An official ceremony marking the hand over of new unique finds to the Turkmen museum fund took place at the Turkmen State Museum of Fine Arts yesterday ahead of the international day of museums. The artifacts are evidence of the ancient roots of the Turkmen art and mastership of ancient sculptors and ceramics craftsmen who lived some 5000 years ago in the oases of Kopetdag sub-mountain region. According to the Turkmen State News Service (TDH), over 100 historical artifacts were found during excavation works at the archaeological monument of Yylgynly Depe in Kaahka district of Akhal province.

The scientific researches of this neolithic age settlement (IV thousand years B.C.) began 20 years ago under the leadership of academic V.M.Masson. At present, the Turkmen-Russian expedition is successfully working there. The expedition is made of experienced restores from St Petersburg. They have restored the best specimen of women's terracotta statuettes and unique stone sculptures of animals, as well as stone vessels with pictures and ornamental frescos that decorated houses and sacred places of ancient residents of Yylgynly.

"Yylgynly Depe is one of the scientifically important monuments of ancient Turkmenistan whose secrets are still to be unraveled. That is why there are so many new discoveries ahead. And the Russian specialists cooperate in this regard with their Turkmen colleagues," said the expedition chief, Nataliya Soloviyeva, from the Institute of History and Material Culture of the Russian Science Academy.

Nataliya Soloviyeva is the co-author of the book with a multimedia CD about Yylgynly Depe which contains all artifacts. The book was published in the U.K. in English. The Russian version of the book is to be published soon.