Gebekly

Gebekly is the ancient town site in the center of Merv oasis situated 32 km to the north-west of Gyaur-kala.

It represents a square (88×88 m) in plan. Ruins tower 12-13 m high above the locality. In the centre of the site there is a large building of the Parthian Period – the House of Ruler. Living and ceremonial premises occupied its centre and the system of bypass corridors was arranged along the periphery. The monument was surrounded by fortress walls along its perimeter. Gate was in the middle of the southern wall. There are no traces of building around the fortress.

For the first time Gebekly-depe was marked by the American expedition in Turkestan (at the beginning of the XX c.).

Archaeological explorations carried out by the joint Russian-Turkmen expedition (G.A.Koshelenko, A.Gubaev) during 1980-s and 1997-2001 have allowed us to determine 4 principal periods of the site occupation.

The fortress walls of Gebekly-depe find their parallels in the fortifications of the later fortress – Chilburj (in-wall corridor, rectangular towers divided in segments etc.).

The most sensational finds from Gebekly-depe are over 1000 Parthian bulls – clay articles of different forms with the impressions of seals which served for sealing the writing documents, vessels, doors etc. Depictions on the impressions include more than 30 plots. These plots follow different iconographic traditions: local ancient Margianian (various geometric ornaments) etc.