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%.

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.