Konye Urgench (Old Urgench) has been described as a Klondike for archaeologists, and it lived up to expectations. There can't be many historical sites in the world where visitors can stroll through excavated trenches left open to the elements after the archaologists have had their fun. There are even fewer where those same visitors can pick through the exposed soil finding colourful pottery, coins, and human bones (including skulls and femurs) from the 13-15th centuries AD. But at Konye Urgench, you can do just this, and all for less than 2 USD. That's value, my friend, Turkmen style.

So, armed with a degree in Classical archaeology, and a can-do attitude towards uncovering the past, I set about uncovering what time, and various Mongol and Timberlane armies, had buried, burned, and destroyed.

The first thing I found was a skull, perhaps belonging to a young child who had been hacked to pieces by one of Timberlane's foot soldiers, a psyochopathic blood lust pulsating through his veins, as he rampaged through the peaceful Silk Road town in search of plunder. GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU YOUNG SCALLYWAG, he might have screamed, before neatly chopping the whippersnapper's limbs off with 4 swipes of his mighty scimitar. Or something like that. Remember, it's an archaologist's job to add flesh to the bones of history.

Next, brushing off the encrusted soil, I picked out a coin. A small, circular copper piece, hidden for centuries under the detritus of time, waiting patiently, longingly, to be uncovered, and one day see light again. And this was its special day. I held up the precious piece of the past, and called Laura over. LOOK WHAT I HAVE FOUND - A COIN. THAT'S NOT A COIN, came the reply, disbelieving my discovery. I handed the coin over to Laura, so she could feel its metallic weight, and believe that we were indeed touching Time itself. Taking the piece between her fingers, Laura said LET'S SEE IF IT'S A REAL COIN BY TESTING WHETHER IT BREAKS. Before I could point out that coins that have been subject to centuries of weathering are not going to be strong, Laura snapped this little piece of history in two, breaking it, and my archaeologist's heart at the same time.

Such is the life of the modern Indiana Jones.