The Ustyurt plateau is a mysterious tomb of eternity

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You won’t believe that these cosmic photos were taken in Uzbekistan – from the Ustyurt plateau, which is located on the vast territory between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, or to be more precise, northern Karakalpakstan.

Natural phenomena and cataclysms created this unearthly beauty exactly 20 million years ago. During the several decades, more than 60 sites of primitive society and about 1000 architectural monuments were discovered here. The main mystery for the researchers and the tourists is the so-called “the arrows of Ustyurt”, which are seen only from an aerial view.It is still unknown for sure, how these mysterious natural phenomena appeared.

But as the story goes, the Massaget tribes lived on this territory many thousands of years ago, as evidenced by the remains of ancient caravanserais and tombs belonging to the Scythian culture.

The word “massaget” comes from the place names “Mas”, “Saka” and “Ta”, which means “Large Scythian Horde”. As the ancient historian Herodotus wrote, the great king of Assyria Cyrus paid a heavy price for the attempt to capture these lands and died at the hands of the Massaget queen Tomaris.

And for more than 2000 years the stone tombs of the ancient Massagets have stood motionless in the middle of the desert, untouched by either the nature or human. Who knows, maybe these arrows have the direct connection with the Massaget tombs.