Ekedeshik Cave

In the far south of Turkmenistan, near the town of Tagtabazar on the Murghab river, a cliff face hides one of the country’s strangest monuments — Ekedeshik, whose name means “the single hole”.

Behind that one entrance lies a warren of some three dozen rooms carved on two levels and linked by passages, windows and ventilation shafts. Who built it, and when, is still debated — a refuge, a dwelling, perhaps an early monastery.