Ancient Ruins of Abiwert and Abandon Village of Murche; Turkmenistan, Central Asia

Since returning to Turkmenistan following summer break, I visited two ancient ruins during two back-to-back weekends. For the first trip, I visited the ancient ruins of Abiwert, located about 2 hours east of Ashgabat. Like the ruins of Merv, the site of Abiwert is well preserved. Many of the structures still have walls standing, and the fortress, with its defensive moat, is still clearly visible. The ancient town's grid-pattern development is also evident.

I took a second trip to the abandon village of Murche, about 2 hours west of Ashgabat, situated along the foothills of the Kopet Dag Mountains. Turkmens occupied the village until 1960. Following the completion of a canal a few kilometers away, the people abandon the village for a new site closer to the canal, also called Murche. Later in the day, I also had the good fortune of being taken to the Mausoleum of Zengi Baba, dating from the 13th or 14th century. Zengi Baba was the patron of cattle breeders, dating back to the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian era. While there, several Turkmen showed us inside, and allowed us to witness one of their prayer sessions. A few kilometers away, I made on last stop to the village of Sunche, to tour an ancient fort and water-mill.

Ruins of Abiwert

A view along the highway leading to the Abiwert ruins.

The ruins of Abiwert. The place has a sort of strange calm about it, especially when thinking that thousands of people once called this place home.

Beside the main city ruins stands the remnants of the ancient fortress of Abiwert. Running along the center of the image is the moat, along with a land bridge in the background leading to and from the fortress walls. Much of the fortress walls have long since crumbled or, because of the use of mud-brick as the primary building material, much of the walls have literally melted over the centuries due to rain.

Ancient pottery shards.

From certain vantage points, the city's grid system is still visible.

Mud-brick was the dominant building material for many of the buildings. Although, upon closer inspection, I notices that some buildings have kiln-fired bricks with mud-plaster over them. Such buildings are "newer" than the mud-brick structures.

A remarkably well preserved building.

Off in the distance, we saw a goat herder in the distance, riding a donkey. He eventually made his way into the ruins with his goat herd.

Murche and Sunche

The ruins of the abandon village of Murche, situated along the foothills of the Kopet Dag Mountains.

Inside one the better preserved buildings.

The walkway leading up to the Mausoleum of Zengi Baba, patron of cattle breeders, dating from the 13th or 14th century.

Turkmens still hold rituals at the Mausoleum of Zengi Baba. What is interesting is that Zengi Baba is a pre-Islamic Zoroastrian god of the sun, and patron of cattle breeders, yet Arabic script can be found inside the mausoleum, and the vast majority of Turkmens, including those who pray here, are Muslim.

The walls of a much better preserved fort in the town of Sunche.

Situated right in the modern village of Sunche, somebody made the inside of the fortress there livestock pen.

Outside a centuries-old water mill used to grind wheat into flour.

At the top of the water mill, a trough leads up to a hole that then drops almost 90 degrees. The steep drop allows the water to pick up great speed and power, which turns the grinding stone inside the mill.

As luck would have it, a local in the village agreed to let inside the old water mill. The old grinding stones are still there, but they look like they have not been used in a long time.