With thanks to Carlo Lippolis and Jérôme Gaslain who provided the information and photographs for this page, August 2001.

See Old Nisa Bibliography: Publications of Centro Scavi di Torino and contributions of the members of the Italian Expeditions to Nisa.

A new combined Italo-Turkmenistan archeological expedition at Old Nisa in Turkmenistan was completed during July and August, 2001, by the University of Turin's Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino. The scientific director of the mission was Prof. Antonio Invernizzi.

Fortifications of old Nisa from New Nisa. In the center, village of Baghir
Click on picture to enlarge	Photo by Jérôme Gaslain

This year, the excavations were concerned with the area to the north of the round hall. Since 1995, this zone had been superficially excavated and the Nisa Expedition 2001 undertook a more complete excavation. The aim was to discover precisely the buildings placed in this zone.

• Why is this area the focus of the expedition?
  • there is a monumental building very well conserved
  • this part of old Nisa has never been excavated except for the trenches done in the more recent level
  • the hypothesis at the beginning of the excavations is that this building is perhaps older than the round hall: this must be known
• Results:
  • A medieval structure has been brought up to date (Islamic period)

Islamic Iwan (west) and the Parthian building courtyard	One of the three Islamic iwans (north part of the excavation)
Click on pictures to enlarge	Photos by Jérôme Gaslain

This medieval period building is composed of a central court with three iwans: one at the north, one at the west and one at the south. At the east of the court, rooms and a corridor have been discovered. These medieval structures are built on more ancient construction. We hope to identify the period of construction of this Islamic edifice through the ceramics found during the excavations. But we can already say that during medieval period, this building was continuously occupied.

The Parthian building: there is also a central courtyard with a square form. Rooms have been discovered to the east, west and north. In the south, there is a corridor.

During the Nisa Expedition 2000, the Italian mission worked on the Islamic buildings. This year, we continued to excavate it, but we also worked on the general plan of the structures. The edifice seems to have a dimension of 35x35 meters.

For future expeditions (in 2002 and onward) the intention is to excavate down to the Parthian pavement to understand the arrangement of the structure with the help of any materials discovered.

For more information you can also go to the web page of Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino 

General view of excavations from north to south	General view of excavation from east to west
Click on pictures to enlarge	Photos by Jérôme Gaslain

Results and analyses of Archaeological Mission in Nisa, Year 2001 will be added to this web page as it becomes available. Please bookmark this page and check back often.

Members of Nisa Expedition 2001

Photo by C. Lippolis

Standing from left: Claudio FOSSATI, Aleksandr LAPSHIN, Vito MESSINA, Jérôme GASLAIN Seated: Carlo LIPPOLIS, Alessandra CELLERINO, Ariela BOLLATI, Niccolo MANASSERO

Antonio INVERNIZZI

Scientific director of the mission, University of Turin (not in photo)

In the photo, standing from left to right:

Claudio FOSSATI

Architect in Nisa

Aleksandr LAPSHIN, University of Vladimir 

Professor of Medieval history

Archaeologist in Nisa

Translator of the mission

Vito MESSINA, University of Turin

Doctor in oriental archaeology

Archaeologist in Nisa

Jérôme GASLAIN, University of La Sorbonne Paris I (France)

Guest-student in Nisa

Seated from left to right:
Carlo LIPPOLIS, University of Turin

Doctor and specialist in oriental archaeology

Field-director of the mission

Archaeologist in Nisa

Alessandra CELLERINO, University of Turin

Doctor in oriental archaeology

Archaeologist in Nisa

Ariela BOLLATI, University of Turin

Doctor in oriental archaeology

Archaeologist in Nisa

Niccolo MANASSERO

Doctor in classical archaeology

Archaeologist in Nisa

This page last updated 23 Feb 2021