Shasenem, which stood at the southern limit of the areas irrigated from the Amu Darya, was probably occupied from around the 4th century BC.

Known as Suburna in medieval times, it was sacked by the Mongols and again by the Timurids, and eventually abandoned to the encroaching desert. The present name probably derives from a later association of the ruined settlement with the popular Turkmen legend of Shasenem and Garip, a Romeo and Juliet-style tale of doomed young love.

The fortress itself lies on an artificial mound, its mud-brick walls standing like scattered teeth in a rough L-shaped plan. Some of these still preserve crenellations, slit holes and battlements. Running water has exposed a slice through the walls, demonstrating how they were gradually built up into increasingly elaborate defensive structures in response to advances in military technology. This section also reveals an alarming number of pieces of human bone.A few hundred metres to the south of the fortress stand four outbuildings, believed to have formed part of an extensive park complex of the 12th and 13th centuries. The northernmost of these buildings is focused on an octagonal corner tower, preserved to a height of around 4m and constructed of large mud bricks. An intact mud-brick arch straddles an adjacent room. A rusted metal sign, which has been used in the past as target practice, now succeeds in informing the visitor only that this is an ‘archaeological monument’. Taking a line southwestwards from this corner tower, you reach first a gate building and then another corner tower, almost a mirror- image of the first. Making a line with the gate building, to its southeast, is a further structure, with four large rooms each opening to the exterior of the building, which would have stood at the centre of the park complex.