Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a medieval city that flourished along the Silk Road before going extinct due to a powerful earthquake beneath the chilly waters of a mountain lake in Kyrgyzstan. There had been tales of a lost city beneath the surface of Lake Issyk-Kul for decades. Researchers from around the world have now verified that those legends were accurate.
Surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan mountains, the underwater site is located at Toru-Aygyr on the northwest shore of Issyk-Kul, one of the world’s deepest salty lakes. They have discovered evidence of a planned urban center in along with a few scattered ruins. This discovery provides a fresh perspective on the history of Central Asia, a place where empires, religions, and cultures once merged.
A city under water: trade, religion, and daily life
Exploring at a depth of only one to four meters, they mapped and documented large ceramic vessels, baked brick structures, grain mill parts, and decorated architectural fragments. These particulars imply the existence of public structures like madrasas, mosques, or ritual baths. They portray a real city—a location designed for traders, tourists, and pilgrims traveling between China and the Islamic world.
Additionally, the team discovered wooden structures and crumbling stone walls, which says it was carefully constructed urban design with stable local government. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and dendrochronology have been used to accurately date wood and other material samples.
The Kara-Khanid dynasty, a Turkic ruling house that brought Islam to the area, probably used the settlement as a major urban center during its approximate 10th–15th century existence, according to the researchers. Nevertheless, the region had a long history of religious diversity; traces of Buddhism, Tengrianism, and Nestorian Christianity show that different religions coexisted there before the rise of Islam.
Earthquakes, cemeteries, and a long memory
According to the archeological evidence, the city partially collapsed during a strong earthquake in the 15th century, sinking almost all of it under the waters of Issyk-Kul. It’s interesting to note that there are no human remains in some residential areas, suggesting an earlier abandonment before to the final catastrophe. This city was unexpectedly frozen in time—much like Pompeii under volcanic ash.
A large Muslim cemetery from the 13th and 14th centuries was discovered with approximately 60,000 square meters in size and follows to Islamic burial customs, with bodies facing north and southeast toward Mecca. So far, two skeletons—one male and one female—have been found. Important information about their diet, health, and place of origin could be revealed by their bones.
The Golden Horde helped Islam become dominant in Central Asia, and that shared faith along the Silk Road made trade and trust between partners easier.
Medieval ceramics and a big khum—a grain or water storage vessel that is still partially buried in the sediment and can be found in future seasons—have been discovered in other parts of the site. Three additional graves nearby, most likely from before the Islamic era, demonstrate that the region was inhabited for a considerable amount of time during multiple cultural eras. Round and rectangular adobe structures as well as buried soil layers have been revealed in a 4th zone.
A forgotten city rises again
Archaeologists are able to map the sunken ruins in great detail and preserve them for future generations thanks to underwater drones and sophisticated navigation systems. The goal is to construct a substantial interdisciplinary project that integrates funerary studies, urban archaeology, and the tectonic and climatic history of Issyk-Kul.
Researchers think that an big part of the city is still a mystery. Future research could change our perception of Central Asia‘s place in world history since the Middle Ages.