Reading Response One

Four Elements of Gonur

The city of Gonur, Margiana was completely revolved around earths natural elements in the time period of 2200 B.C.  These elements consisted of earth, wind, fire, and water.  Gonur was the capital and it was located on the Murghab River.  

 

This leads into the first element, water.  Because the city was directly along the Murghab River, it shows they're dependence on the river.  They used the river for daily activities but more importantly, they found the river very significant.  The residents of Gonur dug glacier fed canals into their gardens in order to water their crops.  Archeologists have found rooms filled with clean river sand.  The rooms were unaccessible; we know this because there were no doors or entry ways in.  In order to keep the sand, they had to find great value in the river.

The next element that I found of vital importance to the people of Gonur is fire.  We can conclude that fire was important to them because of what they left behind.  They had low altars that suggested fire rituals.  They also burned the dead's bodies before burying them in order to purify the bodies with fire.

There isn't much written when it comes to the element of wind.  However, we know that the altars they built were left exposed to the elements.  Therefore, wind must play a role because they could have easily enclosed the altar.

The final element essential to the lives of the residents of Gonur is earth.  This element could be tied back into the element of water due to the fact that they had stored clean river sand in inaccessible rooms.  They used the cardinal directions in the placement of the civilization.  We also find that they had a large burial site to the west.  They used to earth to grow crops preform ceremonial activities.