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After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam
Fortifications at Merv (Gyaur-Kala) after Alexander
Vladimir Zavyalov
The fortifications of Gyaur-kala were first examined in 1957-58 by the South-Turkmenistan Archaeological Multi-disciplinary Expedition (YuTAKE) of the Turkmenian Academy of Sciences, who recorded four separate walls. The first was dated to Antiochus I, co-ruler of the Upper Provinces of the Seleucid state from 293 BC. The second wall and towers were assigned to Mithridates II (123-87 BC). This wall was rebuilt during the reign of Shapur I (241-272 AD), when it was raised and a ‘base-platform triangular in shape’ built at the bottom of the wall. The construction of the fourth and last wall, with two phases, was dated to the reign of Khusrau I.
In 1997 the International Merv Project began an investigation of the walls in the south-western corner, which is still ongoing. Their results added to the data obtained by YuTAKE. They have identified some ten different phases. Phase I: the first wall, built mainly of mud brick, was constructed on a platform at least 3.5 metres high. It rose some 10 metres above the level of the platform, with a walkway and parapet along the top. The walkway was supported by vaulted rooms in the first storey. A second walkway was sited behind the vaulted rooms to enable the defenders to make their way along the inside of the wall. A platform in front extended some 28 metres and sloped down to a moat. The Phase 2 wall was rebuilt. The first floor rooms and walkway were infilled to create a firm base for the upper walkway. The second wall became a one-storey solid wall and was at least one metre higher. The outer platform of the first wall was extended.
At the beginning of Phase 3 an additional wall, c. 2-3 metres thick, was built against the second and first walls. In its structure it was reminiscent of the second wall but was larger. The Phase 4 wall was built on a platform erected over the old platform and against the third wall. In front of a semi-circular corner bastion and the curtain a proteichisma complete with arrow-slits and an outer platform was built. The curtain consisted of at least two galleries, both with rectangular embrasures in the outer walls. It is probable that there was a walkway above the upper gallery.
Phase 5. The platform in front of the fourth wall was raised to set up a berm, blocking the lower embrasures of the fourth wall. The upper gallery might have formed the lower gallery of a new fifth wall, as indicated by the top of the berm positioned immediately under the embrasures of the fourth wall. The lower gallery of the fifth wall was rebuilt in Phase 6. Along its inner and outer walls additional walls were erected providing the basis for an arched vault. The upper part of the wall has not survived, while the lower part, reinforced with the berm, appears to have gone on being used. Structural changes of this kind would point to the existence of a sixth wall.
Phases 7 and 8 were identified with the help of the results obtained by the YuTAKE excavations, since the state of preservation of this (seventh) wall does not allow us to confirm the short published reports. Phase 9. IMP excavations behind the bastion revealed the presence of a corridor filled with mud bricks, which relates to the seventh wall recorded by YuTAKE. There could have been some activity aimed at preparing the erection of the next wall, which did not survive or was not built. Remains of such late walls still stand on the crest of the northern side of the wall of the city-site.
The Phase 10 walls were used for burials according to the Islamic rite. Several 8th century burials were found by YUTAKE and one by the IMP.
IMP research has established that no less than seven walls existed to defend first of all Antiochia and then Merv over a period of almost 1,000 years after Alexander. It is logical to examine the building and re-building of these fortifications against both the historical background, known from written sources, and the archaeological data, such as pottery, coins and samples taken for analysis. The first wall, erected during the rule of Antiochus I, is the first of its kind to have survived in Central Asia to its full height: it was built according to the canons of military architecture, recorded by Philonius of Byzantium. Comparison of this mud brick wall with the stone walls of the Hellenistic period in Asia Minor reveals similar techniques and structural elements.
The rebuilding of the first wall probably occurred in the Graeco-Bactrian period. The third wall was erected when Margiana was part of the Parthian Empire, probably during the reign of Mithridates I (171-139 BC). A copper obolus of Diodotus I or II (250-239 BC) was found in a pisé block inside the wall: the coin was itself of earlier origin, since the pisé blocks were made from material from abandoned habitation levels. The fourth wall also dates from the Parthian period: two Parthian coins of the 1st century BC-1st century AD were found in the brickwork of that wall, thus indirectly indicating its date of construction. The fifth and sixth walls, linked to the rebuilding of the fourth and fifth walls, were probably built in the early Sasanian period. Five coins relating to an issue of Shapur II (309-379) were found in the gallery of the sixth wall, while a coin of Kavad I (499-531 AD) was found during the YuTAKE excavations of the seventh wall.
Our results suggest, therefore, that the first three walls were
built and rebuilt in keeping with trends discernible in military
architecture widespread in the Hellenistic world. This is also indicated
by numerous finds of stone projectiles for slings and various stone
hurling devices.