Group tours in Karakalpakstan.

“In ancient times, in immemorial years, in the land of loose sand, where the Amu Darya flowed, in a country inhabited by Nogai tribes, there was the city of Sarkop, surrounded by a high wall of adobe bricks. The city was ruled by Allayar Bai, who had many camels, sheep, horses, he also had many shepherds, slaves, each of them was engaged in his own business. He had six sons, and the seventh was a daughter, the smallest in the Bai family. Her name was Gulaim. When Gulaim was fourteen years old, the news of her beauty spread throughout all countries and all lands"

The poem "Kyrk kyz". Translated by A. Tarkovsky.

Ancient settlements of Karakalpakstan.

The settlement Burly kala (Bor kala) is located on a natural hill 108 meters above sea level, located in the southwestern part of the Pashahaikum sands and the southeastern part of the Sultan Uvais mountain range, 10.4 kilometers northeast of the Shark-Yulduzi village , 10.9 kilometers southwest of the Ayaz kala (Bolshaya) settlement in the Ellikala region of the Republic of Karakalpakstan.
The settlement of Burly kala has a complex configuration. The northeastern straight wall cuts off the protrusion on which the monument is located from the rest of the ridge, and the southeastern wall, placed at an angle of 96 ° to it, turns to the west.
In the western part, it repeats the shape of a hill. The maximum length of the fortified settlement stretched from north-east to south-west is 120 meters, width - 95 meters. The fortification is surrounded by a double wall with a shooting corridor inside, made of mud bricks measuring 39 - 44 x 39 - 44 x 10 - 12 cm, the width of the inner wall of the settlement is 1.40 - 1.42 meters, the outer one is 1.32 - 1.40 meters.
The width of the shooting corridor is 1.8 - 1.9 meters. Along the entire perimeter, the outer wall is cut with arrow-shaped arrow-shaped loopholes, following every 0.95 - 1.2 meters. The width of the loopholes is 18, 20, 23 cm, the height of the inlet openings is 0.48 meters, and the height of the outlet openings is 1.23 meters.
The fall of the bottom of the loophole is 0.76 meters. The inlets are located at a height of 0.9 - 1.25 meters from the mainland surface. The shooting corridor, as it was found out during the clean-up operations, in the southern and southeastern parts of the settlement was blocked by a corridor vault.
His heel is at a height of 3 meters from the floor level. The height of the vault is 1.25 meters, and the height of the corridor is 4.25 meters. The vault is made of trapezoidal bricks with dimensions of 31 - 32 cm (height), 10 - 12 cm (width), 21 - 24 cm (length of the lower base), 25 - 28 cm (length of the upper base).
A significant amount of adobe has been added to the clay. Flat slate slabs were used to split the peripheral vault joints. The outer wall with loopholes is set against a wall wide; about 1.46 meters, preserved in some places to an insignificant height.
At 4 - 5 meters from this wall, probably around the entire settlement there was a barrier wall 0.68 meters wide, preserved to a height of 0.19 cm. Along the western part of the settlement, the barrier wall ran along the very edge of the hill, making it difficult to take the fortress by storm.
In Khorezm, earlier use of barrier walls was noted at the sites of Khazarasp, Teprakkala near the city of Khiva, Koykrylgan kala, Bolshaya Aybugir kala. They are also known at a later time. There is a gate in the northern part of the settlement.
Their outside width is 1.70 meters. At 2 meters from the outer surface of the outer wall, the passage widens by 0.50 meters. The thickness of the side walls of the gate is different. The thickness of the walls adjacent to the outer wall is 1.25 - 1.3 meters, to the inner one - 1.04 meters. In the side walls of the gate there is one oblique loophole located opposite each other.
Their axes are directed from the central axis of the corridor to the inner wall. There is no gateway. The entrance, which is not fortified by a gatehouse or towers, does not find analogies in the numerous monuments of fortification of Khorezm of the IVth century. BC e. - IV century. n. e.
The fortress gate is adjoined by two entrances to the shooting corridor, located in the inner wall. The width of the entrances is 1.22 meters. They are separated by a 1.40 meter section of wall. The internal buildings are well preserved only along the walls.
The most lost are the central and southeastern parts of the settlement. Two deep gullies destroyed the layout and cultural layers in the southern and southeastern parts of the site. In the northern part of the settlement there is a building of rectangular shape measuring 5.2 x 5.9 meters.
S.P. Tolstoy believed that this cult building, perhaps, "ateshgah" (place of fire) or the basement of a tower-like structure. Its purpose as a medieval watchtower is determined by our works. To clarify the stratigraphy and chronology of the settlement, an excavation with an area of ​​90 square meters was laid 11.90 meters from the gate at the southeastern wall, three rooms were opened here.
Room 1, measuring 7.58 - 7.62 x 2.38 - 2.64 meters, is adjacent to the inner wall of the shooting corridor.
A passage 0.78 meters wide connects it with room 2. The walls are made of square bricks and placed on the mainland. The ceiling was probably vaulted. In the cultural layer 1.0 - 1.3 meters thick, two sexes have been traced, referring to different chronological periods.
The leveled continental surface is the first floor. A continental pit 0.54 meters deep and 3.0 x 2.3 meters in size was found in the southern corner of the room. Its borders go slightly under the walls of the room. It was laid with mud bricks measuring 40 x 18 x 12 cm and 39 x 39 x 11 cm, sprinkled with sand.
The cultural layer above the first floor is 0.32 - 0.41 meters thick, loose with a high content of ash and small brick chips. It is covered with sandy-ash layers 0.30 - 0.38 meters thick, which pinch out to the southwestern wall.
At an altitude of 0.68 meters from the mainland, there is a second floor without traces of coatings. The cultural layer, containing a significant amount of ash, organic remains in the form of stems, small lumps of clay, reaches a thickness of 0.38 - 0.62 meters.
In addition, the floor includes a sufa measuring 1.98 - 2.16 x 1.03 - 1.08 meters, attached to the northwestern wall. Room 2, 3.6 meters wide, was excavated to the south-west by 3.4 - 4.3 meters. The southwestern wall was not found, apparently completely lost.
It is separated from room 1 by a wall 1.32 meters wide. The walls of the room were red-hot to a considerable thickness. A sufa with a width of 0.78 - 0.80 meters is attached along the northeastern wall. There is a large amount of ash in the cultural layer.
Room 3 measuring 4.13 - 4.20 x 3.50 - 3.62 meters is located to the north-west of room 2. From the south-west it is limited by a wall 1.95 meters thick, washed away almost to the ground. It has a 1.6 meter wide passage. Two floors were uncovered in the room, separated by layers of clay 0.17 meters thick.
On the first floor, in the center of the room, a hearth with a diameter of 0.7 meters was found, in which the upper half of the hum, dating from IV-III BC, was placed. e. The cultural layer lies only on the upper floor. Here, in the northern corner, there is a sufa measuring 1.7 x 0.76 meters.
The earliest group includes ceramics made from poorly mixed clay dough with large white pieces. There are numerous horizontal flutes on the outer surface. The engobe is greenish. Such ceramics are characteristic of the late archaic period of the history of Khorezm and can be dated to the end of the Vth century. BC e.
A significant group is made up of ceramics from the first floors of the excavation and the shooting corridor. Hum and khumchi are represented by numerous small fragments of walls, rounded corollas with a well-defined neck, with one or two ridges on the shoulders.
Outside, the vessels are decorated with spirals of red engobe. A wide horizontal stripe is drawn under the rim or along the rim with a red engobe. When engobe was applied, drips appeared. The inner surface is heavily splashed.
Khumchi are decorated with several rows of spiral ornamentation, separated from each other by convex ridges. Khumcha with a rim quadrangular in cross-section and a wide platform along the bank is decorated with engobe stripes and cut triangles.
Geographic coordinates of the settlement Burly kala: N41 ° 58'55.92 "E60 ° 54'17.04"

Authority:
 www.ziyouz.co
Yu. P, Manylov, G. Khozhaniyavov. “Fortified settlements of Ayazkala and Burlyk kala”. (To the study of the fortification of ancient Khorezm).