Four thousand years ago, in the delta of the Murghab river, a civilisation grew up around irrigated fields and fortified settlements that archaeologists call Margiana, or the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Kelleli, Adji Kui and Taip are names of mounds in that delta, low hills of eroded mud brick standing in the flat plain of the Karakum, where the river once split into channels and watered an oasis. People lived here between about 2300 and 1700 BC, building walled compounds with towers, workshops, graves and what may have been temples with fire altars.
The famous excavations of this culture were carried out at Gonur Depe by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi, who believed he had found the place where the ritual drink haoma, mentioned in early Indo-Iranian texts, was prepared. Whether he was right is still argued, but the sheer scale of the settlements, planned, fortified and rich in metalwork, surprises anyone who expects the desert to be empty. The river shifted, the oasis dried and the people moved on, leaving the mounds to the sand.
The mounds are low, and the track to them may be soft or washed out, so go with a guide who knows the way. Turkmenistan requires visitors to travel with a licensed guide in most cases, and independent riding is difficult, with visas, vehicle permits and checkpoints to deal with. Plan well in advance.
The landscape itself is its own reward, with ripples of pale sand, saxaul bushes, flocks of sheep and the odd camel, under a huge sky. In midsummer the heat is dangerous, so choose spring or autumn, and carry more water than you think you need, and extra fuel, because there are no pumps in the sand. Nights are cold in winter, and sandstorms can appear without warning. When the evening light flattens the plain, the shape of the old walls shows up, and the past surfaces briefly.