Mentoring is a turkmen national tradition with roots stretching back thousands of years. While each person charts their own path, mentors provide knowledge, support, and confidence to reach higher heights. This tradition, which forms the spiritual and moral foundation of our nation, plays an invaluable role in shaping the younger generation of educated, knowledgeable, and respected professionals.
As part of this national tradition, on the 3rd of October of this year, a mentoring meeting was held at the Institute of history and archaeology of the Academy of sciences of Turkmenistan with second-year students majoring in «archaeology» at the faculty of library science of the Turkmen state Institute of culture, led by instructor Maya Emirova.
Opening the meeting, Kakadurdy Durdyyev, a research fellow at the Institute of history and archaeology of the AST, described in detail the methodology for sketching archaeological finds, demonstrating the process using examples. Of course, archaeologists must not only find artifacts but also be able to accurately sketch them and date them based on their ornamentation or manufacturing technology. The students were particularly drawn to Kakadurdy Durdyyev’s new work—a sketch of a ceramic jug found at the Paryzdepe site. The depicted images of mountain springs are one of the hallmarks of a developed ancient art form in Turkmenistan.
Allaguly Berdiyev, a candidate of historical sciences, noted with particular pride in his speech: «A number of cities and caravan-sarays located along the Great Silk Road, which passed through Turkmenistan, as well as developed trade and cultural ties with neighbouring regions and countries, had a positive impact on the economic, material, and spiritual development of our people». His report of the discovery of a sardoba in Shahrislam and another underground chamber connected to it by a water pipe was particularly impressive. According to scholars, these chambers may have been used to store food and provisions for guests arriving at the caravan-saray.
Shohrat Annataganov, a research fellow at the Institute of history and archaeology, presented a paper on the study of the Paryzdepe site, located in our country. The mixture of cultural layers, which is not found at any other site in the region, still prevents scientists from determining its exact period. As Shohrat Annataganov noted, the discovery of eneolithic epoch artefacts in a bronze age cultural layer, or, conversely, bronze age artefacts in an eneolithic layer, is quite surprising.
During the meeting, which continued the tradition of mentoring, the scholars shared interesting information with the students about historical monuments and their enormous contribution to world culture, and discussed the importance attached to national cultural heritage in our country. The students asked their mentors questions on topics of interest and received detailed answers. Such meetings are a valuable training ground for us, future archaeologists, in deeply exploring our origins and human history.
turkmenistan.gov.tm
