The Beauty Secrets of Gonur-Depe Women

The concept of perfume likely had its counterpart in the language of the people who inhabited the ancient kingdom of Margush. This is evidenced by artifacts displayed in one of the exhibit halls at the Mary Region Historical and Ethnographic Museum, artifacts that date back at least 4,000 years.

Tiny bottles made of stone, fired clay, and metal were discovered in the ancient delta of the Murgab River, at the Gonur-Depe archaeological site. According to the esteemed archaeologist and Orientalist Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi, these containers were used to store various cosmetic products. The ancient craftsmen took great care to create these items with elegant designs, crafting them in shapes such as round, oval, semi-spherical, truncated conical, square, and some with legs and others without.

The bottles, with narrow necks for aromatic substances and wider ones for oils and pigments, were adorned with various ornamental motifs, including floral designs.

«Women of that distant era undoubtedly sought to be beautiful and attractive,» says Lyalya Nazarovna Shamedova, head of the museum’s scientific expedition department. «And the cosmetic products were crafted by local artisans.«