigned to the Chalcolithic period, while Namazga IV and V belong to the Bronze Age - the Eneolithic (c 4800-3000 BC) and Bronze Age (c 3000-1500 BC); the sequence covers Anau IA Neolithic to the beginning of the Iron Age. The site was urban in character with a high population concentration and separate artisans' quarters, producing evidence of specialist production of bronze, gold, and silver goods, and wheelmade, kiln-fired pottery. The 'proto-civilization' of southern Turkmenia in the later 3rd millennium BC was characterized by two large towns - Namazga-depe and Altin-Depe - and a number of smaller settlements such as Ulug-depe. Other features include a wide-ranging trade network and an incipient writing system with repetitive symbols incised on flat clay figurines. This civilization never reached the levels achieved by the fully fledged civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. There was a marked decline in the early 2nd millennium BC, possibly due to environmental changes, and a collapse in its final 'tower' phase in the late 3rd or early 2nd millennium BC. Altin-depe was abandoned while Namazga-depe survived only as a small village.

A large Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlement in southern Turkmenia (Soviet Central Asia). The Namazga phases I-III are assigned to the Chalcolithic period (6th-5th millennia bc), while Namazga IV and V belong to the Bronze Age and are dated to the 4th-3rd millennia bc. Already a large village of more than 13 hectares in its first phase, Namazga had grown to cover nearly 70 hectares by Phase V and was truly urban in character, with a high population concentration and separate artisans’ quarters, producing evidence of specialist production of bronze, gold and silver goods, and wheel-turned, kiln-fired pottery. The ‘protocivilization’ of southern Turkmenia in the later 3rd millennium bc was characterized by two large towns — Namazga-depe and Altin-Depe — and a number of smaller settlements such as Ulug-depe. Other features include a wide-ranging trade network, a high level of craft specialization, marked social differentiation and an incipient writing system, with repetitive symbols incised on flat clay figurines. This incipient civilization never reached the levels achieved by the fully fledged civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley. Moreover, it was short-lived; for reasons not yet established, but which may be connected with environmental changes, there was a marked decline in the early 2nd millennium bc: Altin-depe was abandoned while Namazga-depe survived only as a small village (phase VI).