Monday, March 16, 2015

Koykrylgan Kala...Qoy Qirilq'an Qala...4th c. BC

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"Khwarezm /kwəˈrɛzəm/ or Chorasmia /kəˈræzmiə/ (Persian: خوارزم‎) is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia.....C.E. Bosworth however, believes the Persian name to be made up of xor (خور "the sun") and zam (زم "earth, land"), designating "the land from which the sun rises", although the same etymology is also given for Khurasan. ".....C. E. Bosworth, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol IV, 1978. p. 1061

Aerial view of Koykrylgan Kala...."Koykrylgan Kala (also spelt Qoy Qirilq'an Qala) is an amazing and enigmatic site. Its circular shape is unique. Koykrylgan Kala is a 4th century BC fortress, but what lay within the fortifications is a mystery. Today, the site lies in a remote part of the surrounding desert. In the 2nd century BC, the complex was destroyed by fire, was rebuilt and remained in use until the 4th century AD. "...http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/khvarizem/page4.htm

"Koy-Krylgan-kala: the Fortress of Lost Rams....Ruins of thousands of fortresses are disseminated at boundless open spaces of the Khorezm steppes, but the remnants of Koy-Krylgan-kala, the Fortress of Lost Rams, are unique. The fortress was discovered by archeologists of the Khorezm expedition casually in 1938. Archeologists were surprised with the form of ancient construction, unprecedented till then in Khoresm: the powerful citadel with the remains of a protective wall was not square and or rectangular as it was used to see, but it was round. Outside, protective constructions had the form of a correct circle with the citadel in the center, it was surrounded with an external fortification with towers. The space between the central building and the wall named the "ring" appeared completely built up. The clay construction was enormous: diameter of the central building was 42 m, height in the best remained part was about 8 m, the diameter of the whole construction - about 90 m......Thousands of fragments of magnificent pottery have been scattered on sandy barkhans round the fortress and among its ruins. Along with other findings, in particular bronze tips of arrows, they were used to identify its age - archeologists found out that it was the most ancient of all the monuments to ancient Khorezmian statehood known by that time. The earliest finds dated back to 4th-3rd centuries BC.... the fortress had two stages of the development. Earlier stage dated back to 4th-3rd centuries BC. The second period of the fortress referred to the first centuries AD."....http://www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/karakalpakstan/koy-krylgan-kala.htm

"Qoy Qırılg'an qala is in a remote desert location, just over 24km north northeast of To'rtku'l and 20km east southeast from Bostan. It lies within the tuman of To'rtku'l. ....The first archaeological viewing took place in 1938 when Sergey Tolstov, Yakh'ya Gulyamov, A. I. Terenozhkin and other members of the early Khorezm Archaeological Expedition were encamped at nearby Teshik qala...its 5 to 6 metre high walls were covered with narrow closely spaced loopholes. It was surrounded by a circular wall reinforced by the ruins of nine towers. The interior was filled with fragments of glazed and richly decorated ceramics and Tolstov found bronze Scythian arrow heads and two terracotta statuettes. Qoy Qırılg'an qala is a name that has been given to the site by local people over recent centuries. It is generally translated as "Fort of the Dead Sheep". However the exact meaning of Qırılg'an is not dead but fragile or breakable...Today only the central part of the fort remains. It is in a badly eroded state. Soviet archaeologists tended to leave their completed excavations exposed to the elements, and these mud-brick monuments are easily damaged by the winter rains. To make matters worse much of the mud brick from the outer walls seems to have been taken and recycled by local people.."....David and Sue Richardson 2005 - 2015.....http://www.karakalpak.com/anckoy.html

"Koy-Krylgan-kala was the powerful well fortified fortress with a number of protective walls which were destroyed with time, it was possible to trace them only in a small site. Similar fortifications were peculiar to all monuments of antiquity and the early Middle Ages of Khoresm. According to researches of archeologists, the Fortress of Lost Rams is one of the most ancient monuments ancient Khorezm statehood, the temple complex that partially functioned as a burial of the unknown ancient king or queen.......The fortress population consisted of Zoroastrians, worshipping Anakhita, the goddess of water and rivers, and Siyavus, the god of sun. This monument is interesting in terms of the central complex location. Its western part was built in honour of the goddess Anakhita, and eastern and the southern parts were turned towards the sun rising in honour of the god of sun Siyavush, evidenced by number of figurines and relicts of vessels with images of gods......The fortress history Koy-Krylgan-kala totals a millenium. The remnants of the most ancient ossuaries in the Central Asia were found along with paintings and inscriptions in ancient Khorezmian language. This fortress remains a historical puzzle until now, standing out with its unique design among other fortresses of Ancient Khorezm.".....http://www.advantour.com/uzbekistan/karakalpakstan/koy-krylgan-kala.htm

"Qoy Qırılg'an qala......Even today, the true purpose of the site still remains something of a mystery. Excavations showed that the building had been destroyed by fire and had later been ransacked. It seems to have originally been built in the 4th century BC shortly after Khorezm gained its independence from Persia. This period, originally named after the Kangyuy culture of the middle Syr Darya and now called the Early Antique Period, saw a huge blossoming of Khorezmian culture. Yet surprisingly the building was used for only one or at most two centuries before being abandoned in the early 2nd century BC. It was then briefly occupied by squatters.....It is possible that the lower floor might have originally functioned as some type of astronomical observatory, possibly monitoring the times for the rising and setting of certain stars and perhaps the cycles of the sun and the moon, given their highly venerated position in Zoroastrianism. We do know that the Khorezmians were familiar with eclipses, had an accurate calendar and knew the exact time of the seasons – vital for the management of their agricultural economy."...David and Sue Richardson 2005 - 2015....http://www.karakalpak.com/anckoy.html

"Siyawush......Persian - Son of Kay Kaus and Sudabe. His stepmother made advances which he rejected and she told her husband that his son had tried to rape her. The young man fled from the court but was killed by Afrasiyab. Sometimes referred to as Siyawush, Siyavahsh, Siyavahsh, Siyavarshan, Siyavarshan, Syavarsham or Syavarsham.....Siyâvash ( Persian (Persian) : سياوش) is a character in Shahnameh of Ferdowsi . One of the prince of Iran . He was executed by the orders of afrasyab .".....http://www.mythologydictionary.com/siyawush-mythology.html

"Kay Kāvus (Persian: كيكاوس‎; Avestan: Kauui Usan); sometimes Kai-Káús or Kai-Kaus, is a mythological shah of Iran and a character in the Shāhnāmeh. He is the son of Kay Qobād and the father of prince Seyāvash. Kāvus rules Iran for one hundred and fifty years during which he is frequently though increasingly grudgingly aided by the famous hero Rostam. He is succeeded by his grandson Kai Khosrow."....Firdawsī, The Sháh námeh of the Persian poet Firdausí. Oriental Translation Fund. Volume 21 of Publications, Oriental Translation Fund. Translated by James Atkinson. 1832.

"......Betts, A.V.G. and Yagodin, V.N. 2007 The Fire Temple at Tash-k’irman-tepe, Chorasmia.....http://www.academia.edu/3580384/Betts_A.V.G._and_Yagodin_V.N._2007_The_Fire_Temple_at_Tash-k_irman-tepe_Chorasmia "

"Historians mention that one of the names for the Oxus or Amu in ancient Afghanistan was Gozan, and that this name was used by Greek, Mongol, Chinese, Persian, Jewish, and Afghan historians. However, this name is no longer used.
"Hara (Bokhara) and to the river of Gozan (that is to say, the Amu, (called by Europeans the Oxus)...."....The Kingdom of Afghanistan: a historical sketch, By George Passman Tate
"the Gozan River is the River Balkh, i.e. the Oxus or the Amu Darya....."....Jews in Islamic countries in the Middle Ages, By Moshe Gil, David Strassler
"... and were brought into Halah (modern day Balkh), and Habor (which is Pesh Habor or Peshawar), and Hara (which is Herat), and to the river Gozan (which is the Ammoo, also called Jehoon)...".....Tamerlane and the Jews, By Michael Shterenshis

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

March 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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