Sultan Uvays Dag Gyaur-kala

The Ayaz-kala Settlement-2 was probably founded during the Afrigid Dynasty, approximately at the end of the VII and beginning of the VIII centuries A.D. It has a complex configuration. A ramp that led downwards once linked the fortress gates with a large luxurious palace located at the foot of the hill.

This palace was described as the most beautiful and magnificent edifice of the medieval period in all of Central Asia. There were large audience chambers with columns, an elegant bench, a ceremonial ground, wall paintings and a fire temple. Coins of the Afrigid dynasty, in particular the coins of King Bravik, were found there.

The palace was constructed approximately in the IV century A.D. Later it was destroyed by two successive fires.

The Ayaz-kala Settlement-3 (IV–III centuries B.C.) is a large reinforced parallelogram-shaped structure surrounded by double walls with numerous rectangular towers on each side. The settlement entrance is located in the middle of the southern side and protected by cranked wall that formed a sophisticated labyrinth before the gates. The settlement courtyard is absolutely empty. Small constructions can be found only near the walls. In the northwestern corner of the settlement there is a large house with many rooms. Two intersecting corridors divided the house into four sectors. Each sector consisted of ten rooms.

Ayaz-kala 3 might have been used as a garrison or a monarch’s residence and an asylum for local farmers during the Kushan Empire. The old Fortress Ayaz-kala 1 could have been fully equipped with a small number of soldiers and used as a simple observation point. The remnants of farmsteads with several residential buildings, agricultural land, walls and vineyards were found around the fortress walls.