Fantastic Photos by Moroz Ivan of the Ustyurt and Aral

Source: Moroz Ivan go to https://picasaweb.google.com/ArchiFrecce/TmePFC#5627627209845620498

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

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.

Threats to the Aral Basin

Irrigation/Drainage canals in the delta

Alongside the Amu Darya are a dense series of irrigation and drainage ditches which are visible in the adjacent photo, The waterways clearly visible due to the reflection of sunlight off the surface of the water. The Amu Darya flows to the northwest from the bottom left hand corner of this photograph to the top providing life-giving water to crops on the Amu Darya Delta (in dark green). It originates many hundreds of kilometers to the southeast in the more temperate Pamir Mountains, flowing across the arid Turanian plain to eventually run into drainage channels that flow eventually into the Aral Seas.

The Amu Darya before entering the Aral Sea forms a vast delta, which dominates these images.

Water is utilized intensively in the delta to irrigate cotton and other crops such as rice. The delta continue to lose arable land to soil salinisation as a result of rising groundwater levels that accompany the intensive crop irrigation.

Further as a consequence of the diversion of vast quantities of freshwater from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation the water volume of the Aral Sea has dropped by more than 90% in the last 50 years.

Aral Basin

The Amu Darya and Syr Darya combined flow is equal the Nile and accounts for some 90 percent of water use in Central Asia. Long-term average flow is the Amu Darya is 79 cubic km / year and 37 cubic km / year in the Syr Darya.

Water flowing in the two rivers comes almost entirely from glaciers in the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan, which, standing above the surrounding arid plain, collect atmospheric moisture which otherwise would probably have escaped somewhere else. Without its mountain water sources, the rivers would contain little water because it rarely rains in the lowlands that characterize most of the river.

Whilst water inputs (general precipitation and glacial meltwater) come from near the river's source in the mountains of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is the countries downstream Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan that most depend on its regular spring and summer water discharges for their agriculture.

Continued Dam Construction - A Looming Problem

Over the last few years, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have increasingly hoarded water in their alpine reservoirs to generate electricity in the winter.

Tajikistan

In Tajikistan the Nurek Dam an icon of 1960s Soviet infrastructure ingenuity is at over 300 m the tallest Dam in the world. It located not far from Dushambe the capital of Tajikistan fuels nine hydroelectric turbines producing 3.0 gigwatts, or 40% of Central Asia’s power needs and 98% of Tajikistan’s.

Just up-river from Nurek is another dam project, Rogun, that has been in the works – and then stalled due to major geological problems *1 and then the collapse of the Soviet Union and then the Civil War - for over 30 years.

Rogun Dam Site

Despite widespread opposition by its neighbours the Tajik Government has started raising 1.4 billion dollars from Tajik citizens* 2 to complete the dam. It is however estimated that for the project to be delivered in full they would need to spend something like double that amount. As Tajikistan’s whole GDP is less than 2 billion a year the project will likely require significant overseas funding if it is ever to be completed.

Notes:

1. Soviet Geologists worried that the base of the dam is very fragile and water seepage undermining the base was a very real possibility, some believed that even a small earthquake could cause a catasrophe. Should any accidents occur during or after the construction of the Rogun dam, it could flood large areas of arable land as far afield as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

2. The Tajik government has been seeking to collect funds for the construction of Rogun through the issue of stock (shares) and has made it mandatory for citizens and businesses to purchase them. The stock price ranges 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 somoni ($23 to $1,150) (www.centrasia.ru, December 24, 2009). Citizens who buy shares also will be allowed to turn any funds they have generated outside of the official system (ie. money from the black economy) into legal income.

Nurek Dam








Recently the Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev sent a letter to his Tajik counterpart warning Dushanbe of potential damage by the Roghun power plant to Central Asia's "frail environmental balance. He called on Tajikistan to conduct a thorough review of the Soviet-era project, designed "some 40 years ago” based on "outdated” technical expertise. He pointed out that Tajikistan has to examine the possible impact of the Rogun plant on Amudarya water volumes, "as the very survival of millions of people” depends on it. Further he mentioned that the Rogun power plant is located in an area with a track record of "several major earthquakes of up to magnitude 10.0.”

Kyrgyzstan

In Kyrgystan another Soviet era dinosaur is also being restarted. The former Kyrgiz Government  pushed ahead with the Kambarata Dams and hydropower stations projects (I & II) on the Naryn River. Again this dam site is located in a seismic area and is also being developed without proper planning or consideration for the rights of the downstream countries. As it now stands with the country now almost totally broke revealed after the recent turmoil, it has only 16 million Euro in its treasury, so  like Tajikistan it will not be able to complete the construction of the planned dams without external financial and technological support. Given this Kyrgyzstan would be financially much better off using its ample coal resources for their energy needs.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan the US government also has plans to build more dams within the Amu darya catchment. The fertile plains of the Amu Darya basin, account for about 40% of mountainous Afghanistan’s irrigated lands. Whilst it is reasonable for the existing infrastructure to be upgraded, new irrigation projects are not needed. One major driver is that the far north of Afghanistan is one of the very few safe areas that the U.S aid agencies can operate. Further such Irrigation projects as they can generate income and be able to service US loans which of course are tied to providing work for US agribusiness and construction companies. Sadly the cost to others downstream is unlikley to be considered after all in truth the US has little real interest in Central Asia.

New Afghan Dam in the Amu Darya catchment area

Conclusion

The three countries affected downstream are understandably very worried about these new dam projects that will further disrupt the water flow and increase evaporation and therefore considerably effect an already fragile agriculture cycle in the lower aral basin. The loss of vast quantities of water to evapouration and the retention of water for hydroelectricity generation is of particularly concern to Uzbekistan whose western areas (particularly those of Khoresm and Karakalpakstan) and also that of Turkmenistan whose northern areas, are already very water stressed.

They fear that these dams will not only curb water flows down a waterway on which their agriculture largely depends, but that they will only release water in winter, when the there is the greatest need to generate electricity, rather than storing it for the warmer seasons when they need to irrigate their fields.

Central Asia is already facing environmental problems in the aftermath of the Aral "catastrophe.” The inland sea has almost dried up over the past four decades after the Amudarya and other rivers that fed the sea were diverted by Soviet era irrigation projects, by building more dams in the catchment will cause even more problems to millions of people downstream.

The current position of Uzbekistan is that these hydroelectric schemes should not go ahead unless a proper study is carried out into their environmental impacts and human cost throughout the region.

The World Bank, IMF, ADB and others should now follow Russia's lead and not participate in new energy projects in Central Asia unless the concerns of all states in the region are considered.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan need broad based development not expensive dams if they are going to solve their deep rooted structural problems.

THE SAIGA

Saiga of the Ustyurt Plateau

Photo: Baby Saiga in the snow

The Usturt plateau of Western Uzbekistan and north western Kazakhstan is one of the largest remaining habitats of the Saiga antelope, both the Karakalpak and Kazakh name it the Ak Kuiruk (meaning white tail). It lives on the steeps and semi desert areas of the Eurasian continent and has adapted to survive in the long hot dry summers and cold cold winters.

Traditionally Saiga roam in troops which can number from the hundreds to the tens of thousands. These troops move along with their heads bowed down close to the earth, their hooves raising gigantic clouds of dust. The Saiga has a strange looking nose resembling a proboscis, a result of prolonged evolution which acts as a respirator, so they do not suffocate. On the inside the nose is covered with numerous folds retaining dust. In winter it warms up the frosty air and facilitates breathing.

Saiga antelopes are ideally suited to life on the steppe. The yellowish-chestnut colour of their fleece similar to that of the ground permits the animals to hide themselves from their predators by merging into the environment. New born calves can remain still for a very long time. It is hard to notice a small saiga calf lying motionless on the ground a few metres away. However the young saiga does not stay still for long on the third day after birth it is ready to start on its long journey with its mother.

The saigas breeding season starts in December. During that period of time the bucks fight for the does. Winners collect harems numbering from 5 to 50 does and watch them closely, not permitting them to leave the harem and driving away rivals. They lead a nomadic life migrating many hundred of kilometres each season in search of better pastures. They mostly feed on wormwood and saltwort unfit for other animals, thus maintaining the natural vegetation balance.

Today one of the biggest remaining populations of saiga antelopes is found in the Usturt Plateau of Karakalpakstan where they winter before moving into the Kazakh part of the plateau in search of summer pastures.

Watching the winter migration on the Ustyurt is an impressive sight. On an early frosty morning with the temperature -20 Degrees below Celsius a huge greyish-yellow mass of several thousand Saiga emerge on the horizon. Driven by the piercing wind the animals walk along the snowy plane at a measured pace without ever halting even for a second so as to keep themselves warm.

In ancient times saiga antelopes play an important role in local legends of the people of the plateau. One legend relates about a Shepard whose livestock have all died during a harsh winter. He was dying of hunger when the Almighty sent a Saiga to him saying “I will help save you and your family, provide you with food, show you the best pastures and help you find water and it will always be this way. But remember you must never kill us profit, because we are brothers".

You may only hunt us for the sake of survival.” For centuries people followed the behest. They hunted the saiga without doing any harm to their population. The horns of the bucks used as amulets against disease and evil forces.

As little as a hundred years ago saiga antelopes were considered one of the most numerous hoofed animals in Asia. The numbers of their heard reached millions, and their troops covered Eurasia. It however took man only a few decades to destroy the herds; until only a thousand remained, in small pockets isolated in the remote steeps of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

The cause of the saigas misfortune is their beautiful lyre shaped antlers which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. At the beginning of the 20th century thousands of pairs of antlers where for sale at the markets in Bukhara, Khiva and Tashkent. A pair of antlers costing as much as a camel.

However, only bucks have antlers and they form a minority of the population. When most of the bucks were exterminated, the population lost its natural reproduction ability. Only urgent measures in the early Soviet Period helped them survive at the time. By the 1980s the total population once again reached one million heads and the animals returned to their traditional habitat, and new troops were even able to get acclimatised to new habitats.

The past decades since the end of the Soviet Union have once again proved to be very difficult for these beautiful creatures, the insidious Chinese “medicinal” trade is once again driving the Saiga antelope towards extinction. Just in the last decade alone heard’s in Uzbekistan have reduced by some 90%.

If this immoral trade is not stopped soon there will be little chance of retaining these wondrous creatures for the generations to come.

Source: Wikipedia & Uzbekistan Airlines Magazine - Summer 2009

Ajiniyaz Kosibay-Uli great Karakalpak poet and patriot

"Statue of Ajiniyaz - Nukus"

Ajiniyaz Kosibay Uli  (Karakalpak: Әжинияз Қосыбай Улы, Uzbek: Ajiniyoz Qo`siboy o`g`li) known also as Ziywar (his pen name) was born in 1824 on the southern coast of the Aral Sea in the village of Kamish bugat (located in Muynak region) near the mouth of the river Amu-Darya. This part of the coastal area of the Aral coast the home of the Ashmayli and Kiyat (Karakalpak clans).

He attended the Madrasah's of Imam Khojamurad, Sher-Gozi and then later Inak Kutlimurat in Khiva during the years 1840-45. Apart from his religious studies he also studied the works of classical poets such as Navoi, Khafiz, Saadi, Fizuli and developed a deep interest in what became known as progressive lyrical poetry.

After graduation from the Madrasah of Inak Kutlimurat Ajiniyaz in Khiva he returned to his native village for a short time and then went onto what is now Kazakhstan where he stayed for a year. Coming back to Karakalpakstan he married in his home village. Today the descendants of this marriage live in the regions of Kungrad, Kanlikul, Shumanay and in Nukus.

The Kungrad rebellion of 1858-1859 had a big influence on the poetic nature of Ajiniyaz. As an intellectual and patriot he could not remain indifferent to the repression by the Khan of Khiva of his people and took an active part in the revolt.

Afterwards he was captured and deported to what was then in Russian Imperial times was known as the Trans Caspian Province (today's Turkmenistan) by the Khivan Khan as one of the leaders of the rebellion. During this period of exile he translated into Karakalpak many poems of the Great Turkmen Poet Maktumkuli.

Three years later Ajiniyaz came back home where he once again faced persecution by the Khivans and again had to leave this time for what is now Southern Kazakhstan. It was during this time that Ajiniyaz met the Kazakh poetess Kiz-Menesh and with her took part in a famous poetry competition "The Aytis" which at that time was especially popular in Central Asia.

In 1878 his poem was described in the Tashkent newspaper «Turkistan walayati».

... When there is wedding, you’ll wear red chapan,

And burn from love in the fire of your beloved.

I was born in a year of a sheep, now I am 40, Kiz-menesh,

Will you marry me ....!

His years spent in exile in Kazakhstan were to be the height of his creative period and where he wrote many of his most famous poems.

Coming back to Khiva which by this time was absorbed into Imperial Russia, Ajiniyaz opened   schools in the villages of Bozataw, Kamis buget and Jetim uzak for children from poor families where he taught them skills of writing and grammar. Up until the end of his life in 1874 - he continued to write poetry.

Study of the poetry of Ajiniyaz first began in the 1930's. The first published research carried out by the distinguished Karakalpak philologists K.Aimbetov, O.Kojurov and N.Davkaraev. A major part of N.Davkaraev’s article 'Essays on the history of the Karakalpak literature' is dedicated to the poetry of Ajiniyaz.

In the late 40's and 50's a new generation of researchers K.Aimbetov, I.Sagitov, K.Berdimuratov, S.Akhmetov, B.Ismailov and others provided new data about his life and literary activity. In 1949 the poems of Ajiniyaz were first published in the Karakalpak and Uzbek languages, and in 1975 in Russian.

In the 60's the discovery of a new cache of poetic manuscripts of Ajiniyaz that had been unknown before, brought new attention to the study the poet’s work. Among these were articles by K.Bayniyazov’s "Thoughts about poet Ajiniyaz", Kh.Khamidov’s "Basis of the Ajiniyaz’s poetry", A.Karimov’s "Ajiniyaz, a master of the artistic word", K. Sultanov’s "Fallen in love in the youth", A. Pirnazarov’s "Some thoughts about the proficiency of Ajiniyaz", A. Murtazaev’s "Literary methods and stylistic peculiarities of Ajiniyaz Kosibay Uli" and other works.

A comparison of the poetry of Ajiniyaz with the history of the Karakalpak people was undertaken by Academician S.Kamalov "Historical-ethnographic information in the poetry of Ajiniyaz" and by Professor B.Ismailov "Description of the Kungrad rebellion of 1858- 1859 in the poetry of Ajiniyaz".

Ajiniyaz was not only the ideologist of the popular rebellion but also an active participant of the Bozataw tragedy which left a terrible wound in the hearts and minds of the Karakalpak people. The hard trials suffered by the people are told in Ajiniyaz’s famous poem "Bozataw"

Century of Land with nation, nation is with land,

Grief is awaiting us, landless in exile.

We won’t forget the pain, tribe will disappear

You were our bread-winner, dear Bozataw.

Heard, firing started out before sunrise,

Slept as free before-woke up as a slaver,

Hands were tied up-where is the struggle…

Your son was captured suddenly, Bozataw

Ajiniyaz was one of the most well-educated and cultured men of his time. His body of work brought into the Karakalpak language and culture many elements of the "kosik", philosophical lyric style. His poetry leaving a lasting image of what life was like in Karakalpakstan during the 19th Century.

He is still held in the highest respect in his homeland, his statue prominently situated in central Nukus.

Sources:

http://www.ndpi.uz/en/content/o_ajiniyaze

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%27jiniyaz