GONUR TEPE

Now more than four millennia, the city-fortress- Gonur - Tepe  and rare housed an advanced civilization that was in the center of a prosperous regions. The fortress lay buried under Kara Kum desert sands in western Turkmenistan.

Gonur-Tepe was discovered by Soviet archaeologists in the last century, and now this mysterious city that once housed thousands of people gradually begin to reveal secrets, archaeologists discovered more artifacts at each excavation.

Huge size of the complex that spans 30 hectares can not be properly appreciated only from the air, where the former buildings of the city seem like a maze in a desert surrounded by large walls.

Located just 50 kilometers from the ancient city of Merv, who worked on the World Heritage List by UNESCO, ruins Gonur-Tepe provides a valuable clue about Archaeological riches of Turkmenistan, one of the most isolated countries in the world.

Around 2000 BC, Gonur-Tepe was the main settlement in the region Margush or Margiana, where there was one of the most sophisticated civilizations of the Bronze Age, but is also very little known.

The archaeological site was covered with sand until the last century when it was discovered by the famous archeologist Viktor Sarianidi. The researcher now has 85 years, but this will not stop the study site in summer.

"I clearly remember the joy I had when I discovered this archaeological treasure. A feeling right under my feet, "he told AFP Russian archaeologist.

Every summer season are performed at Gonur-Tepe excavations, archaeologists make new discoveries confirming the quality and craftsmanship of Bronze Age artisans living in this city which include thousands of people.

City could shape metal craft, knew how to make gold and silver could create objects for religious purposes and could also be carved bone and stone.

"It is amazing to see how advanced these people were techniques. Artisans learned to change the natural shape of the rock at high temperatures and then polished to maintain the new shape, "said archaeologist Nadezhda Dubova.

"This year, Gonur gave us a new surprise, a fantastic mosaic," the expert explained, noting that this object predates the Romans and Greeks period realized mosaics.

Ruins of Gonur-Tepe is the focus of a network of cities and settlements in river delta region in Turkmenistan Morghab flowing from its source in Afghanistan.

Gonur-Tepe is three hours drive from Mary, the most important city of the province, two hours are spent on a bad road which runs along many collective farms abandoned and another hour in a desert land.

Mary, located 380 kilometers from the capital Ashgabat is a typical provincial town, home to 200,000 people and was built mostly in the Soviet style.

30 kilometers of Mary is another glory of the region - the ruins of the great city of Merv, whose importance dates from the Persian Achaemenids era and reached its peak of glory in the twelfth century.

Merv went into terminal decline after being sacked by the Mongols in 1221 after a brutal conquest, led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Its ruins are just as abandoned as in Gonur-Tepe.

Most Sultan Sanjar mausoleum treasure is that Merv was led by a city of 200,000 people, and for some time, one of the most populated human settlements in the world.

The mausoleum is covered with a dome with a diameter less than 17 meters. Ruslan Muradov, an architectural historian, says that the mausoleum was revolutionary design.

"Dome design anticipates 300 years Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi great ideas" that project the cathedral dome in Florence, says Muradov.

Unlike the ruins of Gonur-Tepe, Merv was excavated ever since the country where today's Turkmenistan was part of the Russian Empire. Merv included on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

Archaeologists are just beginning to discover the riches of the region Marv, says Viktor Turik, a historian at the Museum of History Marv.

"In the region there are 354 archaeological monuments, and 95% of them have never been studied by experts" said historian.

Turkmenistan remains one of the most isolated countries in the world, but each year the state continues to be visited by few tourists, mostly within specialized tours.

In Marv are only three hotels, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov although recently ordered the construction of a new hotel with 350 beds to encourage tourism.

Authorities have not determined what fate will have extraordinary gold and silver jewelry that archaeologists discovered in this region, but in need of restoration and conservation efforts.
An employee of the authority which manages the national heritage Turkmen say that at one point there were discussions with the Department of Antiquities of the Louvre Museum in Paris, but negotiations failed.

"Many unique discoveries that do not resemble anything ever found in the world, awaiting the moment of glory in museums Turkmen deposits," concluded the employee.

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FOREWORD

In today's high-tech society it is important that children develop an interest in science at an early age and see that science is a part of our lives. By becoming comfortable with science at an early age, children can reap many long term benefits. Getting children interested in science does not take a lot of time and effort. Their natural curiosity will ease the way. Making it fun is the key element. The learning process in children happens through play. During play the world is not so threatening. Kids feel safe, secure and capable. They explore on their own. There is an old Chinese saying:

I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember
I do and I understand.
Information and knowledge gained from hands- on activities and self discovery remains in the long term memory.

There is no need for a special place or equipment for teaching science to kids. Most of the materials and  equipment needed can be obtained in home, school, grocery store or local hardware store. Science activity can be carried out with a single kid or group of kids. It can be carried out whenever you want or wherever you want. For example when there is nothing to do and kids are bored. When the weather outside is not friendly. It can be carried out in the kitchen, in the garden, nature hikes, beach trips etc..

Science experiments in our house started in the kitchen. One day when I was baking cookies, my kids were helping. Curious as usual, they started asking questions. “Why do we add sugar?” “Why do we add eggs?” “Why do we have to add baking powder?” At that moment a bulb lighted in my head. We made some cookies without baking powder and compared. This became a hobby. We started experimenting with lot of things, sometimes purely on impulses. But we sure enjoyed that time. Some examples that quickly come to mind are: a) one day when we were folding laundry, some clothes had static. They made small cracking noises and stuck. We had fun learning and experimenting with lot of other things that produce static electricity. b) When we had gone to the beach we started talking about the sea/ocean water being salty and how salt is extracted from the sea water. Kids brought some sea water back home and placed it in sunlight in a shallow tray. In 2-3 days the water evaporated and they collected the salt crystals. The satisfaction in self discovery is incomparable. Without any prompting from me kids also experimented if saltwater freezes faster or tap water.
     

Looking at their interest, pretty soon me and my friend got together and started doing planned experiments with our children in a group setting. Kids enjoyed them and looked forward to the experiment days. Volcanoes and slimes were a lot of fun. When we did an experiment on coloring daisies, (white daisies if placed in colored water, pick up that color. In a few hours their petals start showing the color in the water) it did not end there. Pretty soon more flowers got experimented on and then came the question “Why some flowers pick up colors faster than the others?” One day while we were weeding in the garden we had an amusing finding. There were lots of Lady Bugs on one particular type of weed. That led us to the information on how and why certain bugs favor certain plants or animals. Similarly different kinds of rocks found in the garden piqued kids interest and we ended up doing a project on rocks. 

I was happy to see that I had achieved what I was aiming for: 1) Questioning of observed events leading to finding information. 2) Promotion of independent thinking and reasoning process in the versatile young minds.

This first step “Science is fun” can be followed by the next more exciting step, where kids learn that “Science is also an adventure and challenge.” It often requires some detective work and it requires learning of a methodical step by step approach to solve problems. This approach is called “The scientific method.” The steps in a scientific method can be roughly outlined as follows. 1) If you have to solve a problem start by collecting data. Read books, talk to people, and make observations. 2) Brainstorm- Spend time looking over and understanding the information collected. Have discussions if you are working in a team. 3) Make predictions. 4) Design and carry out experiments. 5) Analyze your results and derive conclusions.

It is a lot more fun to do these activities in a group or as a team. Parents or friends can be very good companions. As kids grow up participation in “science fairs” can also bring a good learning experience. So parents get involved with your kids science activities and share with them the excitement of being a scientist and an explorer. Kids will know that science can be fun. Once they get interested they will keep thinking, investigating and inventing for ever.

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