Geoksyur Oasis Settlement Cluster
Geoksjur · Geok-Syur
Geoksyur period (Namazga I–III) Chalcolithic–Early Bronze·Anau cultures (Jeitun→Geoksyur→Altyn)·🇹🇲 Mary Province, Geoksyur Delta on Tejen River, 50 km south of Tejen, Turkmenistan
About
About Geoksyur Oasis Settlement Cluster
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age tell cluster (4500–3000 BCE) forming proto-urban oasis with 10 villages up to 10 ha each, the largest Namazga-period centre in Kopet Dag piedmont before BMAC. Typified by female terracotta figurines (Mother Goddess) and white-slipped painted ware, discovered by Vadim Masson. Shows Neolithic Jeitun-to-Namazga transition and desert-edge irrigation independent of Mesopotamia, precursor to BMAC.
Why it mattersMissing link between Jeitun Neolithic and Namazga–BMAC; earliest Central Asian painted pottery and figurine horizon; demonstrates independent oasis urbanism.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why proto-urban Geoksyur collapse — climate or politics?
Theories
- 01Piedmont–Delta oscillation model
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.4500–3000 BCE
- Period
- Geoksyur period (Namazga I–III) Chalcolithic–Early Bronze
- Culture
- Anau cultures (Jeitun→Geoksyur→Altyn)
- Builders
- Kopet Dag piedmont farmers
- Purpose
- Irrigated tell villages and craft specialization node
- Abandoned
- c.3000 BCE after oasis desiccation shift to Altyn/Merv
- Rediscovered
- 1961 Masson–Sarianidi South Turkmen expedition
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.4500 BCE
First mud-brick villages on Geoksyur delta
c.3500 BCE
10-tell cluster peak with polychrome pottery and figurines
On the ground
Structures & features
37.6300° N · 61.0400° E · 180 m · 1 mapped feature
Geoksyur-1 main tell
tell13 m high 10 ha mound with painted ware
37.6310° N · 61.0410° E