Altyn–Depe: The Formation of the Earliest Urban Centre in Central Asia

During the 20th century, archaeological research has demonstrated that the area of Southern Turkmenistan and, possibly, the entire Northern Khorasan region, was the location of one of the earliest agricultural communities of the Palaeometal period. The historical evolution of this area had led in the last third of the 3rd millennium BCE to the appearance of Bronze Age urban centres. The Kara–Kum Expedition of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of USSR (now the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences) conducted systematic excavations at Altyn–Depe in south–eastern