About

Black Sands is a 52 min documentary directed and filmed by Anastasis Agathos.

Black Sands simultaneously focuses on the significant archaeological discoveries of Prof. Victor Sarianidi in the Karakum desert of Turkmenistan as well as on the physical surroundings and natural beauty of the desert itself, as well as on the people working there and their everyday life in the simplicity and harshness of their surroundings. As such Black Sands documentary is not solely an archaeological documentary but broadens its scope to encompass a fuller expression of the Gonur Tepe expedition.

Black Sands documentary wishes to highlight:

- The important archaeological discovery at Gonur Tepe of what according to Professor Sarianidi is an important centre of a hitherto unknown Bronze Age civilization, identified as the early Iranian kingdom of Margiani / Margus .

- The significance of this site for proto-Iranian and proto-Zoroastrian studies. (identifying the ritual and religious institutions that excavations have revealed as in effect the earliest archaeological remains of what later developed into Zoroastrianism. )

- The wider conclusions that can be reached in respect to relations of this Central Asian civilization with the eastern Mediterranean and Indian subcontinent.

- The need to preserve this site as an important archeological find of great cultural significance.

- The eerie and enchanting beauty and sheer energy of the desert and its surroundings as well as the living conditions and traditional setting of the excavation team.

Black Sands: filmed in the Karakum desert between the 8th and the 13th of May 2008.

Black Sands trailer