Wells, trade, and well-trodden paths in the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan

Paul Wordsworth traces the route ways across the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan, going in search of the wells and watering places essential to desert travel.

There are many risks when arriving at a well in the middle of the Karakum (black sand) desert in the modern Republic of Turkmenistan, not least that it might simply be dried up, long abandoned and unoccupied, forcing a long trek to the next watering point in the landscape some ten or twenty miles further on. That too may have succumbed to the same fate. This uncertainty fuels our fascination with historical desert travel and with the challenges of how ostensibly difficult terrain was negotiated for trade and pilgrimage. The discussion below explores methods that combine historical and archaeological data to provide a window on these extraordinary endeavours...