Golden horde sites at the Aral Sea bottom: human adaptation to ecological changes in the region

Abstract

The research described in the paper aimed to investigate the Golden Horde sites in the Aral Sea Basin and human adaptation to the region’s changing ecology. At present, several known settlements at the drained Aral Sea bottom – namely, Kerderi-1, Kerderi-2, and Aral-Asar – testify to the lake’s shallowness during XII-XV centuries. In August 2021, a group of archaeologists from Korkyt-Ata Kyzylorda University conducted a research mission to the location of the former settlement of Aral-Asar as part of the ESERA Project. The results of the study show that Aral-Asar existed for approx. 200 years as a full-fledged economic entity hosting cereal, ceramics and brick productions. In general, the data obtained indicate that environmental changes had led to the desolation of certain cities and development of new lands by humans in the Syr Darya River Delta, including these found at the drained bottom of the Aral Sea.