Located about 100 kilometers (3 hours by high-clearance vehicle) from the city of Mary, this territory is what we call Margush, with Gonur-Depe as its center. In 1972, the famous Russian-Greek archaeologist Professor Viktor Sarianidi made a remarkable discovery: he found the long-lost capital of the Bronze Age country of Margush, whose inhabitants settled dozens of settlements around the old delta oasis of the Murghab River. One could argue that what he found was the center of the fifth great ancient civilization alongside China, India, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
Archaeological finds confirmed that the people of Margush worshipped water and fire, just like the people of neighboring Bactria (northern Afghanistan). According to Professor Sarianidi, Gonur was the birthplace of the first monotheistic religion—Zoroastrianism—and its founder Zoroaster presumably lived here.
In its ritual center in Gonur-Depe, we can observe the remains of various ritual complexes and a vast necropolis. The remains found in the 1990s include ritual temples, sacrificial altars, and well-preserved tombs. These finds give us insight into the religious traditions of that era.
