Issyk-Kul Lake is located in the north-east of the Kyrgyz Republic, also known as Kyrgyzstan. It is the largest lake in the country and the second largest high mountain lake in the world, and beneath its surface lies a centuries-old water-filled grave.
Researchers recently conducted an underwater archaeological expedition northwest of Issyk-Kul to investigate the remains of a city that once sat along the reputed Silk Road. The team found medieval cemeteries, ceramics and the remains of various buildings, confirming the presence of an ancient settlement.
tragedy like pompeii
“This site was a city or a large commercial agglomeration on one of the important sections of the Silk Road,” Valery Kolchenko, a researcher at the Institute of History, Archeology and Anthropology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic who participated in the investigation, said in a statement from the Russian Geographical Society, which also contributed researchers to the project. “At the beginning of the 15th century, as a result of a terrible earthquake, the city sank under the waters of the lake.”
Kolchenko compared the event to Pompeii, even though the settlement had already been abandoned by the time the earthquake occurred. Nevertheless, according to the researcher, the population of the area changed dramatically after the event, with nomads replacing the prosperous medieval site.
Archaeologists examined four different areas of the lake. At the first site, they discovered brick buildings with millstones, one of a pair that ground grain together to make flour or grits. They also found evidence of a well-furnished social building, possibly a mosque, bathhouse, or madrasa (a Muslim educational institution). In another area, Kolchenko and his colleagues identified a Muslim necropolis, or graveyard, dating from the 13th to the 14th century. The documented skeletons were facing north toward Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, in what is now modern-day Saudi Arabia.
spread of islam
“In the 10th century, the Kara-Khanid state was formed on this land,” said Maxim Menshikov, a researcher at the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who also participated in the discoveries. They ruled the Issyk-Kul Lake region of the Silk Road.
Menshikov said, “It was a Turkic dynasty. The people here practiced various religions: pagan Tengrianism, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity. The ruling elite often converted to Islam during their reign, but this religion became widespread in Central Asia only in the 13th century.” “Prior to this, Islam was primarily the religion of the elite and the population involved in active economic activities.” A recently discovered Muslim cemetery probably dates to this period. Since the region is mentioned in medieval Chinese sources, the researchers hope to link their findings to historical materials.
At the third site, the team identified three other possible earlier burials, medieval ceramics and a large vessel. Since the ship is buried deep beneath the lake, the team was not able to retrieve it and plans to try again in the next archaeological season. In the final site, researchers examined the remains of more structures and conducted underwater drilling to obtain samples that hopefully would reveal the different stages of the settlement’s transformation.
Kolchenko compares the site to Pompeii, but I think Central Asia has its own Atlantis.