Gonur-Depe (translated from Turkmen - Gray Hill) is a settlement of the Bronze Age (2300 BC), discovered in the southeast of Turkmenistan. A huge necropolis dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. BC, was found in the Mary oasis of the Margiana archaeological expedition led by V. I. Sarianidi in 1972. Since 1974, Viktor Sarianidi has been excavating here. The monumental cult complex excavated at the Gonur-Depe settlement was a large regional Zoroastrian center in Margiana. The complex was located on a low hill on the right bank of the Murghab channel.
It was a capital city, with its own palace and several temples, able to compete with the structures of Assyria and Babylon. This is the largest settlement in Margiana. According to various sources, the area of the ancient settlement ranges from 20 to 50 hectares. The temple city existed until the end of the 16th century BC. e. Its central part is the Kremlin with the palace in the center, which is surrounded by walls with rectangular towers. The earliest known Fire Temple is built outside these walls from the east. The Temple of Sacrifices (west and south) and the Public Meals Complex (north) were built from the other facades of the Kremlin. The temples are surrounded by a second row of monumental walls, also reinforced by rectangular towers. From the south, this square of walls is adjoined by a system of two pools, the main of which measures 100 by 60 m.
On the southern shore of this basin, the Temple of Water was discovered, the premises of which testify to the worship of water among the population of Gonur. In 1996, 350 m west of the central part, the Great Necropolis was found, which had been excavated for 10 years and gave information about almost 3000 burials. In the spring of 2004, on the eastern bank of the Main Basin, 5 royal graves were discovered in the form of underground houses, which formed, together with three huge earth pits, where animals and servants were buried, the royal necropolis.
In 2009, 3 more royal graves were found. In each of the tombs, which had been robbed more than once in antiquity, it was possible to find beautiful examples of art, rich gold treasures, and the most valuable thing is the preserved fragments of the decorative decoration of the front facades of the tombs, mosaic panels with plot compositions. These mosaics, made using a technique that combines painting on plaster with stone mosaic inserts, are today the earliest narrative mosaic paintings in the world. Earthen and ceramic vessels, gold and silver jewelry, cylindrical seals from Mesopotamia and a square seal from Harappa were found in Gonur.