The ruins of two cities were found on the dry bottom. Aral Atlantis. City at the bottom of the sea What city was found at the bottom of the Aral Sea

An ancient burial was discovered at the bottom of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan - the remains of a mausoleum erected about 600 years ago.

According to some experts, this find indicates that the Aral Sea dried up long before its current shallowing began, and that changes in water levels are cyclical.

Aral Sea region

The Aral Sea is located on a sandy plateau with a dry climate. It is part of the ancient Sarmatian Sea. In 1950, the length of the Aral Sea was 426 km, and the width was 284 km, the most deep place- 68 m. 96% of the sea area is covered with water, 4% is land. Water in the sea moves clockwise from left to right.

In the middle of the Kainazoic era, or 21 million 1200 years ago, the Aral was connected to the Caspian Sea. This connection existed until 1573. The Amu Darya (Oxus) flowed through the Uzboy delta into the Caspian Sea, and the Torgai River into the Aral.

The famous Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy, who lived 1800 years ago, in his work “Almagest” (Great Construction) created a world map of 27 parts. Map 22 shows the Aral and Caspian Sea. It shows how the Zarafshan and Amu Darya rivers flow into the Caspian Sea.

62,000 years ago, the Amu Darya (Oxus) originated from the Tien Shan through the Fergana valleys. The traveler Marco Polo gave her the name "Ion". And the Syr Darya (Yaxartes) flowed through a hollow located east of Mount Kuljuk of the present Bukhara region.

From the coast of the Aral Sea at a depth of 80 meters, the fossilized remains of a whale and red fish that lived during the Oligocene period were found. Shark teeth and bones were found from these places and near the Shylpyk fortress, east of Nukus. This, in turn, indicates that the Aral was connected to the ocean for a long time. At different times, different travelers compiled maps of the Aral Sea. In 1758, the Englishman Jenkinson, in 1664 - the Dutchman Nikolai Bitsen, in 1723 Daliliya, in 1734 - Krylov, in 1741 - Muravin, in 1834 - Lepshin.

Captain Butakov and the great kobzar Taras Shevchenko put a lot of work into the study of marine nature.

In 1740, the Englishman Thomson wrote: “The Karakalpaks live in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya. They fish in reed boats, without moving away from the shore.”

At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, due to lowering sea levels, the islands of Barsakelmes, Kaskakulan, Kozzhetpes, Uyaly, Biyiktau, and Vozrozhdenie were formed. In 1819, Butakov’s expedition was one of the first to map the island of Barsakelmes. The Zhanadarya has stopped flowing into the Aral Sea since 1819, and the Kuandarya since 1823. Until 1870, the Aral Sea was connected to Lake Sarykamysh. The steamship, built in the Swedish city of Motol by order of Russia in 1850, was first launched into the Aral Sea in 1853.

In 1886, expeditions were organized by A. Nikolsky in the south of the Aral Sea, and in the north by Academician L. Berg, and the fish wealth of the Aral Sea was sufficiently explored. To use this fish wealth, royal Russia begins construction of the railway in 1905. Fishermen began to arrive from Astrakhan, the Don, the Black Sea, and central Russia. Merchants Lapshin, Ritkin, Krasilnikov, Makeev and others with their boats organized large fishing unions and created a large joint-stock company “Khiva”. In 1913, the settlement of Aralsk was named a village. 1026 people lived in it. And in 1930 it was named a city. During these years, a shipyard was built.

The Aral fish research station has existed since 1920. Until 1970, 34 species of fish lived in the Aral Sea, more than 20 of which were of commercial importance. Today, due to the rise in the salinity of its water to the level of the world's seas, there is no life there (phyto and zooplankton). Until 1965, passenger and cargo ships plied from Aralsk to Muynak and along the Amu Darya to Nukus, Khojeyli and Chardzhou. In 1946, 234.320 quintals of fish were caught in the Aral Sea. On the Kazakh part of the Aral Sea there were 5 fish factories, 1 fish processing plant, and 45 fish receiving points. And in the Southern Aral (Republic of Karakalpakistan) there were 5 fish factories, 1 fish canning plant, and more than 20 fish collection points.

According to available information, in 1946, in the cities of Aralsk and Muynak, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Latvians, Azerbaijanis, Poles, Moldovans, Kalmyks, Chuvash, Tatars, i.e. lived and worked in harmony. representatives of 33 nationalities. In 1960-1990, the population of Muynak decreased by more than 15 thousand people, more than 40 thousand people left the Aral coast of the Kzyl-Orda region.

In 1960, irrigated arable land in the Aral Sea basin increased by 3 million hectares compared to 1913. Water intake for irrigation from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya amounted to 64.6 cubic kilometers. By 1992, the sea level had dropped to 48-50 meters, and compared to 1961, in 1981 the water level dropped by 8 meters, and in 1992 by 18 meters. The sea lens decreased by 3.1 times, the salinity of the water increased by 2.5 - 3 times.

In 1957-1958, valuable muskrat skins in the amount of one million pieces were obtained from the lake in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya. Today there are less than 10 thousand pieces. The two largest water arteries of Central Asia and Southern Kazakhstan flow into the Aral Sea - the Syr Darya, the longest river in this region, and the Amu Darya, the most abundant river. Their flow is formed in the mountain systems of the Tien Shan, Pamir-Alai and Hindu Kush, and on approaching the sea they flow through the desert zone. The drainage area of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins in the mountainous part is 350 thousand km². The Syr Darya belongs to the rivers of snow-glacial feeding, the Amu Darya - of glacial-snow feeding.

Generally water resources The Aral Sea basin is about 127 km². At the same time, the water flow suitable for use in the national economy of Central Asia is estimated by experts at 91-92 km³, with most of it already being used. Water intake for irrigation in the river basin by 1970 was, according to various sources, 33.5-37.0 km/year. Depending on the water year, the flow rate ranged from 16-18 km³ in low-water years to 30-31 km³ in high-water years. High water consumption was also due to powerful floods in the lower reaches of the river up to 13 - 14 km/year. The increase in irretrievable water losses for irrigation has led to a decrease in flow in the lower reaches of the Syrdarya. Only in 1961-1980 it decreased near the city of Kazalinsk by 12.2 km, and in 1981-1985. - by another 2 km 3, and amounted to 1.4 km/year (a decrease of 10 times.

Recently, the total water intake into irrigation systems in the upper reaches is 22 km³, in the middle reaches about 10-12 km³ in the lower reaches - 10 km². In the 30-40s, river water had an average annual mineralization from 0.25 g/l in the upper reaches to 0.50 g/l in the lower reaches, mainly hydrocarbonate-calcium composition. But already since the 40s, the mineralization of river water has been slowly, and since the 60s it has been increasing more and more intensively, and the ratio of ions in the water also becomes different.

In the 1970s further development irrigation coincided with severe water shortage, which led to a significant increase in water mineralization. In the lower reaches, average annual values reached 1.50-1.80 g/l, largest values near the city of Kazalinsk exceeded 3 g/l. The ionic composition became sodium sulfate. Over 16 different reservoirs have been created along the Syrdarya riverbed. The speed of water flow in the river slowed down by 3-4 times. The spring floods that washed and cleared the river bed stopped. The trunk of the Syrdarya irrigated (!) one million 650 thousand hectares of land. Almost a seventh of this arable land is located in the Kyzyl-Orda region, on the approaches to the Aral Sea.

The tugai, which once occupied an area of over 41,740 hectares in the 1960s, are thinning out and becoming desertified. Their area has also more than halved recently.

The existing residual tugai are overgrown with shrubs that are more xerophilic than tugai (comb grass), the lack of regeneration of tree species (willow, oleaster, turanga) leads to a significant reduction in their range and complete disappearance. Amu Darya is a river fed by glaciers and snow. The underground runoff is also relatively high, but rainfall accounts for only about 1% of the runoff.

After the river reaches the plain, the water flow is about 2000 m/s, the flow volume is 63 km/year. In high-water years, the Amu Darya flow reaches 98 km/year, in low-water years it decreases to 49 km/year. Near Nukus, the Amu Darya delta begins, crossed by numerous channels. Its area here reaches 7000 km. The waters of the Amu Darya and the rivers of its basin irrigate a huge territory exceeding 2.5 million hectares. Water is drawn from the river using numerous canals. The total water intake is growing rapidly every year. By the beginning of the 80s, the amount of irreversible water consumption for irrigation in the entire Amu Darya basin and for water supply to the Karakum Canal reached 54 km/year, and the total water intake approached 70 km/year. Filtration losses in the section of the 1st stage of the Karakum Canal, in the area of the 3rd hydroelectric complex (225 km) amounted to in the range of 1970-1980. 2.4 cubic kilometers per year.

The total length of the Karakum Canal now exceeds 1200 km. Losses in the canal are large: 20% is lost in the canal itself and another 22% in the irrigation network. In general, the influx of water from the Amu Darya into the Aral Sea was in 1934-1960. 38.6 km/year, currently 2-4 km/year. The Aral gets fewer and fewer of them. Until the 60s. The Aral Sea provided up to 450 thousand centners of commercial fish, among which valuable species predominated: thorn, pike perch, catfish, Aral barbel, carp and others. In terms of their catch, the Aral took first place in the former Union. Currently, it has completely lost its fishing significance, and only rusted ships remind of the former greatness of the sea.

Changes in biota in the Aral Sea basin, caused by flooding of lands during irrigation, covered an area of 3.23 million hectares. In modern conditions on the coastal part of the Amudarya delta plain, the average yield of above-ground reed phytomass in typical habitats is 187.6 c/ha; in deserted areas - 37.6 c/ha and in saline habitats - 18.3 c/ha.

It turns out that there are also examples, supported by archaeologists, of the presence of ancient buildings on the former bottom of the Aral Sea:

Aral-Asar

Chronology of the drying up of the Aral Sea

Aral-Asar is a fortification or settlement of the 14th century. Discovered at the bottom of a dry section of the Aral Sea.
To the west of the settlement, remains of rice fields were discovered. The settlement is dated based on the discovered coins of the Golden Horde period.

In 2001, not far from the already dried island of Barsakelmes, a joint archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology named after. A. Margulan and Kyzylorda State University. Korkyt-Ata, under the leadership of candidate of historical sciences T. Mamiev, examined a large, well-preserved mausoleum and other fragments of an ancient highly developed settlement discovered by residents of the Aral village of Karateren. The find was located at depths of 18 - 20 m former sea and was sensational.
Then, in 2004, an archaeological expedition of the Korkyt-Ata Kyzylorda State University, led by Professor A. Aidosov, examined the second mausoleum.

The finds were tentatively attributed by scientists to the period of the 12th - 15th centuries.

Nakhodka is located 63 kilometers to the north from the village of Karateren and 370 kilometers from Kyzylorda. The village of Karateren, which not long ago stood on the shores of the Aral Sea, is now 120 kilometers away from it.
According to scientists, the settlement, provisionally named Aral-Asar, occupies an area of 6 hectares. The building structures of the city today are practically indistinguishable; they are blurred and smoothed by the waters of the Aral Sea. But archaeologists have discovered huge quantities of household items: millstones, ceramic vessels and their fragments, fragments of iron and bronze items.

14 millstones and nearby premises for storing flour - khumdans - were found. Apparently, flour milling production was developed.
There was an irrigation canal 2 - 2.5 meters wide, passing through the settlement, indicating a developed irrigation system and the fact that the inhabitants brought water here, apparently from the channels of the ancient channels of the Amu Darya or Syr Darya many tens of kilometers away.

Approximate coordinates: 46" 02" north latitude; 60"25" east longitude.

A tree trunk on the dry bottom of the Aral Sea. Consequently, the sea is very young, formed by catastrophic processes, and which disappeared (dried up) not due to human economic activity.
***

On June 19 - 20, 1990, aerial photography was carried out at a level of the Great Sea of about 38 m abs., that is, after the level had dropped by 15 m. The photographs, taken on a scale of 251 m by 1 cm, unexpectedly revealed hundreds of giant figures shining through the shallow water and lying on dry areas of the seabed. The various figures consisted of single or several parallel lines of unusual shape. The unusualness was in the too regular, not random appearance of many of them. And this appearance suggested their artificial origin. Therefore, the figures were given the name “Traces of unknown activity at the bottom of the Aral Sea” or simply “Aral Traces”. They cover an area of about 500 km2 in the images, but appear to continue beyond the aerial photograph. Before the sea level began to fall, the figures were at depths of 10 - 15 m, and were not visible from the surface of the sea.

For different figures, the lines have a length from 100 - 200 m to 6 - 8 km, and their width, strictly constant within each figure, varies from 2 to 100 m. Some figures can contain up to several dozen parallel lines, reminiscent of a comb stroke up to 1 - 2 km.

Underwater, the lines look like black stripes with narrow light edges, similar to dumps of soil from earthen canals, and when they dry out on the shore, they become whitish and have little contrast. The black color of the lines along some of their length when reaching a drained bank indicates their concave topography, similar to the cross-section of canals, and their filling with water. Based on indirect evidence in photographs and measurements of two figures on the ground, it was established that the lines of the figures are grooves with an initial depth of up to 0.4 - 0.5 m, formed in the sandy-silty soil of the seabed. Light spots on the surface of the water are sun glare. The black lines appearing against their background are convex parts of the furrows in the form of soil dumps rising above the surface of the water.

The age of the furrows, if it is supposed to be estimated in photographs by the degree of swelling of their contours and taking into account the relatively low rate of accumulation of bottom organic sediments, can be approximately determined within a range of up to several hundred years. And the patterns of mutual intersection of furrows (up to four times successively) indicate cases of their sequential formation (carrying out) at different times on top of previously created ones.

The official explanation of scientists: this is not the first time the sea has receded. But I have a different version.

On old maps, the Caspian Sea looks different than it does now. A huge number of cities were located in what is now a desert.

Most likely, this event happened quite recently:

The outline of the Caspian coast has changed. From the east it retreated and moved south. But a huge mass of water remained where the Aral Sea is now drying up. Those. all the buildings found at the bottom of the Aral Sea were cities and villages in the deltas of rivers flowing into the ancient Caspian Sea.

There is this map overlay:

The western part of the border of the ancient Caspian and the present roughly coincides. The Volga delta coincides. But the eastern outline of the ancient Caspian Sea extends far beyond the Aral Sea. It was possibly a single body of water. How settlements of farmers could have been located then is unclear. Perhaps this overlay is incorrect. Not to scale. Or indeed, the level of the Aral Sea fluctuates. And people moved and settled after the receding sea.
Another option is that it is very ancient map with much more ancient outlines of the Caspian Sea.
Sources:
[Click to read]

Here the Aral Sea is different. Although the Caspian is already in its modern form.

Clickable. 1723 Joachim Ottens. There is a compass in the center of the map, therefore north on the map is on the left. The Caspian is also different. But it differs both from the real outlines and from the 16th century maps.
It is possible that there were several reasons leading to changes in the outlines of the seas in this region. All to varying degrees of catastrophicity and duration.

Another assumption is that the maps of the 16th century, where the Caspian Sea has an oval shape (stretched from west to east), and not from north to south, as it is now, is an incorrect location of the Caspian Sea on the maps. The compilers redrawn from different sources and did not pay attention to the location of the north:

Here the north is still there, on the left. And this card may have been transferred later as seen.

Then, according to this assumption, it turns out that the Aral Sea previously (recently) did not exist at all. The settlements and finds found at its bottom are the remains of ancient cities, which are depicted in large numbers on these maps. And there really were a lot of cities.
I had several articles about some of the cities and fortresses of this region:

There are several opinions. Official: this is the bottom of an ancient sea. Another, alternative opinion is that the salts of the flood waters standing in these places were deposited. But there are many lowlands and valleys where such a picture is not observed. Although there should also be water there.
My opinion is that this fact is associated with the release of salty and mineral masses of underground water. And it is in these places in large quantities. I mentioned underground oceans. As can be seen on the maps, there are saline soils and soils even in the north. I think this is due precisely to the powerful output of salty and mineral deep waters to the surface (from underground lakes, seas). It is possible that it was they who fed and maintained the level of the Aral Sea, and not the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers.

Aral Sea - formerly closed salt Lake in Central Asia, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Aral Sea appeared, according to official history, approximately 20-24 thousand years ago. But is this really so?

I'll start with a comment from chispa1707: in the year 72-76, a friend of my father, a mechanizer-meliorator, who worked in the Ellikalinsky district of Karakalpakstan on the development of virgin lands (it seems for rice cultivation), returned from his shift and said: “We remove the dune with a bulldozer, and there are beds! It turns out that people used to live and there was water! Desert,

At about the same time, the tugboat captain, a distant relative, who was transporting barges from Muynak to Aralsk, noted with surprise that buildings were visible at the bottom - the ruins of houses and duvals. Then the problem of the drying out of the Aral Sea had already emerged and he noted that this meant that in the past the sea was even smaller. Recently, scientists found a mosque on the dried bottom.

It turns out that there are also examples, supported by archaeologists, of the presence of ancient buildings on the former bottom of the Aral Sea:

Aral-Asar

Chronology of the drying up of the Aral Sea

In 2001, not far from the already dried island of Barsakelmes, a joint archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology named after. A. Margulan and Kyzylorda State University. Korkyt-Ata, under the leadership of candidate of historical sciences T. Mamiev, examined a large, well-preserved mausoleum and other fragments of an ancient highly developed settlement discovered by residents of the Aral village of Karateren. The find was located in the area of depths of 18 - 20 m of the former sea and was sensational.
Then, in 2004, an archaeological expedition of the Korkyt-Ata Kyzylorda State University, led by Professor A. Aidosov, examined the second mausoleum.

The finds were tentatively attributed by scientists to the period of the 12th – 15th centuries.

14 millstones and nearby premises for storing flour - khumdans - were found. Apparently, flour milling production was developed.
There was an irrigation canal here, 2 - 2.5 meters wide, passing through the settlement, indicating a developed irrigation system and the fact that the inhabitants brought water here, apparently from the channels of the ancient channels of the Amu Darya or Syr Darya many tens of kilometers away.

Approximate coordinates: 46" 02" north latitude; 60"25" east longitude.

A tree trunk on the dry bottom of the Aral Sea. Consequently, the sea is very young, formed by catastrophic processes, and which disappeared (dried up) not due to human economic activity.

On June 19 – 20, 1990, aerial photography was carried out at a level of the Great Sea of about 38 m abs., that is, after the level had dropped by 15 m. The photographs, taken on a scale of 251 m by 1 cm, unexpectedly revealed hundreds of giant figures shining through the shallow water and lying on dry areas of the seabed. The various figures consisted of single or several parallel lines of unusual shape. The unusualness was in the too regular, not random appearance of many of them. And this appearance suggested their artificial origin. Therefore, the figures were given the name “Traces of unknown activity at the bottom of the Aral Sea” or simply “Aral Traces”. They cover an area of about 500 km2 in the images, but appear to continue beyond the aerial photograph. Before the sea level began to fall, the figures were at depths of 10–15 m and were not visible from the surface of the sea.

The official explanation of scientists: this is not the first time the sea has receded. But I have a different version.

On old maps, the Caspian Sea looks different than it does now. A huge number of cities were located in what is now a desert.

Most likely, this event happened quite recently:

There is this map overlay:

The western part of the border of the ancient Caspian and the present roughly coincides. The Volga delta coincides. But the eastern outline of the ancient Caspian Sea extends far beyond the Aral Sea. It was possibly a single body of water. How settlements of farmers could have been located then is unclear. Perhaps this overlay is incorrect. Not to scale. Or indeed, the level of the Aral Sea fluctuates. And people moved and settled after the receding sea.
Another option is that this is a very ancient map with much more ancient outlines of the Caspian Sea.

Here the Aral Sea is different. Although the Caspian is already in its modern form.

Here the north is still there, on the left. And this card may have been transferred later as seen.

Based on this new information about ancient cities on the former bottom of the Aral Sea, I have not yet formed a clear opinion about the shape and geography of the ancient Caspian Sea. Maybe someone will share their thoughts in the comments?

Another fact is that in this previously flourishing region (well, people couldn’t set up so many cities in the desert) something catastrophic happened, not only the deserts and sands speak, but also the level of salinity of the soil and soil:

There are several opinions. Official: this is the bottom of an ancient sea. Another, alternative opinion is that the salts of the flood waters standing in these places were deposited. But there are many lowlands and valleys where such a picture is not observed. Although there should also be water there.
My opinion is that this fact is associated with the release of salty and mineral masses of underground water. And it is in these places in large numbers. I mentioned underground oceans. As can be seen on the maps, there are saline soils and soils even in the north. I think this is due precisely to the powerful output of salty and mineral deep waters to the surface (from underground lakes, seas). It is possible that it was they who fed and maintained the level of the Aral Sea, and not the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers.

The Kazakhstani part of the Aral Sea region today presents a bleak picture: the sun-dried clay plain is cut through by the riverbeds of the ancient Syrdarya delta. The area from a bird's eye view resembles a giant triangle. Its area is over 400 square kilometers. From the north and northeast, the plain is limited by the modern bed of the Syr Darya, from the west by the Aral Sea (or rather, what remains of it), and from the south by the sands of the Kyzylkum desert. This was not always the case - the appearance of this territory changed several times: now there was a wasteland, now there were rustling sea waves. At different times, peoples of completely different cultures flocked here. It is no coincidence that the famous researcher of the history and culture of Central Asia, Sergei Tolstov, gave the name “Aral Knot of Ethnogenesis” to this land. And proof of the former turbulent life are entire cities that local archaeologists find on the former seabed.

Strange place

The drying up of the Aral Sea is called one of the worst environmental disasters of the 20th century. The area of the reservoir gradually decreased, it became shallow, exposing its bottom. Three years ago, hunters from the village of Karateren were chasing game along the former bottom of the sea and, unexpectedly for themselves, found themselves near the island of Barsakelmes, about three hundred kilometers from Kyzylorda. It was they who allegedly became the first to see the ancient settlement, as if it had appeared out of nowhere. However, there are suspicions that people have stumbled upon the ruins of a ghost town before. It must be said that this place itself - the island of Barsakelmes - has a bad reputation. It is probably no coincidence that in translation from Kazakh it means “if you go, you won’t come back.” As always happens when there are fewer facts than rumors, there are a large number of legends and tales about the island, which talk about strange incidents associated almost with a change in the normal course of time. They say that in memorable years, fugitives, having spent only a few years on the island, ended up with their aged relatives decades later. And entire families allegedly disappeared here without a trace. Disputes about the causes of anomalies among researchers of the unknown either subside or flare up with new strength. Therefore, when the news of the discovery near Barsakelmes reached historians, they did not shelve the matter and set off on an expedition.

From the bottom of the sea

When we first came to this place, we couldn’t believe our eyes,” Dmitry Voyakin, Master of Historical Sciences, head of the department of the Institute of Archeology of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, shares his impressions with Itogi. - Imagine: at the bottom, strewn with white salt, you can see the outlines of an ancient city, the remains of mausoleums and necropolises are clearly visible. At first, many even jokingly said that the lost Atlantis had been found in Kazakhstan.

The discovered city was conventionally named Aral-Asar - “Aral trace”. Despite the fact that its main buildings were greatly eroded, archaeologists still almost piece by piece restored the appearance of the unknown settlement. First of all, we determined its area - six hectares. Then the age had to be determined. This was helped by the ceramics found during the excavations - it dates back to the end of the 14th century, that is, the period of the Golden Horde.

And then the scientists were in for complete surprises. Household items were found in large quantities: 14 millstones, ceramic vessels, fragments of iron and bronze items. Apparently, the townspeople concentrated all their attention on growing rice and then processing it into flour. Moreover, the production volumes were so large that rice fields with giant irrigation systems and canals occupied most of the site. This is evidenced by the found huge warehouses - khumdans. Scientists do not exclude: Aral-Asar was a powerful production zone for the supply of flour for export. But that’s what’s strange. The population of the Central Asian region in those distant times predominantly led a nomadic lifestyle and was engaged in cattle breeding. And therefore, agricultural items came as a real surprise to scientists.

How in this place a whole city has grown up, one can only guess. Aral-Asar is located far from ancient large settlements. The closest of them - Kesken-Kuyuk-Kale and Jend - are located 200 kilometers away.

Presumably, some of the people from there came to live in Aral-Asar, says Dmitry Voyakin. - However, there is another version. Residents could have moved here from cities that are still hidden by the waters of the Aral Sea and are still unknown to us.

Therefore, with the discovery of Aral-Asar, researchers had even more questions than answers. For example, it is not known for certain who the inhabitants of the settlement were. There is an assumption that these were ethnic descendants of mixed Oguz-Kipchak tribes. The Oguzes are considered the ancestors of modern Turkmens, Azerbaijanis and Turks. And the Kipchaks are the forefathers of the Tatars, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Karachais and other peoples. As ancient written sources say, in those days the Oguz tribes were slowly forced out of these areas by the Kipchak tribal nobility. But not everyone left their inhabited territories. It is possible that one of the tribes remained living in Aral-Asar.

Most likely, this settlement existed for a very short time - for example, several decades, - suggests Karl Baipakov, director of the Kazakh Institute of Archeology. - But it was built thoroughly, as if to last for centuries. On one side there was an industrial zone in a crescent shape. The residential sector was in the center. Rice fields with irrigation systems were separated from residential buildings by powerful artificial canals at least three meters wide. Unfortunately, the unique structures were blurred, as a result of which we were able to find only fragments of houses. Most of them were adobe buildings with a standard layout for that time. In the center is a tandoor (a universal oven used for both cooking and heating), which was built into a sufa - a bench that occupied most of the room. Its sides were made of mud brick, and the space between the wall was filled with soil. The top of the structure was coated with clay mortar and covered with carpets.

And the necropolis closed the city, which was also the border of the settlement. “It feels like this is a real “valley of the dead,” says professor, senior researcher at Kyzylorda State University Ablai Aidosov. - The mausoleum, located in the central part of the necropolis, is now a swollen hill less than two meters high. But once its walls were lined with baked bricks, and the foundation was a solid structure made of stone slabs.” Such a massive foundation is atypical for similar structures Central Asia. Apparently, the ancient city planners took into account the characteristics of the soil - unstable and silty. The thickness of the walls is also striking - at the narrowest point it is at least a meter. The entrance to the mausoleum was decorated with a portal lined with glazed tiles that have survived to this day with gold inscriptions in Arabic. In the inner gurkhans - halls divided into two parts, both men and women with children were buried. In total, researchers found seven burials here, all of them dating back to the end of the 14th century. True, the central burial, covered with four massive slabs, turned out to be empty. Either this is a hoax, or the grave was robbed, since a tribal leader or other person of high status could probably be buried in it.

A pair of gold earrings in the shape of the head of a leopard biting its tail, found in the crypt, raised many questions. “Such a subject is completely uncharacteristic for people who profess Islam,” says Ablai Aidosov. - And of course, those who lived here adhered to this religion. But this find may indicate that in those distant times in Aral-Asar there were strong tribal traditions of shamanism and Tengrism - a monotheistic religion in which the supreme god is Ten-Gri - the power that rules the world.”

When the excavations of the mausoleum came to an end, scientists found a real treasure - a large jug with tools that were used to cultivate the land. Some kind of hoes. In those distant times, they were valued no less than gold. Someone from local residents, probably, in the last days of the city’s existence, he hid all this in a mausoleum, hoping to return here someday. However, the waters of the Aral Sea swallowed up the settlement, and the treasure went to archaeologists.

The water cycle

The question of why an entire city went under water in places where every drop of life-giving moisture is worth its weight in gold, perhaps worries researchers most of all. “The Aral Sea is a unique basin, called a sea, although it is surrounded on all sides by deserts and has no connection with the ocean,” says Dmitry Voyakin. “Like most closed basins in the arid zone, the Aral Sea has very unstable water levels.”

The very existence of such a vast basin directly depends on the volume of the large rivers of Central Asia - the Amu Darya and Syr Darya - flowing into it. Even at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, the Amu Darya completely filled the Aral Depression, and since the Syr Darya also flowed into it at the same time, the sea reached its maximum level. However, in subsequent historical periods, the Amu Darya several times turned its waters to the west, into the Sarykamysh depression, draining the Aral Sea. This was the case in the middle of the first millennium AD - in the 4th-6th centuries, when sea level dropped significantly. From the 7th to the 13th centuries. the direction of the Amu Darya flow was restored, and the Aral filled again. However, during the Mongol invasion at the beginning of the 13th century, which led, as researchers suggest, to the destruction of irrigation systems in the lower reaches of the river, the Amu Darya again turned its waters. The next time a turn in its flow apparently occurred after the capture of Khorezm by Timur, whose troops completely destroyed the system of canals and drainage systems. As a result, the Aral Sea again left its shores. And this happened just at the end of the 14th century. Apparently, it was then that Aral-Asar arose. They began to build houses on the exposed bottom, and the city gradually grew and developed. But unstable waters filled the depression again, burying everything built by people. Most likely, the water came quickly, and the residents barely had time to collect the necessary belongings and leave their homes. No doubt they did not expect the sea to return so soon.

It is not known exactly how many more drowned cities the Aral hides. But they exist, archaeologists have no doubt. A flight over the territory and aerial photography at the beginning of the year showed that former plantation fields with developed irrigation systems stretch for kilometers on the seabed. If this is so, then there were probably entire settlements nearby. This means that they still have a chance to return from oblivion and will give scientists a chance to understand what layer of history and culture was hidden under the waters of the Aral Sea.

Earrings that were found in a burial at the head of a woman. Dragon biting its tail (Scytho - Sarmatian pictorial tradition).

“At the bottom, strewn with white salt, the outlines of an ancient city are visible, the remains of mausoleums, necropolises and settlements are clearly visible. At first, many even jokingly said that the lost Atlantis had been found in Kazakhstan.”

Plan of the Kerderi mausoleum at the bottom of the Aral Sea. XIV century.

Finds from excavations

Aral Atlantis. The ruins of two cities were found on the dry bottom.

Aral Sea

The remains of an ancient cult temple were discovered on the dry bottom of the Aral Sea. An archaeological expedition that went to the site of the find found that the structure dates back to the 11th-14th centuries and is a copy of the Yasawi mausoleum in Turkestan. Nearby, the graves of dead soldiers were opened, and workshops were found in which tiles and ceramics were made. According to scientists, the temple belonged to the Oghuz people and was located on the territory of the ancient city. As one of the participants in that (2000) expedition, Professor Abylay Aidosov, believes, only a small part of the settlement has been discovered so far, and the main part is still under water, writes Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.

Unfortunately, specialists were unable to continue their exploration of the ancient settlement; the expedition only worked for one season, and then the money ran out. And here is a new, without exaggeration, sensational find. 20 kilometers from the mentioned mausoleum, hunters from the village of Karateren discovered the ruins of another ancient city on the dry seabed. According to them, a group of Kyzylorda scientists left the regional center and spent three days exploring the remains of the ancient settlement. The conclusions they reach can literally cause confusion among historians and archaeologists.

We know about the existence of Atlantis, which unexpectedly sank to the seabed. So far, her search has not brought any results, and many believe that this is only a legend. But, as it turned out, there were cities similar to Atlantis, and one of them was buried by the waves of the Aral Sea. Employees of the Korkyt-ata State University removed a layer of sand from the surface of some destroyed buildings and discovered chaotically located remains of people and domestic animals, indicating that they died at the same time and that there was no one to bury them. The disaster took people by surprise, and no one managed to avoid it. Jugs, iron lamps, coins and other household items were also found at the excavation sites. Everything remained as it was at the time of the death of the city.

According to Professor Abylai Aidosov, the reason for this could be water that unexpectedly surrounded the settlement, and people were unable to escape. As is known, the Aral Sea began to fill again in the 14th century, and it is quite possible that this process proceeded quite quickly.

Ak-Kaya fortress, XIII century

The famous historian Z. N. Buniyatov in one of his works “The State of the Khorezmshahs of the Anushtiginids” describes the campaign of the Khorezmshah’s troops to the Oguz cities of Zhent and Zhankent in the Aral Sea region, carried out in the 12th century. The army walked along the bottom of the dried-up Aral Sea, and the warriors encountered several thriving cities. One of them is Robat-Togan. Perhaps the one found now is the same Robat-Togan, since, according to the description of the chronicler of the Khorezmshah, the city was surrounded by a dam in case of the arrival of water. It was Kyzylorda scientists who discovered traces of the dam. Apparently, the water approached the city during the flood period, but then retreated, and the residents erected this structure to avoid flooding. In case of a natural disaster, they stocked up on food (large vessels were found in which grain was stored). They were buried a meter deep in the ground. However, it seems that the latest flood was so violent and powerful that it covered the city.

Kazakhstani scientists now have a unique opportunity to study the life and way of life of our ancestors. After all, this is not a city abandoned by people and not destroyed to the ground by conquerors, as all other ancient settlements have reached us. Here the waters of the Aral Sea have preserved, including from plunder, everything that ancient people used. But now it is open and not guarded by anyone. And, in our opinion, one should be afraid that lovers of profit will have time to dig in the sand in search of rich burials and gold. The Aral Atlantis is a rare gift for our history, and it would be worth organizing the protection of the ancient settlement while the expedition is organized.

Aral Atlantis. Mausoleum of Kerderi

Women's earrings "Dragon biting its tail" found at the excavations of the Kerderi mausoleum.

“And when he returned, he did not forget about the poor people.
I now understand the needs of disadvantaged people.
Be close to them, since you are a Muslim,
Listen to those who read the Qur'an and the commandments of His Prophet."

Khoja Ahmed Yassawi.

Bringing up the rear of the fort Aral-Asar necropolis, called Kerderi, which was also the border of the settlement. This is a real “valley of the dead”. Before the excavations, it was a 1.6 meter high slumped hill. On the surface of the hill there was a cluster of baked square bricks, measuring 25 x 25 x 5. The mausoleum is oriented according to the corners of the world and has a rectangular shape in plan.
The walls of the mausoleum were made of baked bricks. The southwestern part of the wall has been preserved to a height of six rows of bricks. The entrance to the mausoleum was located in the southwestern part of the structure and was decorated with a portal niche 2 meters wide, the rectangular frame and arch of which were decorated with glazed tiles with floral and geometric patterns and epigraphy.
Fragments of decorative rounded bricks found here suggest that the archivolt of the niche arch rested on three-quarter columns built into the corners of the niche. The mausoleum, located in the central part of the necropolis, is now a sunken hill less than two meters high. But once its walls were lined with baked bricks, and the foundation was a solid structure made of stone slabs.”
Such a massive foundation is atypical for similar structures Central Asia. Apparently, the ancient city planners took into account the characteristics of the soil - unstable and silty. The thickness of the walls is also striking - at the narrowest point it is at least a meter. The entrance to the mausoleum was decorated with a portal lined with glazed tiles that have survived to this day with gold inscriptions in Arabic.
Both men and women with children were buried in the inner gurkhans - halls divided into two parts. In total, researchers found seven Sagan-type burials here, and all of them date back to the end of the 14th century. The central burial, covered with four massive slabs, turned out to be empty. The exception is the burial located in the northwestern axial niche. The grave pit was lined with stone.
The burial was robbed. A tribal leader or other person of high status could probably be buried in it. A pair of gold earrings in the shape of the head of a leopard biting its tail, found in the crypt, raised many questions. Such a subject is completely uncharacteristic for people professing Islam. Of course, those who lived here adhered to this religion.
This find may indicate that in those distant times, the tribal traditions of shamanism and Tengrism, a monotheistic religion in which the supreme god is Tengri, the power that rules the world, were strong in Aral-Asar.” When the excavations of the mausoleum came to an end, scientists found a real treasure, in the southern corner under the floor - a large jug, 40 centimeters high with a side handle.
Inside the vessel were heavily corroded metal products with tools (sickles, scythes, knives) that were used to cultivate the land. In those distant times, they were valued no less than gold. One of the local residents, probably, hid all this in a mausoleum in the last days of the city’s existence, hoping to return here someday. However, water Aral swallowed up the settlement, and the treasure went to archaeologists. The mausoleum dates back to the 14th century.

“Golden Man” from the Issyk-Kul mound

50 km east of Almaty there is a grandiose burial mound complex consisting of 45 earthen pyramids ranging from 4 to 15 meters in height. Most of the burial grounds were plundered by thieves in ancient times, but the side tomb of the Issyk mound remained untouched until 1969, when Kazakh scientists began to study it.
Archaeological excavations lasted about a year. Finally, archaeologist Beken Nurmukhanbetov decided to explore a flat area 10 meters from the central burial. In the tomb, carved from a century-old Tien Shan spruce, the remains of a Saka leader and more than 4,000 gold jewelry were discovered.
The archaeological find went down in history under the name “Golden Man from the Issyk Mound.” The scientific leader of the expedition, Kemal Akishev, was recognized as the discoverer of the tomb, and Beken Nurmukhanbetov, who at that time worked only as a junior researcher, remained in the shadow of the glory of his mentor. Archaeologists made a fatal mistake by not inviting an anthropologist to analyze the remains immediately after their removal. The bones, placed in a separate box, began to quickly deteriorate. It is now impossible to conduct a genetic examination, since the remains themselves have been lost. According to one version, the culprit of the loss is the anthropologist Omurzak Ismagulov, who took the bones for analysis, but lost them while wandering with his laboratory. It is not possible to establish the sex of the buried person, and to this day there are ongoing debates about who the “Golden Man” was - a man or a woman. The head of the excavations, Kemal Akishev, having examined the frontal bones and jaws, claims that a young man between 18 and 20 years old is buried in the tomb. According to Akishev, a large lower jaw with a thin jaw joint is typical for a man, but not for a girl. However, a silk cosmetic bag containing a bronze mirror and red ocher casts doubt on the idea that it was a young man. The sword and dagger found next to the buried person are found in the graves of Saka and Sarmatian women, who, like the Amazons, fought, rode horses and shot with a bow.
Costume of the “Golden Man” and its symbolism

The found armor and funeral attire allowed scientists to recreate the image of the Saka prince-warrior. Lush clothes indicate that the “Golden Man” occupied the highest rung of the social ladder. He was probably a descendant of a Saka leader. The human head is crowned with a “crown” in the form of a high, pointed turban, decorated with gold plates depicting horses, snow leopards, birds and trees with spreading crowns. Placing a golden crown on the prince elevates him to the rank of a sun-like deity and identifies him with the high priest, the warrior god. The leader's neck is decorated with a gold hoop with tips in the form of tiger heads. In the lobe of his left ear, the “Golden Man” wore a gold earring with an ornament of grain and turquoise. The prince is dressed in a thin silk shirt, trimmed with an intricate pattern of gold plates. Over the shirt is worn a caftan, decorated with cast gold plaques depicting animals and birds. The prince's suede trousers are tucked into high boots with glued gold plaques in the shape of a trefoil. On the right, a sword in a sheath covered with red leather is attached to the warrior’s belt, and on the left is an iron dagger in a sheath with gold plates in the form of a galloping elk and a horse. On both sides of the dagger, figures of a wolf, fox, mountain sheep, fallow deer, fox, snake and other animals are carved on gold plates. In addition, in the tomb of dried apricots Issyk, a silver bowl (5th century BC) with 26 writings was discovered, which have not yet been deciphered. The original “Golden Man” is in the state repository, and a copy of it can be seen in the State Gold Museum in Astana. There is an opinion that recognizing the “Golden Man” as a symbol of Kazakhstan is incorrect from the point of view of heraldry. As if the pointed headdress of the Saka prince symbolizes the key to the afterlife. However, such an interpretation is incorrect; in fact, the three parts of the pointed crown denote the sacred model of the Universe: the otherworldly underworld, the vain earthly world and the heavenly world, where the supreme deity Tengri reigns. The upper part of the crown is directed to the sky, personifying Kazakhstan, looking towards the future, in which new discoveries in science and technological progress are inevitable.
http://www.putidorogi-nn.ru/aziya/72-zolotoi-chelovek