Understand
The name is derived from 'Abi-Nau', meaning 'new water'. The place was inhabited from the 4th milennium BC onwards and the culture of this period is called Anau culture. The excavation of this site was begun in 1904 by the American archaeologist Raphael Pumpelli. The site was surrounded by a great wall and a ditch. During the excavations children's skeletons, painted ceramics with geometrical ornaments and the oldest remains of camels were found. It is assumed that camels were first domesticated in the territory of what is today Turkmenistan. The fortress of Anau was inhabited during the period of the Parthian Empire 3rd cent.BC - 3rd.cent AD.
