Archaeologists believe the settlement was brutally destroyed during the Mongol invasion in the 13th century.

Researchers have already called this one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in Kazakhstan in recent years. It’s likely that the ancient city in Zhetysu was an important trading hub on one of the branches of the Silk Road. Caravans from China may have passed through this settlement on their way to Central Asia, and further on — to the Middle East and Europe.

“We found a medieval city everyone had been searching for,” said Olga Gumirova, executive director of the national foundation Hunters of Petroglyphs. “It began with traces of brickwork in a quarry, then a miraculously preserved tower—and finally, a wall buried in the earth, with scorched medieval bricks protruding from it.”

What do the fire-scorched bricks “tell” us? Clearly, of a massive fire—this was exactly how the Mongol conquerors operated, destroying everything in their path. They wiped out prosperous cities along the Great Silk Road, literally erasing them from the face of the earth and leaving no chance for recovery. The territory of present-day Kazakhstan was traversed by the armies of Genghis Khan between 1219 and 1221. The army followed its usual tactic: annihilating any settlements that didn’t surrender without a fight.

The research team is now preparing for a new expedition to study the site in greater detail. They hope to uncover artifacts that will allow them to date the settlement more precisely and perhaps even reveal its original name.