Linguistic map of the Altaic, Turkic and Uralic languages

Map of the Turkic Peoples

Note; Approximate boundaries Only.

The Altai - The ancestral homeland of the Turkic Peoples

The Turkic peoples are thought to have originated in the areas in and around the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Gradually they spread out and occupied large tracks of Siberia and Central Asia. In time groups emerged from within the Turkic horde, amongst whom are the Karluk (Uygur and Uzbek), Kipchak (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Karakalpak and Tatar) and Oghuz (Turkmen, Azeri and Turks).  It is also regarded as the homeland of other nationalities Mongolians, Koreans and even Hungarians. The Ural-Altaic languages to whom all the groups (Turks, Mongols, Koreans and Hungarians) speak are named after the region.

Altai Mountains

The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in East-Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. They stretch for 1,200 miles across southwestern Mongolia from Siberia plain to the Gobi Desert. The mountains are of moderate height. There are several peaks over 4,500 meters. Those that are higher than 3,000 meters are snowcapped throughout the year. The region is rich in lakes and streams. The Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei all have their sources in the Altai. The Altai people live mainly in the broad plateaus, steppes and valleys of the ranges, where water is plentiful. The Altai complex of mountain ranges embraces the water divide mountains for all of Asia: the South Altai, the Inner Altai and the east Altai. The Mongolian Altai is connected to this mountain complex, rising to the southeast of the Siberian Altai region.

A varied region it has many landscapes forests, steppes, wild rivers, lakes, deserts, snow capped mountains and abundant wildlife.  The climate is continental with extremes in temperatures occurring between the summer and the winter. The mountains help to mitigate the extremes to some extent by causing a winter temperature inversion that produces an island of winter temperatures that are warmer than those in the Siberian taiga to the north and the Central Asian and Mongolian steppes to south and east. Even so temperatures drop as low as -48°C in the winter. The mountains are a gathering point for precipitation in a region that otherwise is dry. The most rain falls in July and August, with another smaller period of rain in late autumn. The western Altai receives around 50 centimeters of precipitation a year. The eastern Altai receives less: around 40 centimeters a year.

 Snow leopard

Natural vegetation in the region includes steppe grasses, shrubs and bushes and light forests of birch, fir, aspen, cherry, spruce, and pines, with many clearings in the forest. These forest merge with a modified taiga. Among the animals are hare, mountain sheep, several species of deer, bobac, woodchucks, lynx, polecats, snow leopards, wolves, bears, argali sheep, siberian ibex, mountain goats and deer. Bird species include pheasants, ptarmigan, goose, partridge, Altai snowcocks, owls, snipes and jays. In the streams and rivers are trout, grayling and the herring-like sig.

Siberian ibex

One of the world's oldest religious texts the Avesta celebrates its 2700th Anniversary

Photo: Uzbekistan declared 2001 to be the 2,700th anniversary of the holy book the Avesta.

Ancient Khoresm which today covers much of North Western Uzbekistan and parts of northern Turkmenistan is acknowledged by most historians to be the birthplace of Zoroaster also known as Zarathustra the founding prophet of Zoroastrianism the world's first monotheistic religion. It is considered to be the precursor to many of the modern day monotheistic religions particularly Christianity and Judaism.

Zoroastrianism was widespread in both the Transoxiania and Khorezm regions before the arrival of the Islam in the eight and ninth centuries CE. The major premise of Zoroastrianism is the vast cosmic struggle between Ahura Mazdah, the God of Light and Ahriman, the principal of Darkness and Evil.  

Photo: Shilpiq / Chilpik dakhma

The Chilpyk Tower of Silence located on the right bank of the Amu Darya River in Southern Karakalpakstan once served the surrounding region as a dakhma right up to the time of the Arab invasion of the early 7th century CE. There are signs of rebuilding or repair work in the 7th to 8th centuries BCE and again in the 9th and 10th century AD..

In 1940, Shilpiq was surveyed by Soviet archaeologist Sergei Tolstov and members of his early Khorezm Archaeological Expedition, a geodetic survey trig point being built on the dakhma. They found that it sits on a symmetrical conical 35-40 meters high hill, the circular structure of the dakhma approx. 79 meters in diameter. It's a 15 metre high walls were built from pakhsa or compacted clay. The walls where probably taller when built and taper towards the top from a wide base. On the west side of the walls is an opening accessed by a 20 metre-long staircase. At the start of the staircase is a tall pillar that can be seen from a distance. A ramp that starts from the river bank leads up to the pillar. Tower of Silence Burial practices are of special interest. Zoroastrian custom requires the body to the placed in the Dakhma shortly after death is confirmed, Bodies were placed on high hills or man-made summits and exposed to scavengers (usually vultures) who soon stripped the bones clean. The fastest means of transporting a body to the Dakhma would have been by boat. The numerous river arms and canals would have made water transport the most practical means of transportation. In addition, the river at the time of the dakhma's use would have been wider and closer to the base of the hill making the walk to the top much shorter than it is today. Funerary practices in Khvarizem, Sogdiana and the Semirechye indicate that after the bones of the body had been bleached and dried for about a year, the skeletal remains were then placed in ceramic ossuary containers and buried. It would be natural to expect that families would want to bury the remains closer to their towns rather than in the dakhma area and as such only a few ossuary's have been found at Shilpiq. The concentration of population were at settlements to the west at Mizdahkan  and south of the Sultanuiz hills (Sultan Uvays Dag) and that is where a larger number of ossuary's have been found. Today the north-south highway runs beside Shilpiq, with the provincial capital of Nukus 43 kilometres to the North. Nearby at Qara Tyube, bronze age petroglyphs can be found.

Stamps and Coins featuring the Yurt

500 So'm 2011 UNC Commemorative: 20th Anniversary of Uzbekistan's Independence

On September 1, 2011 the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan  put out a commemorative coins of 500 (five hundred) som into circulation devoted to the twentieth anniversary of the independence of the state of Uzbekistan. The coins are made of steel coated with a nickel alloy. Shape is round.The edge is plain. The diameter of the coin is - 25.0 mm., Thickness - 1.6 mm., Weight - 6.0 gm. On the front side (obverse) the coin shows in the center the "Palace of international symposia" in Tashkent. Below the building is the denomination of the coin in two lines, "500" and "so'm" in the Latin alphabet. The denomination is incuse. On the outer edge of the coin in Latin capitals is the inscription "O'ZBEKISTON MUSTAQILLIGIGA 20 YIL". The beginning and end of the legend is marked by a convex point. On the reverse side (reverse) of the coin is the emblem of the Republic of Uzbekistan, with the legend in the Latin alphabet "O'ZBEKISTON MARKAZIY BANKI". Under the emblem in the center is the year of issue "2011", between two convex points. On the reverse side of the coin around the coat of arms is a circle of 72 points. Acceptance at face value of the 500 som coin, along with notes and coins in circulation, is obligatory without restriction.  Ed. (Source: UzDaily.com)

Нукус

Узбекистан Нукус не так давно ( в 2002 году) отметил свой 70-летний юбилей, тем не менее, история этого поселения насчитывает тысячелетия. Этот край имеет более 1000 археологических и исторических памятников.

Нукус (Nukus) - город в Узбекистане, столица Республики Каракалпакстан (Каракалпакии). Расположен в центральной части Каракалпакии на правом берегу Амударьи, в 800 км к северо-западу от Ташкента (1255 км по дороге). Южная и восточная часть города окружена пустыней Кызылкум. Северная часть города граничит с дельтой Амударьи. Климат резко континентальный, сухой, с длительным малооблачным жарким летом. Через город проходят магистральный канал Кызкеткен и Каракалпакская автомагистраль, автомобильные и железная дороги. Нукусский аэропорт имеет республиканское значение. Площадь Нукуса - более 200 квадратных километров. Экологическая ситуация в Нукусе и во всём Каракалпакстане сложная из-за усыхания Аральского моря. Археологические раскопки городища Шурча на территории современного Нукуса показали, что люди жили здесь с IV века до н. э. до IV века н. э., поселение было опорным пунктом Хорезмского государства. В Нукусе расположены Государственный музей искусств имени И. В. Савицкого с богатым собранием русского авангардизма, краеведческий музей, музей Бердаха, памятники Бердаху, Улугбеку, Ажиниязу и др. В окрестностях города расположены археологические памятники Шылпык- зороастрийская Дахма, и некрополь древнего Миздахкана.

Source: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%81
 

Почтовая марка - Нукус

Почтовая марка СССР 1960г. Нукус. Дом советов министров республики.

Receding Aral Sea sees some recovery

This image, taken on August 26, 2010, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, demonstrates the close connection between the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya River. It is the most recent image in a ten-year sequence published on the Earth Observatory’s World of Change: Shrinking Aral Sea. Photo Credit: NASA/Jesse Allen

The size of the Aral Sea has long hinged on the Amu Darya, which flows from the high Pamir Mountains in central Asia, across the desert, and into the southern sea. While two rivers empty into the lake—the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya—the Amu Darya is the largest and most fickle source of water. At times in ancient history, the river has bent its course to empty into the Caspian Sea, and the abandoned Aral Sea shrank. The Aral Sea has been at its largest when the Amu Darya feeds it.

Modern trends are no exception: when water began to be diverted from the Amu Darya for vast agricultural projects starting in 1960, the Aral Sea began to shrink.

Between 2000 and 2009, the Aral Sea steadily shrank. In 2006, severe drought settled in over Amu Darya Basin. Very little water reached the Aral Sea in 2007, and nothing flowed from the Amu Darya to the Aral Sea in 2008 and 2009. Without water from the Amu Darya, the southern Aral Sea rapidly dwindled, the eastern lobe all but disappearing in 2009.

In 2010, however, the drought broke. Snow in the Pamir Mountains was normal, and enough water flowed into the Amu Darya that the river reached the Aral Sea. The muddy pulse of water settled in a shallow layer over the bed of the eastern lobe of the South Aral Sea, making it look much larger than it had in 2009.

Before 1960, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. However, much of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya have been diverted for agriculture, limiting the flow of water into the sea. Since 1960, the Aral Sea has lost 88 percent of its surface area and 92 percent of its water volume.

Water withdrawal and availability in Aral Sea basin

Millions of years ago, the northwestern part of Uzbekistan and western Kazakhstan were covered by a massive inland sea. When the waters receded, they left a remnant sea known as the Aral.

The Aral as an inland salt-water sea has no outlet being fed by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers. The fresh water from these two rivers once held the Aral’s water and salt levels in balance. However after the 50ies and 60ies when a series of major irrigation schemes were undertaken on the two rivers by Soviet Engineers the water started to recede.

The schemes were based on constructing a series of dams on both two rivers to create reservoirs from which eventially 40.000 km of canals would be dug to divert water to field crops. Afterwards however there was little or no water left in the riverbeds to flow to the Aral Sea. Consequently the water level in the last 50 years in the Aral has dropped by approximately 23 metres and the volume has been reduced by nearly 90%.

Whilst triggering what is considered one of the 20th Centuries greatest ecological disasters; these schemes are however unlikly to be removed as they are the main source of income and food for millions of people in the region.

 
Photo: Around the remaining sea is a vast salt plain now known as the Aralkum Desert, a result of the sea's evaporation. The desert is a roughly 15,444-square-mile (40,000-square-kilometer) zone of dry, white salt and mineral terrain. Each year sandstorms pick up at least 150,000 tons of salt and sand from Aralkum and transport them across hundreds of miles, causing severe health problems for the local population and altering the region's climate.

Reference: Micklin, P. (2010, September 16). The past, present, and future Aral Sea. Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management, 15 (3), 193-213. Sources: http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/07/26/receding-aral-sea-sees-some-recovery/ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46685

ED: Sadly this was short lived read National Geographic article from October 2014 - "Aral Sea's Eastern Basin Is Dry for First Time in 600 Years" go to http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2014/10/141001-aral-sea-shrinking-drought-water-environment/

Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979).

Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

REFERENCE - THE GREAT SOVIET ENCYCLOPEDIA 1979 - An important source for those interested in the history, geography and cultures of the peoples of the former Soviet Union.

Some excerpts:

Natural features.

Kara-Kalpakia occupies the northwestern portion of the Kyzylkum Desert, the southeastern part of the Ustiurt (Ust-Urt) plateau, and the Amu Darya Delta. The southern part of the Aral Sea is located in Kara-Kalpakia. The northwestern part of the Kyzylkum is a vast, flat plain (elevations of 75–100 m), inclined toward the Aral Sea and covered primarily by tracts of ridged sands and barchans. There are isolated mountain massifs (the largest is Sultanuizdag in the southeast with elevations to 473 m). There are many channels, small lakes, tugai (gallery forest) and reed thickets, and swampy areas in the Amu Darya Delta. The right-bank section of the delta has more irrigated land and irrigation canals. The Ustiurt plateau, located in the west (elevations to 292 m, Karabaur), has a number of depressions, the largest of which—Barsakel’mes and Assake-Audan—are at elevations of 29–101 m. The plateau breaks off in steep scarps toward the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya Delta. The northern edge of the Sarykamysh Depression is located to the southeast of the Ustiurt plateau. There are deposits of common salt, Glauber salt, mineral building materials, and minerals.

Architecture and art.

Woodcarving (the doors of yurts) with cloth and ivory inlays, leather stamping, carpet making, weaving, and embroidery have been practiced by the peoples of Kara-Kalpakia since ancient times. Rugs, felts, carpet braids (akkur), and broad fringes (zhanbau), with designs in soft tones of brown, pink, pale green, and yellow on a white background, have been extensively used to insulate and decorate the yurt. Twentieth-century articles are characterized by the combination of red and yellow with brown, green, and dark blue. Kara-Kalpak jewelers combine silver, sometimes gilded, with cornelian, coral, and turquoise to decorate women’s clothing, men’s belts, and harnesses for horses. Strict geometric and floral designs, the main motif of which is the muiiz (ram’s horn), are characteristic of Kara-Kalpak art.

Music

The most popular musical instruments are the dutar, a two-stringed plucked instrument; the kobuz and gyrzhak, bowed instruments; the balaman (a reed pipe) and the nai and surnai (flute family), wooden wind instruments; and the dep (tambourine), a percussion instrument. The shynkobuz, made from a small piece of iron, is used by women.

Ustyurt Plateau

 Illustration: Extent of the Ustyurt 

The Ustyurt Plateau, also spelled Ust-Yurt, Ust-Urt and Usturt (Kazakh: Üstirt, Turkmen: Üstyurt) lays between three Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The Ustyurt plateau in its entirety is some 200,000 square kilometres and stretches from the so-called "Western Chink" between the Gulf of Mangyshlak and the Karynzharyk Desert to the "Eastern Chink" on the west bank of the Aral Sea. It has an average elevation of 150 meters, and consists primarily of stony desert. The plateau’s semi-nomadic population raises sheep, goats, and camels. It also has a number of important Gas fields and production facilties on its perimeter and a growing population.

The Plateau's chalk escarpments, known as "chinks", are hugely impressive and starkly beautiful. The giant terraces stretch hundreds of kilometres to the north and south, reaching heights of up to 219 metres on the border with the Aral Sea, while those on the Caspian rise up to 341 metres high.

The plateau proper consists of a flat, waterless highland plain, covered with sand in some places and with gypsum crystal in others. It is the only place in the world where the Ustyurt urial can be seen. Four plant species and 33 animal species of the Ustyurt plateau are listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Uzbekistan and 40 are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List because they are close to becoming extinct.


A type of black saksaul grows only in this region, in the form of proper trees rather than bushes. Relatively large groups of the unique Ustyurt moufflon (a rare type of wild sheep with a reddish coat) and kulan (asiatic wild ass) live on the plateau. As well as a small population of the lynx-like caracal which is threatened with extinction as are dwindelling populations of Indian porcupine, saiga antelope and dzheyran gazelle.

Many reptiles and rodents are endemic to the Ustyurt. Nocturnal animals such as the long-eared desert (Brandt's) hedgehog snuffles through the dark. Apart from the Houbara bustard, the large birds that live here are mainly raptors: the rare Turkmen owl (a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle owl), the Saker falcon, short-toed and golden eagles and scavengers such as the Egyptian vulture.

Every seven to nine years there is a time of glut for these birds when the zhut (a severe blizzard) leaves thousands of hoofed animals dead. This phenomenon, most feared by the local inhabitants, takes place when, after winter rains, temperatures suddenly drop sharply and the desert ground freezes over. Unable to find food, the animals swiftly die.

The continental climate of the region is extreme. Winters are harsh and windy and snow is rare. Spring is short, dry and windy. Summer is hot, cloudless and long lasting. Autumn is warm and long as well.

Annual average temperature is about +10.5 + 11.5°C. Absolute annual minimum temperature is +26 + 34°C; maximum + 43 +45°C; surface heat reaches +60 +70°C. The hottest period is from the middle of July to mid-August. Autumn frosts begin at the end of October, and the spring thaw starts in April.

Precipitation is poor. Annual average precipitation varies from 140-160mm in the north to 90-120mm in the south. Rain showers are common in spring and early summer; washouts and mudslides are common as there is often little vegetation holding the soil together.

Snow cover on the Ustyurt is thin (3-7 cm) and unstable. Not all areas are covered with snow. As a result of the high temperatures in the summer months, poor precipitation and windy weather, evaporation exceeds precipitation by 10-15 times and  humidity a low 40-60%.

Montañas extraordinarios paisajes blancos de Ustyurt

Paisaje hermoso inusual de la meseta blanca de Ustyurt de las montañas en Kazakhstan.

 

 

Ustyurt Arrows - Geoglyphs

Introduction

In 1986, scientists from the the Karakalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek ССР whilst examining aerial photographs of the plateau Ustyurt detected strange arrow bag layouts. In total some 50 such arrow bag like lay-outs known as negative geoglyphs were found in an almost continuous chain over a vast area starting from near Cape Duana on the edge of the Aral sea stretching hundreds of kilometres into the Ustyurt across the border into Kazakhstan. 

The Arrow formatiuons differ little from each other with contours and sizes, and generally face to the north. On the ground each arrow and bag can be identified by a faint ridge of rock in which the traces of a binding solution. On the inside of the bag was a trench dug earth, the earth from which a shaft, which has been installed and stone ridge.

All along the pit grows wild grass, which can be clearly seen against the background of withered grass on the plateau. Archeologists believe that the arrows represent the ancient watering facilities for Ungulates (large hoofed animals).

Ustyurt Arrow Geoglyphs - Scientists still do not have an unified opinion about these ancient geolines however the most recognized hypothesis is that the arrows were used for seasonable mass-hunting for ungulates (hoofed animals).

Source of photo: vokrugsveta.ru 44°45'31.39"С 57°37'45.74"В

Arrows of the Ustyurt

Despite an interest by UFOlogists who tie them into similar theory they have about the Nazca Lines in Peru ie that they are an ancient Spaceport ect (ED: I have visited Nazca - truly an amazing place!).

By far the most logical explanation to date was that put forward by the chief of archaeological expedition from Nukus V. Yagodin which investigated these formations. His team concluded that they served ancient hunters as shelters / pens during the seasonal hunt for ungulates (large hoofed animals) they may also have had an additional function in that they allowed for the collection of water.

All the geoglyts "Arrows of the Ustyurt" so far identified are in the form of a bag, from which two arrows with strong tips stick out. All the arrows point to the north and only slightly differ from each other in size and outline. The top keen edges of each bag have jutting out two spread wide arrows (one each side) having tips in the form of extended triangles. The narrow passages that form the body of an arrows delimited by shallow swales along their entire length in the direction towards the tips which are pits of up to 2 meters in depth.

At top of each triangle are rings of ten-meter diameter, serving possibly as holes. They look very similar to a schematic drawing of a military chart on which the fat arrows specify the direction of an attack.

The length of each lay-out is 800-900 meters, together with directing shaft reaches 1500 metres, width 400 - 600 meters, the depth of most of the outline doesn't exceed 0.8-1.0m, and the tops of the arrows up to 2m in depth. Judging by the fragments scattered around, earlier these outlines were much deeper, being worn away by wind erosion over time.

The area over which these mysterious impressions are found even surpasses the extent of the world famous system of mysterious lines and drawings in the Peruvian desert of Nazca. They are known to local population under the name “aranvi.”. During a trial excavation section through one of the arrow lay outs had been found ceramics and other subjects dating to the VII—VIII to centuries AD. However, if one is to consider that these are a little above the occupation layer which concerns the time of creation of the layout this is more than likely “the top border” of the timeframe of their construction.

Source: Vokrug sveta (ED: the oldest continuously published magazine in the Russian language) www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/2427/

Note: A geoglyph is a large design or motif produced on the ground and typically formed by clastic rocks or similarly durable elements of the landscape, such as stones, stone fragments, gravel, or earth. A positive geoglyph is formed by the arrangement and alignment of materials on the ground in a manner akin to petroforms, while a negative geoglyph is formed by removing patinated clasts to expose unpatinated ground in a manner akin to petroglyphs.

The Ustyurt also spelled Ust-Yurt, Ust-Urt and Usturt (Kazakh: Üstirt, Turkmen: Üstyurt), is a  plateau in Central Asia (Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) between the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea. It extends roughly 200,000 km², with an average elevation of 150 meters, and consists primarily of stony desert. The plateau’s semi-nomadic population raises sheep, goats, and camels.

Sources: 

Bannikov A.G. History of the Arrows Vokrug sveta www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/2427/
(ED: the oldest continuously published magazine in the Russian language)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoglyph

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustyurt

Additional Information:
Bull J.W. and Esipov A.  Ancient techniques for hunting saigas in Ustyurt: the remains of arrans
http://www.saigak.biodiversity.ru/eng/publications/SaigaNews-16_Spring_2013_%20ENGsm.pdf

Plakhov K.N. 1994. ‘Sastaiannie populazii Ustyurskogo gornogo barana v Kazakhstan’ Selevinia 3: 58-67.

Viktorov S.V. 1971. Pustenia Ustyurt i voprosi ee asvoenia. Moscow.

Yagodin V.N. 1978. ‘Pamiatniki kochevik plemen drevnosti i srednievekoviya’. In: Drevniaya

i srednievekovaya kultura Iugo-Vostochnogo Ustyurta. Tashkent: 79-199.

Yagodin V.N. 1991. ‘Strelovidnie planirovki Ustyurta’. In: Arkheologhia Priaralia, vol 5. Tashkent, ANRU.

Karavan Saray on the Ustyurt Plateau

Caravanserai, khan, or fondouk, also Han (in Turkish) known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English or Sarai in Indian subcontinent (Persian: كاروانسرا kārvānsarā or کاروانسرای kārvānsarāi, Turkish: kervansaray) are buildings specially built to shelter travelers, goods and animals along ancient caravan routes, in particular along the former Silk Roads.

Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia. Up until the 16th century caravans continued to move trough the region linking the Kharnate of Khiva with the Emba and Volga Rivers.

Archeologists have discovering on the the remains of Caravanserais and wells which used to be stay points along the Great Silk Road placed at intervals of 20-30km or so across the UstyurtPlateau.

Linked to the rise of Islam and the growth of the land trade between the Orient and the West (then to its decline because of the opening of the ocean routes by the Portuguese), the construction of most of the caravanserais spanned a period of ten centuries (IX-XIX century), and covered a geographical area the centre of which is Central Asia. Many thousands were built, and together they form a major phenomenon in the history of that part of the world, from an economic, a social and a cultural point of view. They are also remarkable for their architecture, which is based on geometric and topologic rules that use a limited number of elements defined by tradition.

Sadly many have been completely demolished and those which remain are, for the most part in ruins and are slowly disappearing.

Beleuli caravanserai (Just over the border in West Khazakhstan)- On the route of the Khorezm-Sheikhs connecting Khiva with the lower reaches of the Emba and the Volga.

Ural Airlines flights to Nukus from Moscow

Ural Airlines started its “Moscow-Nukus-Moscow” flights on the 12th September 2012.
It is amongst the six leading Russian air companies and in 2015 over five (5) million air passengers used its services. It currently goes to some 190 destinations. Ural Airlines fleet includes six (6) A-310s, nineteen (19) A-320s and ten (10) A-321s. The flights are operated twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays by an Airbus A320. Departure of the flights are from  Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport.



FLIGHT SCHEDULE (Updated Jan 2016)

Timetable Nukus, Uzbekistan (NCU) to Moscow, Russia - Domodedovo (DME)

Flight	Operational days	Departing Nukus	Arriving Moscow	Duration	Aircraft
U62998	Wednesday	13:50	15:25	3:35	320
U62998	Saturday	16:40	18:15	3:35	320

Timetable

Moscow, Russia - Domodedovo (DME) to Nukus, Uzbekistan (NCU)

Flight	Operational days	Departing Moscow	Arriving Nukus	Duration	Aircraft
U62997	Wednesday	07:20	12:40	3:20	320
U62997	Saturday	10:05	15:30	3:25	320

Besides the Moscow – Nukus flight, Ural Airlines in 2016 offers a number of other air routes to Uzbekistan.

	Ekaterinburg (SVX) - Tashkent (TAS)
	Krasniojarsk (KJA) - Tashkent (TAS)
	Krasnodar (KRR) - Tashkent (TAS)
	Samara (KUF) - Tashkent (TAS)

	Ekaterinburg (SVX) - Namangan (NMA)
	Moscow (DME) - Namangan (NMA)
	Moscow (DME) - Navoi (NVI)

OTHER AIRLINES Important to remember that Gaspromavia Airline (Russia) and Uzbekistan Airways also operate on the Moscow – Nukus route. I recommend that you check with your travel agent which airline offers the best price and service for your needs.

Note: All times given are local to the airport.



Source - http://www.gazeta.uz/
http://www.airlines-inform.ru/
http://www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/flights/ural-airlines/nukus-moscow.htm

 
NUKUS AIRPORT


Photo: Nukus Airport

Nukus is the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. It is the administrative, economic, scientific and cultural centre of the Republic. The tree lined city lies in the Amu darya delta an oasis surrounded on both sides by the desert. It is also the home of the world famous State museum of arts named after I.V. Savitsky which hosts an important collection of works of Russian and Uzbek avant-garde art works and a large ethnological collection. Other interesting places in Nukus are the museum named after the Karakalpak poet Berdakh and the Parliament Buildings as well as the nearby ancient Mizdakhkan's necropolis (20Km from Nukus).