Attention remains focused on the underwater ruins of Issyk-Kul
However, interest in the underwater mysteries of Issyk-Kul has not disappeared. In 1886, geologist I. V. Mushketov presented a report titled "Motives and Objectives of Research on Khan-Tengri" to the Physical Geography Section of the Russian Geographical Society—regarding the organization of a special expedition to the Khan-Tengri mountain system in the Tian Shan. Although the scientist himself was skeptical about the existence of underwater fortresses and settlements at the bottom of the lake, believing the traces of ruins to be products of specific geological deposits, he nevertheless deemed it necessary to investigate them. "Since the expedition is supposed to be fully equipped in Karakol, i.e., in the Issyk-Kul valley," I. V. Mushketov reported to the members of the society—organizers of the expedition—"and on the way back it will also be in the Issyk-Kul valley, it would be very desirable for it to engage, as much as possible, in the study of the remains of ancient settlements at Issyk-Kul (emphasized by us, — Ed.), which have long been known and are receiving increasing interest lately, especially due to the discovery of Syrian 'monuments' in the Tokmak district, i.e., the area neighboring Issyk-Kul.
It is particularly interesting to verify the data regarding the presence of ruins of ancient settlements located on the northern shore of the lake near Ak-Su under the water level. It is also desirable to trace the distribution and nature of the latest tuffs, which, possessing a proper fissuring, are sometimes mistaken for remnants of artificial walls, for example, in the southeastern corner of the lake near the shores."
The expedition was entrusted to mountain engineer I. V. Ignatiev. Upon returning from Khan-Tengri in September 1886, he conducted a special inspection of the lake's bottom in the Koy-Sary area from a boat. Here, underwater, stone millstones, a granite sphere of unknown purpose, ceramic dishes, and a cluster of burnt bricks were found, which, according to the scientist's conclusion, could only represent the ruins of walls. Judging by the list of items, these were remnants of monuments from different times that ended up underwater in Issyk-Kul. I. V. Ignatiev attributed all of them to ancient Usuns.
In 1888, after the death of the great traveler N. M. Przhevalsky, the expedition to Central Asia was led by M. V. Pevtsov. He also became interested in the underwater ruins at Issyk-Kul and personally examined them.
"To the west of Przhevalsk, in the Koy-Sary area, at the bottom of Issyk-Kul," the scientist recorded, "there are the ruins of a small ancient city, lying close to the southern shore of the lake at a depth of about five feet." The burnt bricks found here were of a small format and partly decorated with tiles. As the local Kyrgyz told the scientist, they often found in the ruins fragments of clay dishes, copper cauldrons, and coins, as well as human skulls and bones. From one of the Kyrgyz—Dzelaman, "a very inquisitive and truthful" person—Pevtsov received as a gift "two copper, very ancient coins found in the ruins."
Judging by the description, alongside clearly medieval remnants of material culture, evidenced by the bricks, there were also older, Saka-Usun items. The most characteristic of these was a "copper cauldron."
It would seem that the question is resolved, clarity has been brought: there are underwater monuments in Issyk-Kul, and the items retrieved from the bottom are chronologically quite distant from one another: from the first millennium B.C. to the middle of the second millennium A.D.
The trophies collected by local historian F. V. Poyarkov and once transferred to the Tashkent museum—a saber, a spearhead, a bronze axe, and other items from various times—seemed to have convinced many of the real existence of archaeological monuments at the bottom of the lake and the necessity for further serious scientific research. However, doubts were expressed: could this not be a product of imagination, when natural tuffs were mistaken by scholars, who were neither archaeologists nor historians, for legendary underwater fortresses?
It is enough to say that two qualified participants of the same expedition—the artist S. M. Dudin and orientalist V. V. Bartold—expressed directly opposite opinions on this matter in 1894. Thus, S. M. Dudin, after inspecting the lake's waters in the Koy-Sary area from a boat, stated that the "underwater walls" were nothing more than layers of slate clay, eroded by water, i.e., they represented "a typical sedimentary formation, which, of course, cannot be allowed in clay walls." Bartold, on the other hand, did not share the artist's viewpoint and was convinced that the lake indeed preserves traces of ancient life. Based on the size and shape of the bricks and fragments of ceramics found at the bottom of the lake, he attributed the underwater ruins to the post-Mongol period.
Convinced that the underwater ruins of Issyk-Kul are remnants of medieval settlements, Bartold, however, did not provide any explanation for the more ancient tools made of copper (knives, spears, axes, sickles) found by local residents in the underwater ruins near the mouth of the Tyup River, which did not fit chronologically with the medieval period. In the village of Preobrazhenskoe (modern Tyup village), the scientist was shown a large copper cauldron on three soldered legs, discovered five versts from the mouth of the Tyup River. Bartold wanted to buy the cauldron, but it was priced so high (30 rubles) that it was beyond his means. However, he immediately purchased a copper knife, "similar to ancient Siberian copper tools." Here, the scientist acknowledges their antiquity.
Concrete historical facts and archaeological finds could not be ignored. They had to be explained. The distant ancestors of the Kyrgyz people, the creators and inhabitants of the now underwater settlements, left no written evidence. Therefore, over time, the past "memory of the people was erased, transformed into historical legends, myths, and tales. "Kyrgyz," wrote V. V. Bartold, "are firmly convinced that there was no lake before, but there was a vast city in its place."
Attempt at the first underwater archaeological research of ancient monuments at the bottom of Issyk-Kul