Overview
The ancient settlement of Talkhiz sits on the southern outskirts of Talgar, roughly 2 km south of the main highway. The site covers approximately 28 hectares in a roughly rectangular plan — each wall around 300 metres long — with eroded earthen ramparts still rising 3–5 metres at their best-preserved sections. Corner and perimeter towers survive as grassed-over hillocks. The enclosed area shows a central raised district, best preserved in the southern sector, surrounded by evidence of residential and craft quarters. The settlement functioned as a Karakhanid trade and administrative centre from the 9th through 13th centuries and was inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor. First recorded in 982 CE in the Persian geographic text Hudud al-'Alam as Talkhiz, it served caravans connecting the Ili Basin to the Tarim Basin across the northern branch of the Silk Road.
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Visit notes
Viewing visit notes for Talgar and Issyk Saka Kurgan
Talkhiz medieval mounds
Step 3 · 3 km from previous · 8 min drive
The ancient settlement of Talkhiz sits on the southern outskirts of Talgar, roughly 2 km south of the main highway. The site covers approximately 28 hectares in a roughly rectangular plan — each wall around 300 metres long — with eroded earthen ramparts still rising 3–5 metres at their best-preserved sections. Corner and perimeter towers survive as grassed-over hillocks. The enclosed area shows a central raised district, best preserved in the southern sector, surrounded by evidence of residential and craft quarters. The settlement functioned as a Karakhanid trade and administrative centre from the 9th through 13th centuries and was inscribed in 2014 on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor. First recorded in 982 CE in the Persian geographic text Hudud al-'Alam as Talkhiz, it served caravans connecting the Ili Basin to the Tarim Basin across the northern branch of the Silk Road.