Oriented on making people closer

Today, on September 11, during the meeting of the government president Berdimuhamedov was informed on the archaeological finds which were discovered recently during the civil work in the Turkmen capital.

Experts of the National Administration for the Preservation, Study, and Restoration of Historical and Cultural Monuments found three khoums - big ceramic vessels. Having examined finds, they came to a conclusion that khoums belong to the Parthian period.

Capacious vessels, with a height of 1 meter and a diameter of 60 centimetres, have got an egg shape, a wide neck and edge slightly unbent outside.

Khoums, made of baking of special ferriferous clay, were used for storage of grain, wine, oil and other products. They were dug into the earth including in the barns adapted for this purpose, closed round stone or ceramic covers. This way allowed them to store long time foodstuff fresh.

Such vessels were also found in these regions earlier. From the documentary sources which were found during archaeological researches, it became known that the part of production from neighbouring villages (one of them - that place where latest finds were discovered), went to the residence of Parthian kings - Nisa. There scientists also found large barns with massive khoums where products were stored.

Turkmens also used such ways of storage of provisions during later times. Pottery - ware, bowls, jugs including khoums - were irreplaceable assistants in life. Resident of Dashoguz region pensioner Yegenhan-dayza remembered stories of her grandmother how in olden time people used pottery for food storage.

They would construct a special barn for warehousing of foodstuff. Vessels used for these purposes were of various forms and sizes.

External and internally decoration of pottery depended on financial possibilities of human d - glaze that prosperous enough person presumed was put on some of them from both sides. Khoums were filled with both liquid and loose products.

Yegenhan-dayza also tells about her childhood memoirs:

• The neck of the jugs buried in barns, should project from the earth somewhere 20 cm, and apertures of vessels were closed by the processed skin of animals. We used a big jug for meat storage.

How it was made?

• Meat was slightly fried in the mutton fat (such way of preparation is called gowurma), that then in a large vessel it was put in the earth that allowed to store a product at constant temperature. This method used to prepare meat for the future. As required the gowurma was taken out and on its basis various dishes were prepared.

Yegenhan-dayza, knowing secrets of national storage of food, also shared her experience in preservations of cereals without jugs:

• For this purpose they dig a hole in the form of triangle. Width of the hole, beginning somewhere with 1, 5 metres, is closer to the bottom it was more and more reduced, and reached 80 centimetres. The hole (named «ury») at first was covered with clay raster with straw and left to dry. After that the hole was filled with cereals – sorghum (jowen) and wheat and closed with a processed skin.

Seminomadic life taught Turkmens to store products under very hot environmental conditions. Ancestors managed long time to keep even meat fresh. But for this purpose meat was salted, then was put into a jug, its neck was densely closed and then in a barn was dug in the earth.

In the same barns they stored dried meat, and also melons – they were suspended in woven nets where they remained fresh almost till the next harvest of gourds.

By the way, this method some inhabitants of Turkmen villages in spite of the fact that they have big refrigerating machinery till now use.

• So the melon keeps the flavouring and useful properties better, - they speak.

… Ancient traditions, though we have stepped into the epoch of global digitalization, all the same are very hardy.

Mahri Yagmurova