Cities in dust

摘要

Tucked away in a remote corner of Central Asia, surrounded by one of the harshest desert terrains on Earth, is an extraordinary inland river delta that once sustained a spectacular civilisation. While the ancient riverine cultures of the Nile and its delta, of the Tigris/Euphrates and of the Indus are widely known, few people have heard of the Merv oasis civilisation, which first emerged more than 4,000 years ago in the land-locked delta of the Murghab River in what is now Turkmenistan. But way back in the 21st century BC, this remote oasis was home to at least 100,000 people, accommodated in up to 20 walled towns and cities. At the time, it represented the largest urban population outside Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.