Annau - cradle of civilizations

Annau, the administrative centre of the Akhal velayat nearby capital Ashgabat. The name Annau has Persian roots (from the word "ab-i nau"), which means "new water". The importance of this city is that it is in the heart of history. Annau was the centre of the ancient civilizations.

Annau culture was an ancient agricultural civilization of Central Asia centred in southern Turkmenistan. It started during the Chalcolithic period around 4000 BC, following the Neolithic Jeitun culture.

The settlement of Annau started around 4500 BC in the Neolithic period. Thus, it is earlier than Namazga-Tepe, the main site of the Namazga culture. Annau includes two mounds, north and south.

The lowest layers of the north mound in Annau provide some good evidence for the transition from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic in the area. This archaeological sequence is known as Annau IA. More recent excavations at Monjukli Depe also helped to establish the regional chronology. The northern mound also presents remains of the Bronze Age. Some copper items, as well as imported Lapis lazuli have been found. The southern mound also has the Iron Age remains.

Although there are some similarities between the Annau IA and Jeitun ceramics, there are also many differences. Jeitun ceramics mostly use a plant-based temper, whereas those of Annau IA were tempered with a large amount of sand and bits of other ceramics. Ceramics similar to Annau IA are also found on the Iranian plateau, in north-eastern Iran, and in southern Turkmenistan.

One of the modern place of the modern Annau is National Museum "Ak Bugday" - the only wheat museum in the world. The site of the museum, where in 1904 an archaeological expedition led by the American Rafael Pumpelli found 5 thousand-year-old wheat grains.

The museum also contains stone grain grinders (II millennium BC), hand millstones (III-II millennium BC), a churn for squeezing oil from sesame seeds, figurines of the goddesses of fertility (Namazga Depe, 4th millennium BC), bronze hoe (II millennium BC), arrowhead, bronze knife (III-II millennium BC), fragments ceramic ware with monochrome and polychrome designs. Ceramic products are represented by hums (jugs of large sizes), jugs for water, oil (golcha), glazed jugs for a Turkmen drink - chal, small household utensils (bowls, dishes, vases for fruits and flowers, bottles for aromatic oils, perfumes, medicines). The museum contains handicrafts and items made on a potter's wheel, without a pattern and with an applied geometric or floral pattern, glazed and partially glazed, stamped ceramics. The exposition also presents tools and household utensils of the XIX-XX centuries: wooden plows with metal openers, copper teapots, kumgans, samovars, shears for sheep, and tools of work of blacksmiths, jewelers, and fragments of a loom.