This chapter discusses the result of research on the Gobekly-depe fortifications at the north-western edge of the Merv Oasis conducted by the South Turkmenistan Archaeological Multi-Disciplinary Expedition (YuTAKE) in the late 1940s. The findings suggest that the fortress served as a residence for the state dignitary in charge of the fortress and as a warehouse to which specific commodities were sent from Merv and from which they were then distributed further. The plan of the fortifications involved towers in all four corners and an entrance in the middle of the south wall, and the walls were built with alternate layers of mud bricks and pakhsa.

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The study of ancient sites in Turkmenistan has in the 80s focused on the oasis of Merv (ancient Margiana), the Uzboy valley and Old Nisa. At Merv a joint Central Asian-Italian team has been preparing an archaeological map of the oasis, based on information from a complete survey of the area (over 220 sites), fixed-site excavations and sondage digs. The survey shows the continuity of different monuments on the same sites, the shift of the centre of the oasis from north to south by the time of the building of Antiochia Margiana in the 3rd c. B.C. and the reoccupation of the north by fortified settlements following the full settlement, irrigation and cultivation of the south after the 1st c. B.C. Excavations were made of fortified settlements at Chilbourj and Göbekli-depe (where over 2000 Parthian clay bullae were found). Study of sites along the Uzboy valley has altered views about changes in aridity/humidity in the area. A new period of humidity in the 7th c. B.C.-4th c. A.D. has been associated with the activity of a group of nomadic cattlebreeders, identified with the Massagetae, whose tribal centre is thought to have been the unusual site at Ichjanli-depe. At the important Parthian centre of Old Nisa recent study has been made of the "building with a square hall" (which may have been a fire temple), the "tower" of Old Nisa (whose architecture is unique in the Hellenistic Orient) and the "round temple", while near to the city investigations of the important Parthian complex at Mansurdepc have revealed two remarkable pottery fragments with painted portraits.

The article attempts to supplement the existing database of archaeological sites of Afghanistan, based on the data presented in the seminal book by W. Ball, as well as on recently published materials of the Soviet-Afghan archaeological expedition (by I. T. Kruglikova). These data are considered at a new level, using methods of remote sensing and multi-scale topographic maps of the region previously difficult to access for studying. The object of the research was the area of the valley of the Murghab river and its two right tributaries: Chapnal (Qaisar) and Kurutu Arik. Through the comparison of the complex data it's become possible to increase significantly the number of firmly localized sites of different eras, as well as specify some issues of historical and geographical nature.