{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='TURKMENISTAN: ARCHAEOLOGIST EXCAVATE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF MERV' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bcf1d8eafeecae1306a4' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bcf1d8eafeecae1306a4' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nTURKMENISTAN: ARCHAEOLOGIST EXCAVATE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF MERV\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eEnglish/NatThe break up of the Soviet Union has led to the opening up of one of the world's most extraordinary archaeological treasures.Now an international archaeological team is excavating Merv, one of the most significant capitals on...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eEnglish/Nat\u003cbr/\u003eThe break up of the Soviet Union has led to the opening up of one of the world's most extraordinary archaeological treasures.\u003cbr/\u003eNow an international archaeological team is excavating Merv, one of the most significant capitals on the ancient Silk Route.\u003cbr/\u003eBut just as the world wakes up to its existence, Merv is in danger of being lost.\u003cbr/\u003eRising damp from the Karakum Canal, created by the Russians in the 1950s, is disintegrating the ancient mud brick buildings.\u003cbr/\u003eToday there's not much more than a few disintegrating mud brick monuments.\u003cbr/\u003eBut at one time Merv was one of the major capitals on the ancient Silk Route between China and the West.\u003cbr/\u003eIt rivalled Damascus, Baghdad and even Cairo as a trading centre.\u003cbr/\u003eNowadays, few people live here... most trade is done outside the city. \u003cbr/\u003ePerestroika and the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1992 led to the opening up of Merv to archaeologists for the first time in 70 years.\u003cbr/\u003eFollowing this period of openness, the International Merv Project was established with a team of archaeologists from around the world.\u003cbr/\u003eThe I-M-P is co-ordinated by the British Museum, University College London and the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan.\u003cbr/\u003eTeam members include Georgina Herrmann, from U-C-L, and Kakamurad Kurbansakhatov from the A-S-T.\u003cbr/\u003eDuring the Soviet period Herrmann knew about Merv only from occasional publications from her Soviet counterparts.\u003cbr/\u003eWhen Herrmann first saw Merv she says she was overwhelmed by its sheer size and the fact that the mud brick buildings had survived for more than a thousand years.\u003cbr/\u003eSOUNDBITE: (English) \u003cbr/\u003e\"Merv is a very special site, among many  things because of the way it developed, there are a whole series of cities not built one on top of each other as lets say Jerusalem, but side by side, so each of them is a sort of time capsule offering you the chance to look at it archaeologically right on the surface.   And this of course is very exciting, so we can look at the different periods and create the history of the city through the millennia.\"\u003cbr/\u003eSUPERCAPTION: Georgina Herrmann, co-director of International Merv Project\u003cbr/\u003eDuring the 11th Century under the Seljuq sultans, Merv was one of the world's largest and most cosmopolitan centres.\u003cbr/\u003eMerv was the eastern capital of the Seljuqs, a Turkic tribe whose rule ran from Central Asia westward to Anatolia and southward to Arabia.\u003cbr/\u003eIt was also a famous centre of learning, attracting mathematicians and astronomers from all over the world.\u003cbr/\u003eThe 13th Century saw the end of the Seljuks.  Mongol hordes attacked Merv three times - resulting in the death of over a (m) million citizens.\u003cbr/\u003eMerv was later revived in the 15th Century - when Timurid ruler Shah Rukh, a distant relative of Gengis Khan, built a new city a few kilometres from the ruined Seljuk capital.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Timurid city grew and prospered - but never reached the significance of the Seljuq dynasty.\u003cbr/\u003eFor a time Merv was used as a military base for the Soviet Union's offensive in Afghanistan, and so was completely out of bounds to ordinary citizens - and more importantly archaeologists.\u003cbr/\u003eIn the 1950s the Soviets diverted water from the Oxus River to create the Karakum Canal to enable cotton to be grown in the region.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Karakum Canal caused a double environmental blow.  The draining of the Oxus River not only resulted in the drying up of the Aral Sea, but may have condemned Merv's monuments to death.\u003cbr/\u003eThe raised water table has led to a \"greening\" of the desert.\u003cbr/\u003eFormerly dry barren land is now covered in grass.\u003cbr/\u003eRising damp is eating away the monuments, and large chunks have already disappeared.\u003cbr/\u003eUPSOUND: (English) \u003cbr/\u003e\"They've come out right here, and not only is it gone, it's gone right underneath, so the walls just hanging in the air.\"\u003cbr/\u003eSUPERCAPTION: Georgina Herrmann, co-director of International Merv Project\u003cbr/\u003eHerrmann and her team are now racing against time to log the monuments.\u003cbr/\u003eSOUNDBITE: (English)\u003cbr/\u003e\"We're standing in a building now in which the east wall was standing in 1990 and it had fallen by 1991, other walls from this particular structure continue to fall as they do elsewhere in the oasis, so it's just a question of time because the walls for stand for so long and then they will get too undercut, too wet from rain and just collapse.\"\u003cbr/\u003eSUPERCAPTION:  Georgina Herrmann, co-director of International Merv Project\u003cbr/\u003eAlthough little now exists above the surface at Merv, entire homes, streets and buildings, from different periods, lie beneath the ground.\u003cbr/\u003eArchaeologists are particularly interested in Merv's fortified walls.\u003cbr/\u003eSuccessive settlers did not destroy earlier walls, but built their own walls around them, hence preserving the originals ones.\u003cbr/\u003eBut just as the world wakes up to Merv, the archaeological remains are on the verge of disintegration.\u003cbr/\u003eMud brick monuments which were preserved in desert for over a thousand years are now in danger of collapse.\u003cbr/\u003eHerrmann is trying to get UNESCO to recognise Merv as a world heritage site.  This would provide further funds and raise its profile.\u003cbr/\u003eBut even with UNESCO backing, Merv seems destined to slip back into the sands of time.\u003cbr/\u003e  Merv, Turkmenistan - Sept 28th, 1998 \u003cbr/\u003e1. Wide shot of 9th to 10th century monument, Kiz Kalaz, with camels walking past\u003cbr/\u003e2. Camel herder standing by\u003cbr/\u003e3. Woman cooking food  \u003cbr/\u003e4. Close up of woman cooking\u003cbr/\u003e5. Archaeologists walking past walls of Sultan Kala, 12th Century Seljuk city sacked by Mongol hordes\u003cbr/\u003e6. Various of archaeologists looking at turrets of walls\u003cbr/\u003e7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Georgina Herrman, British archaeologist and co-director of project\u003cbr/\u003e8. Wide shot of woman trader at market near Mari\u003cbr/\u003e9. Close up of woman trader\u003cbr/\u003e10. Wide shot of three women traders at market\u003cbr/\u003e11. Close of women traders\u003cbr/\u003e12. Close up of curd cheese\u003cbr/\u003e13. Girl picking cotton in fields outside Merv\u003cbr/\u003e14. Close up of cotton bag\u003cbr/\u003e15. Close up of girl picking cotton\u003cbr/\u003e16. Girl cutting desert grass at Merv\u003cbr/\u003e17. Georgina Herrman pointing to damage\u003cbr/\u003e18. UPSOUND: (English) Herrman\u003cbr/\u003e19. Close up of damage\u003cbr/\u003e20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Georgina Herrman, British archaeologist and co-director of project\u003cbr/\u003e21. Wide shot of men sifting sand at dig\u003cbr/\u003e22. Mid shot of man sifting sand\u003cbr/\u003e23. Close up of archaeologist excavating 5th century Sasanian house\u003cbr/\u003e24. Archaeologist digging\u003cbr/\u003e25. Georgina Herrman and Dr Kakamurad Kurbansakhatov looking at pieces of pottery\u003cbr/\u003e26. Close up of pottery\u003cbr/\u003e27. Close up of face of Dr Kurbansakhatov \u003cbr/\u003e28. Close up of Seljuk Mausoleum\u003cbr/\u003e29. Mid shot of Seljuk Mausoleum\u003cbr/\u003e30. Wide shot of Seljuk city\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource Details\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-resource-details clearfix'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eCurator Rating\u003c/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"star-rating\" aria-label=\"3.5 out of 5 stars\" role=\"img\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa-solid fa-star text-action\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\u003ci 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class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eDate\u003c/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003e1998\u003c/dd\u003e\n\u003c/dl\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-solid fa-language'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\n\u003c/dl\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eAudiences\u003c/dt\u003e\u003cdd\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca href=\"/search?audience_ids%5B%5D=371079\u0026amp;keywords=logarithmic+notation\u0026amp;page=3\u0026amp;search_tab_id=1\"\u003eFor Teacher Use\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/dd\u003e\u003cdd class=\"text-muted\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa-solid fa-lock mr5\"\u003e\u003c/i\u003e2 more...\u003c/dd\u003e\n\u003c/dl\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\n\u003c/dl\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='concepts-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' 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