The arid regions of Daryalyk Takyr and Telikol: ethno-geoarchaeological study of a strategic transhumance rangeland on the right bank of the Syr Darya delta, Kazakhstan

Abstract

A previously unexplored 20,000 km2 area comprising the Daryalyk Takyr desert and the lacustrine landscapes of Telikol and Aschykol at the confluence of the Chu, Sarysu and Syr Darya rivers is presented here as object of a threefold geological, archaeological and ethnographic analysis assessing its historical importance. According to paleohydrological reconstructions, synchronous fluvial activity of the three rivers occurred during the Late Pleistocene. In the Holocene, the right branches of the Syr Darya delta were separated from the Chu-Sarysu confluence by alluvial sediments, becoming active only intermittently during undated flood events apparently strong enough to establish an ephemeral lake in the region. Geoarchaeological surveys analyzing surface finds indicate the densest occupation during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. From medieval to modern times, historical sources attest to the seasonal use of the Telikol region as a pastoral transit between the Syr Darya banks and the steppes of Central Kazakhstan. They are confirmed by ethnographic data about Telikol during its last phase of occupation (1870–1910) illustrating that land use in this area (and, probably, in all semi-desert regions in Kazakhstan) was not governed by property rights but by tribal political compromises between residential and transitory herders, occasionally exposing it to overgrazing.