Turkmenistan Tourism

Historical Site Anau

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This site includes the remains of the ancient settlement and ancient fortress Anau. The name Anau derives from Abi-Nau, meaning "new water". This place was already inhabited in the 4-3 millennium B.C. The culture of this period has been named Anau culture. Excavations began in I904 when an American archaeologist R. Pampelli launched an expedition. The site includes a great wall and a ditch. Some skeletons of children, the remains of the painted ceramics, decorated with the geometrical ornament and the most ancient remains of the camels were discovered at the time of excavations. According to the scientists camels were domesticated at first just on the territory of the present day Turkmenistan.

Anau fortress already existed during the Parthian period (3d с ВС- 3d c. AD). The mosque, constructed in the XV c., is located in the Southern part of the fortress. Its lofty, powerful outlines were visible from a great distance. One curious feature of the mosque is the mosaic decoration above the entrance, depicting two enormous 8-9 m dragons facing each other. Some experts think that dragons were totems of the Turkmen tribe which inhabited Anau in the XV century. Sheikh Seyitjemaleddin probably belonged to this tribe. The 1948 earthquake destroyed the mosque.

In the meantime the location is still hallowed as the site of the grave of Sheikh Seyitjemaleddin. Childless couples bring children's clothes here as an offering, and baby dolls are swaddled and left in tiny hammocks slung between two sticks.

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Turkmenistan Tourism