Celebrating 200,000 hits

Celebrating 200,000 hits on https://karakalpak-karakalpakstan.blogspot.com.au/

Dedicated to my beautiful wife Dilya and our boys Russel and Luka. 

Babaychiki - Handmade Ceramic Uzbek Figurines

 

 

  

 

 



Sources: Various.

 

Traditional ceramic babaychiki (small figures) reflect the peculiarities of culture and life of Uzbekistan.

Ayaz-kala Fortress

Ayaz-kala fortress  is located in the north-west of Elikkalin district in the south of Karakalpakstan some 70km from Urgench. It consists of a complex of three fortresses, grouped around a hill in the eastern part of Sultan Uiz Dagh Mountains which were built from the 4th cent. BC to the 7th cent. AD. The three sites linked by road and a series of paths and tracks.

The fortresses were part of a series of forts located at the edge of the Kyzyl-Kum Desert, which provided defense against raids by nomads and the Kipchak-speaking nomadic tribes of the Syr-Darya delta.   Ayaz Kala is easily accessible by vehicle from Khiva and Urgench via Biruni and Buston. It is about 70 km from Urgench on a good bitumen road. It is about 32 km from Ayaz Kala to Toprak Kala.

Ayaz Kala I is a fortress dating back to end of the 4th or beginning of the 3rd cent. BC. In this time Khorezm had become independent from Persia. Ayaz Kala I was part of a chain of fortresses protecting the agricultural settlements from attacks invaders from the north (Syrdarya).

The fortress is situated on the top of a high hill, approx. 120 m, providing wide views over the surrounding plains. The fortress is rectangular in plan with sides 182 and 152 m long. The main axis is oriented from South to North. At the southern end of the axis is a square gateway, which is a typical element of frontier fortresses of Khorezm.  The gateway was defended by two rectangular towers that led into a small rectangular chamber. This chamber was overlooked on all sides by high walls from which bowmen could shoot at the enemy in case the first gate was breached. 

The enclosure of the fortress consists of an inner and outer wall with a vaulted corridor between them, about 2 m wide. The walls continue above the vaults, forming a protected rampart walk. The walls are up to 10 m high and at their base up to 2.4 m thick. The walls were reinforced in the 3rd cent. BC by 45 watch towers in half elliptical form, at a distance from each other of 11.5 m at the northern and of 14 m at the eastern and western sides. The fortress seems to have been in use until the 1st cent. AD and might have served as a refuge for the locals up until the early medieval period.

There is a legend about this fortress, in ancient time Khoresms king ordered his people to build a fortress for protection of the northern borders of his state from raids of desert nomads. He told that the person who could build such a fortress, would have his beautiful daughters hand in marriage. The shepherd Ayaz, who lived on the border of Khoresm, started to build a fortress, but then found out, that the King had broken his word and married his daughter off to another man. The shepherd stopped work on the fortress immediately on finding this out. It is interesting, that as archaeologists found, that it was really unfinished.  
 

From the fortress there is a fascinating view of surrounding area, to the west you can see other chain links of border defensive buildings – fortresses Mali and Big Kyrk-kyz-kala, and a large brine lake Ayazkala. There is also a picturesque yurt camp Ayaz-kala at the foot of the fortress on the western side, where travellers can have tea or lunch and then rest or go and see or ride the camels.
Ayaz Kala II is a feudal fortress dating from the 6th to 8th cent. AD. Coins of Khoresmian Kings of Afrigid dynasty, specifically coins of King Bravik, were found here. It was built on the top of a conical hill, about 40 m high, situated south west of Ayaz Kala I. The fortress has the shape of a small oval. It is connected by a steep passage to the  open settlement built on level ground to the West of the fortress. You can come inside through the gates from the south-western side, or climb on steep passage, or along the path, enveloping the walls from the northern side. The walls were built from clay press bricks and raised on the base from a mixture of clay and gravel, the upper part of the walls was protected by castellation of archery slits. 
 

During the 6th to 8th cent. AD Khorezm was ruled by the Afrighid dynasty of Khorezmshahs. At this time the "dihqans", a new class of feudal landowners came into existence. They were descendants of the ancient nobility, courtiers or soldiers who had been rewarded for military services. Their agricultural estates were called "rustaq". They lived in "donjons", small square forts surrounded by a defensive wall. An important example us Yakke Parsan which is situated 10 Km south of Ayaz Kala. 
Ayaz Kala II was built of rectangular mud bricks on a foundation of "paksha" (cob). The upper parts of the outer walls were crenulated. The building was fortified with low battlements and a row of arrow slits. Ayaz Kala II had a 50 m long sloping man-made staircase on the southern side of the fort.

The fort has residential quarters, ceremonial halls with ceilings supported by multiple columns and a fire temple, luxuriously decorated with wall paintings. This building seems to have been the residence of an feudal lord loyal to the  Khorezmshah. The building was built in the 4th cent. AD and destroyed by two separate fires. It was in use during the 6th and 7th cent AD as a domestic dwelling. Ayaz Kala II seems the have been the centre of a small rural community and might have been in use until the Mongol invasion in the 13th cent. The best view of the site is from the top of Ayaz Kala I.

Ayaz Kala III is a fortified garrison dating from the 1st to 2nd cent. AD. The monumental building in the north east corner may have been founded in the 5th or 4th cent. BC: The site covers an area of about 5 hectares. The enclosure wall is one of the largest fortresses in Karalpakstan.  It has the shape of a parallelogram with sides 260 m and 180 m long. The structure of the external wall is similar to that of Ayaz Kala 1. The external walls are 7.5m wide. The circular watch towers are approx. 8 m in height. The fortress was built with paksha  "cob" and masonry (adobe blocks). The entrance to the fortress on the western side consists of an S-Shaped extension of the external wall. The interior of the fortress is largely empty.
 The monumental buildings in the north east corner cover an area of 2,400 square meters. The building has 40 rooms divided into 4 groups by 2 central corridors. There are remains of a narrow corridor on three sides of the buildings. The southern and eastern walls have square watch towers  Archaeologists believe  Ayaz Kala III was used in Kushan times as a garrison and commanders residence and as a refuge for the local farming population and that a small force used Ayaz Kala I as a lookout post. The remains of many farm dwellings and evidence of vineyards were found around walls of the fortress.

The best pictures of Ayaz Kala are taken at sunset.

Sources: http://www.centralasia-adventures.com/en/sights/ayaz_kala.html

https://wikitravel.org/en/Ayaz-Kala

History of Beruniy (Kat / Kath)

Top of Form Beruniy is located on the northern bank of the Amu Darya (Oxus) and is the administrative seat of Beruniy District. It is located 41.69 latitude and 60.75 longitude and it is situated at elevation 101 meters above sea level. It has a population of 50,929 making it the 3rd largest urban area within Karakalpakstan.

Historically, Beruniy was known as Kat or Kath and served as the capital of Khwarezm during the Afrighid dynasty and owed both its glory and demise to the Amu Darya (Oxus).Silt deposits from the river made the surrounding land fertile, and its water, through a network of man-made irrigation canals, has aided agricultural growth on vast scales since ancient times, at the same time, the nearly flat alluvial plain on which the lower course of the Amu Darya (oxus) flows has caused the riverbed and adjoining canals to shift over time, accordingly, Kaṯ has had to be relocated due to flooding at various times.

From historical reports that such a natural shift was in progress during the 10th century, when Kaṯ was at the zenith of its prestige. According to a Chorasmian tradition related by Abu Rayḥān Al-Biruni's Āṯār, one of the Afrighid Kings, whose reign began in AD 616 in the era of Alexander (and the Seleucids) built his castle at Fir on the outskirts of Kaṯ; this citadel consisted of three concentric forts, in the middle of which rose the royal palace. Fir’s fortifications were so high that they would be visible from a distance of fifteen km or more. The citadel Fir (or Fil) was conquered by the Arabs in AD 712. In terms of size and splendour the capital of Chorasmia rivalled the other major urban centres of Central Asia. According to Al Biruni, who eye-witnessed the flooding of his hometown before his emigration at the age of twenty-five (in 998) to Iran, Fir “was broken and shattered by the Oxus, and was swept away piece by piece every year, till the last remains of it had disappeared” in the year 1305 of the Seleucid era (AD 994).

Kat was a commercial hub with a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional population. The 10th-century text on geography the Ḥodud al-ʿālam describes Kat as a town with abundant wealth, a “resort of merchants,” and an “emporium of all Transoxiana’. Its major products were cotton cushion covers, quilted garments and felt carpets which suggest that cotton then played an important role in the rural economy of the region, just as it does today. Kat also had many non-Muslim inhabitants. It is reported that Kat was the seat of bishopric of the Christian church in the 8th century (Tolstov). It was probably in Kat that there lived and worked the Christian scholar ʿIsa b. Yaḥyaʾ Masiḥi, a colleague of Abu Rayḥan Al-Biruni, himself a native of  of Kāṯ. There must have also still been a Zoroastrian community in Kat from whom Biruni obtained the rich research data on Zoroastrianism in his Āṯār al-bāqia. The Ḥodud al-ʿālam adds that Kat was the gate of Turkestan and that the townspeople were warlike and active fighters for the faith.

In AD 995 Kat lost its status as the capital of Chorasmia to Gorgānj across the Oxus, synchronous with the dynastic change from Afrighids to Maʾmunids. Three centuries later, in AD 1333, Ibn Baṭṭuṭa , on his way from Gorgānj to Bukhara, passed through Kat, which he portrays as a small but prosperous town. Some forty years later, Timurs army devastated the town (and most of Khorezm) but later he had the destroyed walls reconstructed.

The modern history of Kat has been marked by more flooding and population shifts but also by name changes. In the 17th century, another wave of flooding washed out the old canals. As a result, Anusa, the Khan of Khiva (1663-85), ordered he construction of the Yarmis canal and built a fortress on the left side of the Oxus to which he transferred the remaining population. Meanwhile, the ruins of old Kat on the right side of the river became known as Sheikh Abbas Wali, after a local mausoleum.

In the 19th century the inhabitants of the new Kat once again were relocated across the river around the mausoleum the settlement becoming known as Sobboz (being) renamed Berunyi in 1957 in honour of the medieval scholar and polymath Al-Biruni who was born on its outskirts. It gained the status of city in 1962. In 1969 the Amu Darya River overflew its banks. As a result many buildings in Beruniy were badly damaged. However, the town was quickly repaired and continues as an important centre.

Beruniy today is the administrative center of Berunyi district (tuman) which appears on satellite maps as a vast continuum of built environment and farmland, with a network of canals branching out from the Amu Darya. 
Sources: Wikipedia and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsHPZ9LB5z8&feature=youtu.be


Nukus Streets

 

 

 

 

 

El Canal de Karakum

El canal de Karakum (Karakum Canal, Kara Kum Canal, Garagum Canal; (ruso: Каракумский канал), Karakumsky Kanal) en Turkmenistán, es el más extenso canal de irrigación y suministro de agua del mundo. Su construcción comenzó en 1954, y fue concluido en 1988, es navegable a lo largo de toda su extensión de 1,375 km, y transporta 13 km³ de agua anualmente desde el río Amu-Darya a través del desierto de Karakum en Turkmenistán. El canal permitió el desarrollo de la agricultura en grandes extensiones de tierra, especialmente el monocultivo del algodón muy promocionado por la Unión Soviética, y es una fuente de agua muy importante para Ashgabat.

Desafortunadamente, por deficiencias en su método de construcción casi el 50% del agua se pierde durante el transporte a través de fisuras en el canal, generando lagos y lagunas a su paso, y una elevación del nivel de la napa de agua lo que ha generado grandes problemas por salinización de la tierra. El canal es un factor importante en lo que se conoce como el desastre ambiental del mar de Aral. El actual canal de Karakum no fue el primer intento de llevar agua desde el Amu-Darya a los Karakums. A comienzos de la década de 1950, se comenzó la construcción del Canal Principal de Turkmen, cuyo inicio estaba planificado para una ubicación mucho más al norte (cerca de Nukus), y correría en dirección suroeste hacia Krasnovodsk. El canal utilizaría aproximadamente el 25% del agua del Amu-Darya.

Source:Wikipedia

Djanpik-Qala (IX-XI, XIII-XIV centuries AD)

The outstanding Soviet archaeologist S.P.Tolstov, who was the head of Khoresm archaeological and ethnographic expedition in Karakalpakstan, called Dzhanpik-Kala (Djanpik-Qala) the most beautiful fortress in Khoresm.

Located 6 km to the South-East of the town Karatau some six km off the Nukus to Urgench highway (50 km from Nukus) not far from the banks of Amudarya, on the border of the Baday-Tugay biosphere reserve not far from the south western edge of the Sailtan Uvays Mountains it can be accessed by a winding dirt road (7Km) from Gayur Qala or (6 Km) off a turning on the main road.

The fortress was built on the ruins of a much early settlement dating from the 4th century BC. The towering external walls, which are seen today, date from the medieval period, the fortress itself largely built between the 9th and 10th centuries AD. The vast Djanpik Qala is irregularly shaped and protected by a double wall with an archers gallery on the second floor. A rectangular citadel is located on the highest point of settlement. Five towers located around the perimeter are still visible. From the 10th to the 14th century it became a residential zone with many workshops and stores.

 It was first sacked by the Mongols (along with most of Khoresm) in the years 1220-1.  After the invaders left there was further construction  residential and workshop zones within the fortress and once again became an important centre of craft production and trade with workshops for glass makers, weavers, blacksmiths, potters and stone carvers. Silver and copper coins and many other items indicate that it must have been and important port and trading post on the river. Artefacts indicate that the town had a sophisticated water supply and drainage system. After Amir Timur conquered and destroyed the Khorezm State in 1388, the fortress was abandoned.
 
On the north-western side of fortress there is a palace or a citadel with walls with elegant façade stucco moldings, typically of the medieval architecture of Khoresm. The layout of the settlement is complex extending over a large area with large level difference following the landform.

On the top of fortifications were open slots for archers protected by a low wall in the front. It is possible to walk up the stairs, located inside the wall. Five towers have survived each located about seventy (70) meters from each other. Only one tower on the eastern wall has an inner room, other towers are monolithic. There were two entrances. One entrance on the northern wall comes to an cemetery, and another on the bend in a wall from the southern side.

There are still traces of a break on southern wall, which were made during the invasion which led to the collapse of the settlement.