Anau
Anau North and South · Anao · Annao
Anau IA–II (Namazga I–II) 4500–3000 BCE → Bronze → Iron → Sejuk·Jeitun–Anau → Namazga → Bronze Age BMAC → Iranian·🇹🇲 Ahal Province, 8 km southeast of Ashgabat on Kopet Dag piedmont, Anau oasis (near modern Anau town, border with Iran foothills), Turkmenistan
About
About Anau
Oasis-town pair (c.4500 BCE–1000 CE) on the Kopet Dag fan near Ashgabat — Anau North (Chalcolithic Anau IA–II, 4500–3000 BCE) and Anau South (Bronze–Iron Age 2000 BCE–Islamic) twin mounds excavated 1904 by Raphael Pumpelly (Carnegie) and later Masson. Pumpelly's Anau was the first stratigraphic dig in Central Asia (1904), yielding painted Anau Ware (North) with copper, then Namazga-related Bronze Age walls and later Sejuk mosque. North mound 10 ha shows continuity Jeitun → Anau IA (Namazga I–II) bridging Jeitun Neolithic to Namazga Chalcolithic, with evidence of horse (3500 BCE) and early irrigation. UNESCO Tentative along the Silk Roads Khurasan corridor.
Why it mattersFirst stratigraphic tell dig in Central Asia (1904) — type-defines Anau culture bridging Jeitun to Namazga and documents horse and irrigation earliest in Kopet.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Was 3500 BCE horse wild or domesticated Anau?
Theories
- 01Pumpelly's oasis irrigation as origin of Central Asian civilization (oasis theory)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.4500 BCE Anau IA Neolithic–Chalcolithic; South 2000 BCE
- Period
- Anau IA–II (Namazga I–II) 4500–3000 BCE → Bronze → Iron → Sejuk
- Culture
- Jeitun–Anau → Namazga → Bronze Age BMAC → Iranian
- Builders
- Kopet oasis farmers → Bronze Age town dwellers → Sejuk builders
- Purpose
- Kopet Dag alluvial fan oasis controlling Ashgabat–Mashhad route and irrigation
- Abandoned
- North c.3000 BCE (siltation); South c.1000 CE (Sejuk)
- Rediscovered
- 1904 Pumpelly (first Central Asia stratigraphic dig); 1950s Masson
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.4500–3500 BCE
Anau IA–IB painted ware village on Kopet fan, copper, early irrigation
1904
Pumpelly Carnegie expedition — first Central Asian stratigraphic profile 60 m
c.2000 BCE–1000 CE
Anau South Bronze walls to medieval Seyit Jamal mosque
On the ground
Structures & features
37.8850° N · 58.5200° E · 280 m · 2 mapped features
Anau North Tepe
tell4500–3000 BCE painted Anau Ware mound with Pumpelly trench 60 m
37.8855° N · 58.5205° EAnau South Tepe and Mosque
tellBronze to Sejuk mound with medieval Seyit Jamal adobe mosque on summit
37.8845° N · 58.5195° E