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 16^th–18^th century piers. According to accounts by Prince Alexey Cherkassky in 1715, who was on a scientific expedition to study the east Caspian Sea and liaise with Mangyshlak Turkmens, the piers served as the primary landing point and trade hub for vessels coming from Astrakhan in the 16^th–17^th centuries.

Backing up Cherkassky’s account are the memoirs of 19^th 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, Andrey 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-Buzachinskiy Nature Reserve. Karakavak also has 8^th–9^th century remains of a citadel, when it once served as a stop-over point for caravans arriving from Khorezm (aka Chorasmia). Spanning east to west between the two canyons is a half-kilometre long defensive wall of the same era too.

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