It takes roughly an hour to drive from Khiva to Biruniy and a further hour to get to Ayaz

Satellite image of Ayaz qala 3. Image courtesy of Google Earth.



Schematic plan of Ayaz qala 3.
Image courtesy of Associate Professor Alison Betts, University of Sydney Central Asian Programme.

Much of the interior was empty apart from a rectangular fortified building set against the northern wall in the north east corner. The building contained 40 small rooms divided into four groups by two cross-shaped central corridors. Additional corridors run around the sides of three of the outer walls. 

The enclosure is surrounded by the remains of many farmsteads and the boundaries of fields. 

Excavations conducted in 1939 concluded that the whole site dated from the 1st to the 2nd centuries AD - the time of the Kushan Empire. Interestingly several other skew-shaped Kushan buildings are known from this time. However more recent work suggests that the fortified building within the perimeter wall is earlier, dating from the 5th to 4th centuries BC, almost contemporary with Ayaz qala 1. When the later parallelogram-shaped enclosure was constructed the earlier fortified building was incorporated into the perimeter wall, creating a kink in the construction. 

It seems that Ayaz qala 3 may have been a more convenient garrison than Ayaz Qala 1 during the Kushan period, offering a closer refuge for the local agricultural population. However Ayaz qala 1 may have still been manned as a lookout post. The earlier monumental building may have been the residence of a local ruler or senior military commander.