“KUYKURILGAN” CASTLE - OUTCOME OF OUR ANCESTORS’ GREAT INTELLEGENCE

We rarely think about hidden secrets concerned with human history which happened at our living place. Actually, castles, fortresses, monuments and historic objects, which were made by our forebears and are currently being discovered as a result of researches, are prime proofs of the fact that the fields of urbanization, craftsmanship, architecture, livestock and farm were advanced in early history.

Being located at north-eastern part of the town Turtkul in The Republic of Karakalpakistan, "Kuykurilgan” castle remembrances, which was built around 4^thcentury BC by our forebears, represents our ancestors’ great intelligence and ability.

Initially the castle was discovered in 1938 by the members of Khorezm archeological ethnographic expedition of which leader was S.P.Tolstov, who was archeologist and carried out researches to discover historic remembrances, monuments and castles in Karakalpakistan. Archeological studies were performed between 1951 and 1957.

"Kuykurilgan” castle is deeply different from other historic premises in the same place in terms of its construction method. Being precisely, it was built in the shape of circle. There was a 15 m wide and 3 m deep trench behind the walls which surrounded the castle. The castle was surrounded with another walls in order to strengthen defense. Together with shelters, there were holes on the walls so as to let light pass to the castles which were built during 2^nd and 4^th centuries BC. As for "Kuykurilgan” castle, besides that way, the builders used domes to brighten the premises. Having a gate at eastern part, the castle whose entrance was constructed in the shape of slant pavement was prime example of the builders’ great competence. In the castle there is a temple of which diameter and height 44.4m and 9.5m correspondingly. It is assumed that the temple was also used as an observatory. In that observatory, equal days of summer and spring together with the rise of the sun were learnt via examining and watching the sun, stars and settlement of the sun during many years. This created an opportunity for people to predict weather conditions in advance as well as giving a chance to plan farm work based on those data.

"Kuykurilgan” castle is an outstanding archeological historic place in Khorezm but also it is one of the most noticeable monument among other historic places found in Uzbekistan. Spindles found there which were made of mud, stone and bone prove the fact that population of the castle were occupied with livestock especially with sheep cattle and they span threads using sheep’s wool which they used later to make clothes. In addition, it is also known that knives, domestic appliances and jewelries were made by craftsmen. The fact that the population’s daily routine included the work: decorating and drawing pictures on vases proves that habitants of "Kuykurilgan” castle advanced their economy, livestock and fishing industries.

Studying "Kuykurilgan” castle historic monuments and objects gave us an opportunity to study our ancestors’ lifestyle, to get deeper to our history, to be blessed with our forebears’ material and moral property. Learning our ancestors’ moral and material property in depth helps us realize who our forebears were, who we are and whose descendants we are.

Written by Oygul RAJABOVA

The Correspondent of the web site www.amunews.uz.

Translated from Uzbek into English by Ulugbek Yusupov.

(Photo by meros.ziyonet.uz )