Ayaz Kala

Forts on the desert frontier

Ayaz Kala is the most dramatic site in Ellikqala. Its three fortresses were built between the 4th century BCE and the 7th–8th centuries CE as part of a chain of forts along the edge of the Kyzylkum, shielding the canal-watered farmland of the Amu Darya from nomads and the Saka of the Syr Darya delta. Sergey Tolstov’s Khorezm Expedition first studied them in 1939–1940.

Ayaz Kala 1

The largest and best-preserved fort crowns a hill about 100 metres high with sweeping views over the plain. It dates from the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE, when Khorezm broke free of Achaemenid Persia. Rectangular in plan (182 by 152 metres), it has walls up to 10 metres high built as two skins with a vaulted corridor about 2 metres wide between them, and 45 half-oval towers.

The south gate, guarded by two rectangular towers, opened into a small enclosed court where attackers who forced the outer gate came under fire from archers on every side. The fort was used until the 1st century CE and may have remained a refuge into the early medieval period.

Ayaz Kala 2 and 3

Ayaz Kala 2 is an oval castle on a 40-metre conical hill southwest of the first fort, the seat of a feudal lord (dihqan) under the Afrighids in the 6th–8th centuries. Built of mud brick on rammed-earth foundations, with crenellations and arrow slits, it was reached by a 50-metre ramp from the south and held living quarters, columned halls and a fire temple decorated with murals; it burned twice.

Ayaz Kala 3, at the foot of the hill, is a large rectangular enclosure with the remains of a spacious palace inside. Excavations yielded iron daggers, knives, spear and arrow heads, and bronze and gold objects.

Today

Ayaz Kala belongs to the Desert Castles of Ancient Khorezm on UNESCO’s Tentative List. The view from the top — Lake Ayazkol, dunes and the endless Kyzylkum — is one of the finest in Karakalpakstan.

Ayaz Kala is about 20 km northeast of Toprak Kala, and the two are usually visited in a day together with Kyzyl Kala.