Sights of Turkmenistan: Dechistan
Mysrian Plain is one of the most unusual places in Turkmenistan. There was no intensive construction here, for agricultural work, these lands are also unsuitable, so many monuments of history have been preserved here. The earliest traces of human activity on these, once fertile lands belong to the middle of the II millennium BC. At that time, the largest settlements of the ancient civilizations – Madhau-deposites, otkusykyljez, and there were the most powerful irrigation system in all Central Asia existed. This historical region is widely known as highcases, flourished during the achemenids, in the Parphic Epoch, during Sasanids, and in the Islamic period reached the highest heyday. Until this days, the ruins of brilliant once cities of Gurdjan and Dechistan are preserved, but scientists believe that the sands of the desert hide many more unexplored.
Dech is considered the most important medieval oasis in the southwestern part of Turkmenistan. On these lands from VIII to the XIV century, the city of Missmen (Misre or Messsorian), which reached the highest power in the Horiezmshakhov period. The total area of the city was about 200 hectares, and the defense provided him with a double ring of walls. The numerous ruins of various structures that have come down to this day. Like most cities of that era, Dechistan was divided into well-fortified "Shakhristan" (old district) with citadel and "Rabat" (Residential and Trade Quarters). Survived only the famous Mausoleum Shir-Kabir (XI-XII centuries.), two minaret of 25 meters high, the portal of the cathedral mosque, the remains of raw clay city walls, the ruins of the caravan Sarayev and Mausoleum on Necropolis Mashad. Coordinates of Dechistan: 38 ° 15’975"N 54 ° 37’322"E.
Several caravan sheds located around the settlement behind the fortress wall denote the location of several urban gates indicating the direction of the caravan ways from the city. Nowadays, the city is almost destroyed, and most of its structures are covered with the sands of the desert, but due to the fact that it was here that the famous poem Firdusi was written "Shakhname", The city is a great historical and cultural value, and excavations on its territory will continue.
