Mosaics from the Bronze Age Necropolis in Gonur Depe, Turkmenistan

Year 2019, Issue: 12, 17 - 35, 30.11.2019

Nadezhda A. Dubova Natalia A. Kovaleva Galina E. Veresotskaya Anatolij M. Yumınov

https://doi.org/10.26658/jmr.614841

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Unique mosaic composition of the end of the third millenium BC from the “Royal Necropolis” of Gonur Depe is describing. Some walls of the underground “hypogea” and so-called “ostensories” as well small originally wooden boxes found in them were decorated by figurative mosaics. These mosaics combine two techniques – painting and inlays (tesserae), which were made from the specially prepared minerals. They also presented the earliest example of using the technique of cutting the edges of the tesserae. Analogies of the images between Gonur Depe and Mari palace in Syria are underlined.

Keywords

Figurative mosaics, mosaic technology, cutting the edges of tesserae, funeral rights, elite graves

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