History of Aktau Area

This area used to be covered by ocean, so even in the hot, dry steppe you find seashells. These seashells are used to make bricks and buildings. I was taking notes so fast, but I think she said that Kazakhstan has the largest collection of these seashells. This is a brick I found that was made out of the seashells.

This is part of Sherkala, the mountain that we saw. There was another cave that was much harder to get up into. The adults were running up the front as fast as they could, trying to get a foothold, but came sliding back down again. Finally a couple of teachers got up and were holding out their hands to help up others. I was one of the last ones. It looked so easy, but I couldn't make it far enough before I slide back down again. I flung off my coat and got ready for another run. I told the group that my mind felt like a teenager and this should be easy, but my body was telling me another thing. I finally made it up and got lots of cheering.

Here is Sherkala mountain. There is so much history here. This was an ideal spot for a tribe to live because it had a wall around it and you could see the enemy coming. There is also water in this area. So lots of battles were fought and lots of blood lost. These are graves that mark the battleground.

A closer view of one of the graves. The tour guide has been giving tours of this area for 23 years and all the stories were just speculation until a few years ago when they started digging and discovered proof of the ancient civilization. She said she cried the first time she went out and saw the men finding pottery and tools.