International underwater archaeology expedition takes place on Issyk-Kul

An international underwater archaeological expedition is currently exploring the depths of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul Lake, focusing on a significant submerged site near the village of Toru-Aygyr. The ongoing research season, which began on June 20, 2026, includes participation from Russian colleagues, notably the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Geographical Society.

Valery Kolchenko, a research fellow at the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, reported on the expedition's progress. He noted that the team is systematically working to delineate the boundaries of the ancient settlement. It has become clear that a river once divided the settlement from one of the burial grounds. While the archaeologists aim to minimize the collection of materials from the lakebed, their findings are steadily growing.

The Toru-Aygyr complex is a large settlement that existed from at least the 10th to the 13th centuries before being submerged in the 15th century. Previous expeditions in 2025, conducted in two phases during July and September-October, also concentrated on this underwater site. The exact duration of the current expedition has not yet been specified.

The research aims to shed light on the history and daily life of the people who inhabited this region centuries ago. By studying the submerged settlement and its associated burial grounds, archaeologists hope to gain a deeper understanding of the region's past and the environmental changes that led to the site's inundation.

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Step by step, we are tracing the boundaries of the site. It is already clear that the settlement itself and one of the burial grounds were separated by a river. We try to take a minimum of material from the bottom, but the collection is growing.