A Brief Introduction
The cities that developed at Merv span the last 2,500 years, and together they form one of the most complex and well-preserved urban centres on the Silk Roads of Central Asia. The series of major cities were home over 2,000 years to hundreds of thousands of administrators, politicians, soldiers, scholars, tradespeople, mothers, fathers and children. At times Merv has been capital of vast empires, at times a trading, military and administrative base. Eventually its importance declined, by-passed on the east-west trade routes by the growing importance of sea trade, and then sacked by the armies of Genghis Khan.
Statement of Data QualityData collection does not encompass the entire site, but focused on seven extant structures and three excavations, chosen as representations of the site’s most endangered and culturally significant monuments. The data was collected to investigation the use of Digital Preservation technologies in aiding conservation and management of earthen architecture. Additional data may be added to the Ancient Merv project as it becomes available.
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Multimedia - View all photos, drawings, videos, and other content through a searchable thumbnail gallery |
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3D Content - Access all 3D content available for the site including point clouds and 3D models |
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Site Information - Browse all textual information for the site, supplemented with multimedia images |
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Interactive Map - Navigate through different areas of the site via basemaps and associated geo-referenced data |
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