MNHN

Ulug Dépé, located in Turkmenistan, is considered one of the major archaeological sites of protohistoric Central Asia. It has attracted the attention of archaeologists since the 1960s. After several excavation campaigns, the French Archaeological Mission in Turkmenistan (MAFTUR) confirmed that the site alone has the longest known stratigraphic sequence in Central Asia ranging from the Neolithic to the Achaemenid period (6 th to 1 st millennium BC). From October 29 to November 4, 2019, a new excavation campaign is being carried out by Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento, researcher at UMR 7206 Eco-anthropology (EA) .

Due to its geographical location at the foot of the Kopet-Dagh mountains, its surface area (13 ha) and its height, Ulug Dépé is a key site for the study of the socio-cultural interaction between Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, the Mesopotamia and the Indus Civilization. It is a multidisciplinary research laboratory to better understand the appearance, development, decline and disappearance of Central Asian civilizations. So many questions that are debated in the international scientific community.