home Other countries Ancient cities at the bottom of the Aral Sea. Aral Atlantis

Ancient cities at the bottom of the Aral Sea. Aral Atlantis

At the bottom of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, an ancient burial was discovered - 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 water level drops are cyclical.

Aral Sea

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

In the middle of the Cainazoic era, or 21 million 1200 years ago, the Aral was connected to the Caspian. This connection existed until 1573. The Amu Darya (Oxus) flowed into the Caspian Sea along the Uzboy delta, 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 map of the world from 27 parts. Map 22 shows the Aral and Caspian Sea. It shows how the Zarafshan and Amu Darya rivers flow into the Caspian.

62,000 years ago, the Amu Darya (Oxus) originated from the Tien Shan through the Fergana hollows. Traveler Marco Polo gave her the name "Ion". And the Syrdarya (Yaksart) flowed along a hollow located east of Mount Kuldzhuk in the present-day Bukhara region.

From the coast of the Aral Sea, at a depth of 80 meters, fossilized remains of a whale and red fish that lived during the Oligocene period were found. From these places and near the Shylpyk fortress, which is east of Nukus, shark teeth and bones were found. This, in turn, indicates that the Aral Sea was connected with the ocean for a long time. In different periods of time, different travelers compiled maps of the Aral Sea. In 1758, the Englishman Jenkinson, in 1664 - the Dutchman Nikolai Bitsen, in 1723 Dalilia, 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 are on reed boats, not moving away from the shore, fishing.

At the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries, the islands of Barsakelmes, Kaskakulan, Kozzhetpes, Uyaly, Biyiktau, and Vozrozhdenie were formed due to lowering of the sea level. In 1819, Butakov's expedition was one of the first to map the Barsakelmes island. Zhanadarya from 1819, and Kuandarya from 1823 ceased to flow into the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea until 1870 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 of A. Nikolsky were organized 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 studied. In order to use this fish wealth, tsarist Russia began construction in 1905 railway. 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 Aralsk settlement 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 Sea Fish Research Station has existed since 1920. Until 1970, 34 species of fish lived in the Aral Sea, of which more than 20 were of commercial importance. Today, due to the rise in salinity of its water to the level of the world's seas, there (phyto and zooplankton) there is no life. Until 1965, passenger and cargo ships ran from Aralsk to Muynak and along the Amu Darya to Nukus, Khojeyli and Chardzhou. In 1946, 234, 320 centners of fish were caught in the Aral Sea. In the Kazakh part of the Aral Sea there were 5 fish factories, 1 fish factory, 45 fish receiving points. And in the Southern Aral (Republic of Karakalpakstan) there were 5 fish factories, 1 fish cannery, more than 20 fish receiving points.

According to available information, in 1946, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Latvians, Azerbaijanis, Poles, Moldovans, Kalmyks, Chuvashs, Tatars, lived and worked in the cities of Aralsk and Muynak, i.e. 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 coasts 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 Amudarya and Syrdarya amounted to 64.6 cubic kilometers. By 1992, the sea level dropped to 48-50 meters, and compared to 1961, in 1981 the water level fell by 8 meters, and in 1992 - by 18 meters. The sea lens has decreased by 3.1 times, the water salinity has increased by 2.5 - 3 times.

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

Generally water resources The Aral Sea basin is about 127 km². At the same time, water flow suitable for use in the national economy of Central Asia is estimated by experts at 91-92 km3, and most of it is already used. Water withdrawal for irrigation in the river basin by 1970 was, according to various sources, 33.5-37.0 km3/year. Depending on the water year, the runoff cost ranged from 16-18 km³ in dry years to 30-31 km³ in high-water years. Large water costs were also due to powerful floods in the lower reaches of the river up to 13 - 14 km / year. The growth of irretrievable water losses for irrigation led to a decrease in runoff in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya. 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 to irrigation systems in the upper reaches is 22 km³, in the middle reaches about 10-12 km³ in the lower - 10 km³. 0.50 g/l in the lower reaches, mainly bicarbonate-calcium composition. But since the 40s, the mineralization of river water has been slowly, and since the 60s, 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 low water, which led to a significant increase in water salinity. In the lower reaches, the average annual values reached 1.50-1.80 g/l, the highest values near the city of Kazalinsk exceeded 3 g/l. The ionic composition at the same time became sulfate-sodium. More than 16 different reservoirs have been created along the bed of the Syr Darya. The speed of the water flow in the river slowed down by 3-4 times. Spring floods, which washed and cleared the riverbed, stopped. From the trunk of the Syr Darya irrigated (!) 650 million hectares of land. Almost a seventh of this arable land is located in the Kyzyl-Orda region, on the outskirts of the Aral Sea.

The tugai, which once occupied an area of more than 41.740 hectares in the 1960s, are thinning out and becoming deserted. Their area has also more than doubled in recent years.

The existing residual tugai are overgrown with more xerophilic than tugai shrubs (comb), the lack of renewal of tree species (willow, sucker, turanga) leads to a significant reduction in their range and complete disappearance. Amu Darya is a river of glacier-snow nutrition. 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 m3/s, the flow volume is 63 km3/year. In high-water years, the flow of the Amudarya reaches 98 km / year, in low-water years it decreases to 49 km. Near Nukus, the Amudarya delta begins, crossed by numerous channels. Its area here reaches 7000 km². The waters of the Amu Darya and the rivers of its basin irrigate a vast territory exceeding 2.5 million hectares. Water intake from the river is carried out with the help of numerous canals. The total water intake is growing rapidly every year. By the beginning of the 1980s, the amount of irretrievable 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 interval 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 inflow of water from the Amu Darya to the Aral Sea was in 1934-1960. 38.6 km/year, currently 2-4 km/year. Aral gets less and less of them. Until the 60s. The Aral Sea gave up to 450 thousand centners of commercial fish, among which valuable species prevailed: thorn, pike perch, catfish, Aral barbel, carp and others. In terms of their catch, the Aral took first place in the former Soviet Union. At present, it has completely lost its fishery significance, and only rusty ships remind of the former greatness of the sea.

Changes in the biota in the Aral Sea basin, caused by land flooding during irrigation, covered an area of 3.23 million hectares. Under modern conditions, on the coastal part of the Amudarya delta plain, the average yield of aboveground 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.

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

I'll start with a comment from chispa1707: in the year 72-76, a friend of my father, a meliorator, who worked in the Ellikalinsky district of Karakalpakstan on the development of virgin lands (it seems for rice cultivation), returning from his shift, he 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 captain of the tug, a distant relative, who ferried 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 up of the Aral was already manifested, and he noted that it means 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, backed up 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 - settlement or settlement of the XIV century. Found at the bottom of a dried section of the Aral Sea.
To the west of the settlement, the remains of rice fields were found. The settlement is dated according to the discovered coins of the Golden Horde period.

In 2001, not far from the already dried-up island of Barsakelmes, a joint archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology. A. Margulan and Kyzylorda State University. Korkyt-Ata, under the guidance of the 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 settlement of Karateren. The find was located in the area of depths of 18 - 20 m former sea and was sensational.
Then, in 2004, the archaeological expedition of the Kyzylorda State University named after Korkyt-Ata, 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, not so long ago, stood on the shores of the Aral Sea, but now it is 120 kilometers away from it.
According to scientists, the settlement, conditionally named Aral-Asar, occupies an area of 6 hectares. The building structures of the city today are practically indistinguishable, they are blurred and smoothed out by the waters of the Aral Sea. On the other hand, archaeologists found a huge number of household items: millstones, ceramic vessels and their fragments, fragments of iron and bronze products.

14 millstones and adjacent premises for storing flour - khumdans were found. Apparently, flour-grinding production was developed.
There was an irrigation canal with a width of 2 - 2.5 meters, passing through the settlement, testifies to the developed irrigation system and that the inhabitants stretched water here, apparently from the channels of the ancient channels of the Amu Darya or Syr Darya for many tens of kilometers.

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

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) for no reason. economic activity person.

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 a drop in level by 15 m. water and lying on dry areas of the seabed. Various figures consisted of single or several parallel lines of an unusual shape. Unusualness was in the too correct, not random form of many of them. And this view 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 Footprints". They cover an area of about 500 km2 in the images, but they seem to continue beyond the aerial photographs. Before the sea level began to fall, the figures were at depths of 10–15 m, and were not visible from the sea surface.

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 may contain up to several dozen parallel lines, resembling a stroke of a comb up to 1 - 2 km.

Under water, the lines look like black stripes with narrow light edgings, similar to the dumps of soil from earthen channels, and when they dry on the shore, they become whitish, with little contrast. The black color of the lines along some of their length when they reach the drained shore indicates their concave relief, similar to the cross section of channels, and their fullness with water. According to indirect indications in the photographs and measurements of two figures on the ground, it was established that the lines of the figures are furrows 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 - sun glare. The black lines appearing against their background are the 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 on the images by the degree of sagging of their contours and taking into account the relatively low rate of accumulation of bottom organic sediments, can be roughly determined within the range of up to several hundred years. And the pictures of the mutual intersection of the furrows (successively up to four times) indicate cases of their sequential formation (carrying out) at different times over the previously created ones.

Official explanation of scientists: the sea is leaving not for the first time. 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 where the desert is now.

Most likely, this event happened quite recently:

The outline of the Caspian shores 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 the rivers flowing into the ancient Caspian.

There is such a map overlay:

The western part of the boundary of the ancient Caspian and the present approximately coincide. The Volga Delta coincides. But the eastern outline of the ancient Caspian extends far beyond the Aral Sea. It was possibly a single body of water. How then the settlements of farmers could be located is not clear. Perhaps such an overlay is incorrect. Not to scale. Or indeed, the level of the Aral Sea fluctuates. And people moved, settled after the outgoing sea.
Another option is that it is very ancient map with much more ancient outlines of the Caspian.

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

Clickable. 1723 Joachim Ottens. A compass is shown in the center of the map, so north on the map is on the left. The Caspian is also different. But it differs both from the real outlines and from the maps of the 16th century.
I do not rule out that there were several reasons leading to a change in the shape of the seas of this region. All in varying degrees of catastrophicity and duration in time.

Another assumption is that the maps of the 16th century, where the Caspian has an oval shape (stretched from west to east), and not from north to south, as it is now, is the wrong location of the Caspian 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 did not exist before (recently). The settlements and finds found at its bottom are the remains of ancient cities, which are depicted in many 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:
Fortresses of ancient Khorezm
Ruins of the ancient city of Merv
Antediluvian Margiana

Based on this new information about the ancient cities on the former bottom of the Aral Sea, I have not yet formed an unequivocal opinion on the account of the shape and geography of the ancient Caspian. 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, they say not only deserts, sands, but the level of salinity of soils and soil:

There are several opinions. Official: this is the bottom of the ancient sea. Another, alternative opinion is that it was the salts of the flood waters that stood in these places. But there are many lowlands, valleys, where such a picture is not observed. Although there must also be water.
My opinion is that this fact is connected with the release of salt and mineral masses of underground water. And it is in these places in large numbers. I mentioned underground oceans. As you can see on the maps, there are saline soils and soils even in the north. I think this is due precisely to the powerful outflows of salt 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 Kazakh 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 north-east, the plain is bounded by the modern bed of the Syr Darya, from the west - by the Aral Sea (or rather, by 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 has repeatedly changed: either there was a wasteland, or there were noises sea waves. At different times, peoples of completely different cultures flocked here. It is no coincidence that the well-known researcher of the history and culture of Central Asia Sergey Tolstov gave this land the name "Aral knot of ethnogenesis". And the proof of the former stormy 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 smaller, 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 ancient settlement like it came out of nowhere. However, there are suspicions that people have stumbled upon the ruins of a ghost town before. I must say that this place itself - the island of Barsakelmes - has a bad reputation. It is no coincidence, probably, in translation from Kazakh it means "you go - you will not return." As always happens, if there are fewer facts than rumors, there are a large number of legends and traditions about the island, which speak of strange incidents related almost to a change in the normal course of time. They say that in memorable summers, the fugitives, having spent only a few years on the island, ended up with their aged relatives after E decades. And entire families allegedly disappeared here without a trace. Disputes about the causes of anomalies among researchers of the unknown either subside, then flare up with renewed vigor. Therefore, when the news of the find near Barsakelmes reached historians, they did not shelve the matter and went on an expedition.

From the bottom of the sea

When we first arrived at this place, we could not 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 ancient city, the remains of mausoleums and necropolises are clearly distinguished. At first, many even jokingly said that the lost Atlantis was found in Kazakhstan.

The discovered city was conditionally named Aral-Asar - "Aral trace". Despite the fact that its main buildings turned out to be very blurred, archaeologists nevertheless restored the appearance of an unknown settlement almost bit by bit. First of all, its area was determined - six hectares. The next step was to determine the age. This was helped by the ceramics found during the excavations - it belonged to the end of the XIV century, that is, the period of the Golden Horde.

And further surprises awaited the scientists. A large number of household items were found: 14 millstones, ceramic vessels, fragments of iron and bronze items. Apparently, the townspeople concentrated all their attention on growing rice with its subsequent processing into flour. Moreover, production volumes were so large that rice fields with giant irrigation systems and canals occupied most settlements. This is evidenced by the found huge storage facilities - khumdans. Scientists do not rule out that Aral-Asar was a powerful industrial zone for the supply of flour for export. But this is strange. The population of the Central Asian region in those distant times mainly led a nomadic lifestyle and was engaged in cattle breeding. And therefore, the objects of agricultural craft became a real surprise for scientists.

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

Presumably, part of the people from there came to live in Aral-Asar, - says Dmitry Voyakin. - However, there is another version. Residents could move 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 have 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 they were ethnic descendants of mixed Oguz-Kipchak tribes. The Oghuz are considered the ancestors of modern Turkmens, Azerbaijanis and Turks. And the Kipchaks are the forefathers of the Tatars, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Karachays and other peoples. As the ancient written sources say, in those days the Oghuz tribes were slowly forced out of these areas by the Kipchak tribal nobility. But not everyone left the inhabited territories. It is possible that one of the tribes remained to live in Aral-Asar.

Most likely, this settlement existed for a very short time - for example, several decades, - suggests Karl Baipakov, director of the Kazakhstan Institute of Archeology. - But it was built capitally, as if for centuries. On one side, the industrial zone was located in a crescent. The residential sector was in the center. rice fields with irrigation systems were separated from residential buildings by powerful artificial channels with a width of at least three meters. Unfortunately, the unique structures were washed out, 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 both for cooking and for heating), which was built into a sufa - a bench that occupied most of the room. Its sides are made of raw bricks, and the space between the wall was filled with soil. From above, the structure was coated with clay mortar and covered with carpets.

And the necropolis closed the city, which at the same time was the border of the settlement. “It feels like 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 construction of stone slabs. Such a massive foundation is not typical for similar structures in Central Asia. Apparently, the ancient city planners took into account the peculiarities 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 with gold inscriptions in Arabic that have survived to this day. In the inner gurkhans - halls divided into two parts, both men and women with children were buried. In total, the researchers found seven burials here, and all of them date back to the end of the 14th century. True, the central burial, covered by four massive slabs, turned out to be empty. Either this is a snag, or the grave was plundered, since the leader of the tribe or another person of high status could probably be buried in it.

A pair of gold earrings found in the crypt in the form of a leopard's head biting its tail raised a lot of questions. “Such an item 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, the tribal traditions of shamanism and Tengrianism, a monotheistic religion, the supreme god of which is Ten-Gri, the power that rules the world, were strong in Aral-Asar.”

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

The water cycle

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

The very existence of such a vast basin directly depends on the volume of major rivers Central Asia - Amudarya and Syrdarya. 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 turned its waters several times to the west, into the Sarykamysh depression, draining the Aral Sea. So it was in the middle of the first millennium of our era - in the IV-VI centuries, when the sea level dropped significantly. From the 7th to the 13th centuries the direction of the flow of the Amu Darya was restored, and the Aral Sea was filled again. However, during the invasion of the Mongols at the beginning of the 13th century, which, as researchers suggest, led to the destruction of irrigation systems in the lower reaches of the river, the Amu Darya again turned its waters. The next time the turn of its course, 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 it happened just at the end of the fourteenth century. Apparently, it was then that Aral-Asar arose. On the exposed bottom, they began to build houses, the city gradually grew and developed. But the unstable waters filled the hollow again, burying everything built by people. Most likely, the water arrived quickly, and the inhabitants barely had time to collect the necessary belongings and leave their homes. No doubt they did not expect the sea to return so soon.

How many more drowned cities the Aral hides is not known exactly. But they are, archaeologists have no doubt. A flight over the territory and aerial photography made at the beginning of the year showed that on the bottom of the sea stretch for kilometers former plantations fields with developed irrigation systems. If so, there must have been entire settlements nearby. So, they still have a chance to return from non-existence and give scientists a chance to understand what layer of history and culture was hiding under the waters of the Aral Sea.

It turns out that there are also examples, backed up 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-up island of Barsakelmes, a joint archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology. A. Margulan and Kyzylorda State University. Korkyt-Ata, under the guidance of the 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 settlement of Karateren. The find was located in the depths of 18 - 20 m of the former sea and was sensational.
Then, in 2004, the archaeological expedition of the Kyzylorda State University named after Korkyt-Ata, led by Professor A. Aidosov, examined the second mausoleum.

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

Found 14 millstones and adjacent rooms for storing flour - khumdans. Apparently, flour-grinding production was developed.
There was an irrigation canal here, 2-2.5 meters wide, passing through the settlement, testifying to a developed irrigation system and the fact that the inhabitants stretched water here, apparently from the channels of the ancient channels of the Amu Darya or Syr Darya for many tens of kilometers.

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

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 a drop in level by 15 m. water and lying on dry areas of the seabed. Various figures consisted of single or several parallel lines of an unusual shape. Unusualness was in the too correct, not random form of many of them. And this view 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 Footprints". They cover an area of about 500 km2 in the images, but they seem to continue beyond the aerial photographs. Before the sea level began to fall, the figures were at depths of 10 - 15 m, and were not visible from the sea surface.

Official explanation of scientists: the sea is leaving not for the first time. 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 where the desert is now.

Most likely, this event happened quite recently:

There is such a map overlay:

The western part of the boundary of the ancient Caspian and the present approximately coincide. The Volga Delta coincides. But the eastern outline of the ancient Caspian extends far beyond the Aral Sea. It was possibly a single body of water. How then the settlements of farmers could be located is not clear. Perhaps such an overlay is incorrect. Not to scale. Or indeed, the level of the Aral Sea fluctuates. And people moved, settled after the outgoing sea.
Another option is that this is a very ancient map with much more ancient outlines of the Caspian Sea.
Sources:
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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.

The road wound through sand dunes.
Not a soul for a thousand miles, not even birds fly that far.
- “Nadezhda” (our car had such a call sign), the first one on the line, - the voice of the head of our expedition, a researcher at the Institute of Archeology named after V.I. A. Margulan Dmitry VOYAKIN. - I bring to your attention that we have been driving along the bottom of the Aral Sea for ten minutes now.
Thus began the next day of a unique expedition of archaeologists in search with the participation of our correspondent (see “City of the Sun”, “Time” dated October 6, 2007).

Treasures at the bottom
Several decades ago, water splashed here, fish swam and ships sailed. Now it is a lifeless space, covered with salty sand and shells, with many “wonderful discoveries”.

In 2001, hunters from the village of Karateren accidentally stumbled upon an ancient burial site not far from the former sea island of Barsakelmes. Archaeologists became interested in a strange find. As a result of the work of the joint expedition scientists from the Almaty Institute of Archeology named after A. Margulan and students of Kyzylorda State University. Korkyt-ata a mausoleum was opened (it was called Kerderi), around which many burials were found. Subsequent expeditions were no less sensational. Another mausoleum and an ancient settlement were discovered 25 kilometers from the Kerderi mausoleum.

On the territory of a settlement of 6 hectares, we found 15 huge millstones, fragments of ceramic dishes, silver coins, rusted iron ornaments, as well as fragments of ovens in which bricks were made, says Dmitry Voyakin. - In addition, they discovered an ancient irrigation network. The main and outlet canals have survived to this day. Soil analysis shows that the people who lived here cultivated rice. The presence of a large number of millstones indicates that the crop was ground and sold.
Excavations of the mausoleum also brought many discoveries. Several burials in wooden coffins were found in the central hall, but, most interestingly, the burials were carried out according to the Muslim rite, following which no grave goods were left next to the deceased. Only in one of the burials did scientists find gold earrings. But the main sensational discovery was waiting for archaeologists on the last day of the expedition.

The work was almost completed, but I decided to make several pits in the blockage of brick that was around the mausoleum, - says Dmitry Alekseevich. - Just started digging - and stumbled upon a well-preserved portal wall. As it turned out, the sea washed away the mausoleum from all sides, and the portal wall collapsed entirely. Bricks fell from above, water washed sand, and as a result, a glazed artifact has been perfectly preserved to this day, the analysis of which will reveal many secrets of the settlements at the bottom of the Aral Sea.

You go - you won't come back
Since the settlement was found not far from the famous island of Barsakelmes (translated from Kazakh as “If you go - you will not return”), it was decided to conduct a small reconnaissance on the island itself for the presence archaeological sites. There are many legends and legends about this fateful place, which speak of strange and obscure incidents associated with a change in the normal course of physical time. They say that once several people, having moved away from the shore, walked for only half an hour in the “white fog”, and when they returned, they were surprised to find out that they were absent ... for a day! Even among the locals there is an opinion that there is a secret UFO base on the island.
In 1939, the island became a reserve, on the territory of which rare birds and animals were found, people lived. The water is gone - the life is gone ...
- We hoped to find the remains of Neolithic (Stone Age) settlements on the island, - says Dmitry Voyakin. - On aerial photographs, several hills were clearly distinguished, which could be barrows. Initial reconnaissance showed that it was necessary to study this region in more detail. We do not lose hope to open a couple more cities, and there is every reason for this.
From the island of Barsakelmes we returned safe and sound. However, the feeling of something unreal did not leave our team during the entire time that we were there. Barsakelmes is a truly mystical place. As, however, and the entire Aral region. The finds at the bottom of the Aral provide grounds for new discussions about the ecology of the Aral Sea region. It turns out that environmental disasters have haunted the region since antiquity. The found settlement is evidence of this. The city was built at the time of the drying up of the sea, and then the water swallowed everyone and everything. Archaeologists are sure that the bottom of the Aral Sea still keeps many secrets.
Kyzylorda region - Almaty