Karakavak and Shuldor Canyons

In 2017, a Russian-Kazakh archaeology expedition conducted a survey of Kochak Bay, around the Karakavak area, searching for the remains of 16th–18th century piers. According to accounts by Bekovich-Cherkassky, the piers served as the primary landing point and trade hub for vessels coming from Astrakhan in the 16th–17th centuries.

Backing up Bekovich-Cherkassky’s account are the memoirs of the 19th-century Russian naval officer M.I. Ivanin who reported seeing old wooden piles in Kochak Bay. Russian navy maps from 1848 and 1869 mark their location in a small nook within the bay and refer to them as ‘Karagan’ and ‘Old Mangyshlak’.

The 2017 expedition didn’t find any remains of the piers. However, it’s not unsurprising—the organiser of the research project, Andrei Astafiev, said that the sea has receded by several hundred metres over the last three centuries, leaving any remains exposed to the harsh climate or prone to being buried by wind-blown sand.

Shuldor Canyon, less than a kilometre to the east, runs parallel to Karakavak and there’s a dirt road along the dividing plateau. Shuldor is considered the more picturesque of the two. Both are part of the Aktau-Buzachinsky Nature Reserve. Karakavak also has 8th–9th century remains of a citadel, when it once served as a stopover point for caravans arriving from Khwarezm. Spanning east to west between the two canyons is a half-kilometre-long defensive wall of the same era, too.