The Site of Akyrtas Introduction

(1)Contribution to the Silk Roads' OUV

Archaelogical complex Akyrtas is an example of the spread of architectural styles at a great distance. Analogies to the unique layout of the palace of Akyrtas lie in architecture of the Middle East. The palace was built with the involvement of Arab architects with the use of architectural traditions of the Middle East. Very similar was the plan of palaces of Samarra in Iraq, as well as the palaces of Syria and Jordan, in particular, known for its magnificent palace of Qasr al-Khaiyr al-Gharbi.

(2) General Information

Archaeological complex Akyrtas is located in foothills of the Kyrgyz Alatau. Architectural and archaeological complex Akyrtas includes various different time monuments in chronological range of the 5th century BC to the 16th – 18th centuries. Monuments spatially linked to the natural terrain, called "Kyzyltau" as well as the dry season channel, fed by numerous channels of foothill depressions, filled with water in spring and autumn. Size of the complex is about 3 km to the east-west and about 5 km to the north-south. The composition of the Akyrtas archaeological complex consists of undeveloped palace structures and objects on the adjacent areas on both sides of the dry river bed. These are: a park, two caravanserai, farms, watchtower, clay pit, stone quarry pit, a fortress, castle mounds, plumbing, howz-reservoirs. Akyrtas palace-fortress is a rectangular in terms structure in size of 180 x 205 m longitudinal sides oriented in the north-south line. The walls of massive stone blocks of red sandstone were built to a height of 1 to 1.5 meters. Blocks laid in one, two, sometimes three or four rows. The width of the walls varies from 5 m at the outer up to 3-3.5 m in the interior. The walls are made of two rows of blocks in filling the space between the gravel and clay. Some of the units have carefully crafted a smooth outer plane. The aisles perpendicularly located inside divide the building into four parts, three of which are composed of rooms located around a courtyard, and the northwestern one is free of buildings. Center of the whole building is the courtyard, the perimeter of which is surrounded by the stone bases of columns in size of 5 x 5 meters. In the southern part of the yard can be traced pits of two howzreservoirs. Main longitudinal passageway connects the northern and southern entrances. Perpendicular to it is the passage from west to east rests against the deep iwans. The first part of the structure consists of a vacant area of the square with a side of 27 m and group of rooms facing the courtyard (13 x 18 m). Of these, three are long corridor type premises. The second part consists of two groups of rooms: living room of 12 and 3 iwans grouped around a courtyard and economic one, where there were 5 long narrow premises with a width of 2 to 3 meters, facing the courtyard. In the third part there are13 rooms grouped around a courtyard, which has a separate exit to the outside. Fourth part is residential, joint by yard in size of 25 × 34 m. It has 18 rooms, 2 iwans and 3 narrow spaces, one of which is П-shaped. This part also has its own way out. The pottery fragments are represented by round-boilers with traces of soot. There are also fragments of larger hum and water pitchers. The castle is located 1km to the southwest of the palace complex and it is almost quadrangular in plan structure with dimensions 39 × 40.5. The construction is oriented to the cardinal points. The entrance is in the center of the eastern wall. The outer walls are made of mud brick and internal ones, also mud, mounted on stone plinth of red sandstone. At the corners of buildings there are towers, circular in cross section. Inside the center there is an open courtyard, located along the perimeter of the room. Building has two construction periods. Castle, 1 km to the southwest of the palace, is located on the natural hill, next to the fortress. It is a rectangular area with dimensions of 40 × 25 m, height of 3-3.5 m, oriented by longitudinal sides of the eastwest with a little slight shift. The walls of the large mud bricks on a stone plinth of red sandstone are also faced with it. Inside, along the longitudinal axis there are three adjacent rows of three rooms square in the plan, combined from the western side by longitudinal premise. 14 century homesteads are located to the north from Akyrtas. They form an area of residential buildings, fenced with mud wall, with a total area of about 2.5 hectares, the size of the parties 280 × 180 m. In the last period of its existence the castle was turned into the caravanserai 10th-12^th centuries. The estates are of type of walled rectangular plots with howz-reservoirs and dwelling spaces. Estates square reached 100 m. Total number of such estates found on the northern side is 10 and 2 on the southern. In addition to the estates on the dwelling territory marked houses, built side by side, with the plan dimensions of 10 × 10 m. The caravanserai is at 30 meters northwest from Akyrtas is a closed rectangular plot with the plan dimensions of 43 × 49 m, walled thickness of about 1 m of stone, height of 0.5 m. The entrance is located on the southern side. On the territory of the caravanserai there are two hills. The second caravanserai consists of two adjacent rows of 3 rooms, finished with the wall elongated along the eastern side of the transverse of the room where were found a lot of parts of fragments of water pipes. The walls of the caravanserai preserved to a height of 0.65m. On the base of height of 0.6 m of red sandstone there are walls laid of burnt brick (13th-14th centuries). The park is a part of territory, surrounded by a wall with the side of a square 250 m. From the eastern side the area is adjacent to the bed of the channel, where the water stream goes in spring time. In addition, it is lead by canal bed which goes to the direction of the gorge Shoshkola. Watch tower is located to the west of the palace, on the top of the mountain Kyzyltash. It is made of stone. Preserved lower row of stones forms a circle with a diameter of 5 m. There is a stone ground near it. Quarry is 400 meters long. In its territory there are numerous semi-manufactured and processed stone blocks. Clay pit covers an area of approximately 1.5 hectares. Layer of loess slope served as material for burnt brick. Found the remains of brick kilns, fragments of burnt brick, slag. Dugouts are oval depressions, deepened into the hillside. The plumbing is the ceramic cone-shaped tubes inserted in the form of links to each other. Link length is 50-60 cm, diameter of wide end is 20 cm and a narrow one is 18 cm.

 The plumbing is laid to a palace complex from water intakes and springs of Shoshkala and Uzunbulak gorges. Reservoir in Uzunbulak gorge is generated by rock-earth dam, which blocked the gorge formed by the rock ledges. Near residential areas there was another reservoir, from which there was distribution of water through the pipes of a smaller diameter to the houses of estates and dwelling houses. To the north from Akyrtas there are two reservoirs. One of them, the western one, is square in plan with a side of pit of 40 m, and depth of 2 m. Eastern reservoir diameter is 30 m. The water accumulated here, was intended to irrigate crops, located north from Akyrtas.

(3) Attributes

Archaelogical complex Akyrtas is an example of the spread of architectural styles at a great distance. Akyrtas is a sort of a unique set of multi caravanserais, located in a small compact area and dating back to the chronological range from the 11th to 14th centuries. At Akyrtas site were investigated buildings, directly or indirectly related to the maintenance and development of trade. An extensive network of hydraulic structures, gardens and parkland created the necessary facilities for living, commerce and industry. The various fortifications and signal facilities were created to provide security and to facilitate unimpeded trade along the Silk Roads. The location of Akyrtas at the distance of two farsakhs between the medieval towns Lower Barskhan and Kul-Shub is not accidental – it is equal to the day-shift caravan. Akyrtas itself was associated with Karluk quarter – Kasribas. In the construction of the city were used local stone and clay, as evidenced by the carriers of its extraction. Akyrtas is located in the foothill of the Kyrgyz Alatau, in a territorial corridor between the Kyzylkum desert, the transition through which due to the lack of water sources was difficult, and the mountain range, which supplied the caravanserais of Akyrtas with water. One of the distinctive features of Akyrtas is a complex system of collection and conservation of water resources, which mainly had a seasonal character, using the lay of land and the combination system of arrangement of kuburs, irrigation ditches, howz-reservoirs. Mountain Kyzyltau around which were located all the buildings of Akyrtas, was a source of building materials – red sandstone and loess-like loam.

The system of collection and preservation of water in abundance available in spring and autumn periods, by accumulating it in the reservoirs and its subsequent use in the summer season is a tradition of people living in the foothills regions of Alatau and Karatau.

The existence of a post road in the 19th century, as well as the construction and use of the transport corridor Western Europe – Western China laid in close proximity to Akyrtas, is an evidence of the existence of a system of values and traditions that have roots in the Middle Ages.