{"id":80095,"date":"2025-01-30T16:26:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T16:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com"},"modified":"2025-12-12T17:27:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:27:35","slug":"signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death","status":"publish","type":"wpm-article","link":"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death","title":{"rendered":"Signs Of Life In A Desert Of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MIZDARKHAN, Uzbekistan \u2014&nbsp;On a hill at the edge of the desert stands a wooden edifice above a simple tomb. It consists of four slanting poles that come together in a frame, inside of which are bundled sticks that resemble kindling. It seems a puzzling marker for a grave until you learn the legend of whose body lies inside: Gay\u014dmart, the first human, neither woman nor man, who was created from mud by the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrians venerate fire, so the structure makes sense. It is a symbolic beacon waiting for its flame.<\/p><div>\n    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"noa-web-audio-player\"\n            style=\"border: none\"\n            src=\"https:\/\/embed-player.newsoveraudio.com\/v4?key=n0e13g&#038;id=https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death&#038;bgColor=F3F3F3&#038;color=6D6D6D&#038;progressBgColor=F7F7F7&#038;progressBorderColor=6D6D6D&#038;playColor=F3F3F3&#038;titleColor=383D3D&#038;timeColor=6D6D6D&#038;speedColor=6D6D6D&#038;noaLinkColor=6D6D6D&#038;noaLinkHighlightColor=039BE5\"\n            width=\"100%\" height=\"110px\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><p>Not far away, past crumbling graves and cairns of mud bricks stacked in sevens \u2014 an auspicious number in the comparatively recent religion of Islam \u2014 stands another monument, a ruined mausoleum. Its roof long ago collapsed, and only three slumped walls remain. According to tradition, one brick falls from it every year. It is dedicated to Khalif Erejep, a medieval Sufi saint, but pious Muslims believe it is built on top of Adam\u2019s grave, a cosmological rival to the tomb of Gay\u014dmart.<\/p><p>The mausoleum itself, meanwhile, is known as the Apocalypse Clock. When its last brick falls, the end of the world will come.<\/p><p>Pilgrims in their thousands bring bricks to pile around the walls of this sprawling necropolis in the west of Uzbekistan, a superstitious hack to forestall the end of days. Eschatological themes \u2014 creation and apocalypse, the beginning and the end \u2014 run through this city of the dead, and through the region in which it lies. A hundred miles to the north is the site of one of the modern world\u2019s worst ecocides. I have come to Uzbekistan to visit a vanished sea.<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-custom-separator-continuous-line\"\/><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--full_width_alt  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n              <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1698\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=dcd8cae4a5b900d8fb2649311168a7fa\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=199&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=300&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=b0d3d10e8af534253e233bb1b4383d15 300w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=crop&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=512&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1024&amp;wpsize=noema-social-twitter&amp;s=b34bf171e5efa306a55fbc32000fef8a 1024w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=509&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=fea0c0329f13be97ab707b7a3c745ad3 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=796&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=eb2baddf5c0b08d92109e4ea679a25bd 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1019&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1536&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=3b3c95a0ad70ed092e2ad3ba13ef7fd3 1536w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1358&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=2048&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=58cd61df1dcb61cbea2ed2a2542fe5c6 2048w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1313&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=7fdd1af88af1af33b5dc97e362129cdd 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=398&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=66eb15362de37d8e38fa97bc23784d88 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_002-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=dcd8cae4a5b900d8fb2649311168a7fa 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>The Mizdakhan necropolis, with the mausoleum dedicated Khalif Erejep in the center.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--double_image  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n            <div class=\"\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2069\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=460ee2295be9c562744f2266c07ad437\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=828&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=e9cbe36dbcc879665400a2a7c86591ce 828w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=950&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=70ec439959ed2e18b73139dfd56ce6b3 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1485&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=e7612e9bd5c5a151c7b19c01af395396 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2450&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=6df229231d7d486d7a305da0d1e87728 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=742&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=bce49cddd6a9d88be285cbb4139c55bb 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_005-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=460ee2295be9c562744f2266c07ad437 2069w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2069px) 100vw, 2069px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n          <!-- Secondary image. Only for 'Double Image' option -->\n      <div class=\"content-image__secondary-wrapper\">\n\n        <!-- <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\"> -->\n        <div class=\"\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2069\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=8dc7fb2d394e2c0d56f7cb8fbe541388\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=828&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=b99fc73accc528e23b49cdb6a8d07dbf 828w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=950&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=a3c8c9de2736009747d3242b8941e2c4 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1485&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=a0c3abc8e82ff5caca72de9d35094117 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2450&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=ec778ce8ba80d5abbfdb6dbfbe3afadb 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=742&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=f0a5082425931ba76e760c1d9c0d847f 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_015-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=8dc7fb2d394e2c0d56f7cb8fbe541388 2069w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2069px) 100vw, 2069px\" \/>          <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>The wooden edifice above Gay\u014dmart\u2019s tomb.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"content-image__secondary-caption\">\n            \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>The ruins of Gyaur-Kala, also called \u201cFortress of the Infidels.\u201d<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n          <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>My journey started far from here, in the ancient city of Samarkand. I landed shortly after dawn and walked toward its center. The famous madrassas with their minarets and blue-tiled domes, UNESCO World Heritage sites that draw tourists from around the world, were hidden by Soviet tenement blocks, gaudy shopping malls and urban sprawl. It wasn\u2019t quite the Silk Road oasis I had been expecting. But underneath a pink sky, a more mysterious sight emerged. The highway from the airport passed a barren area seemingly stranded by development: curiously eroded hills grazed by skinny sheep. I assumed it was pastureland or else a vast demolition zone, but it turned out to be the ruin of an even older settlement.<\/p><p>The site, Afrasiyab, dates back at least 2,500 years. Within canyons of cracked dirt, which hint at vanished walls and streets, are layers of archaeology almost 40 feet deep. Murals discovered in the 1960s show opulent processions and feasts; camels, swans and elephants; ambassadors arriving from courts as distant as China and Tibet. Inhabited by the Sogdians, an Eastern Iranian merchant culture, and situated roughly midway between Beijing and Rome, the fortunes of this thriving city rested upon trade. In 1220, the invading Mongols wiped it off the map.<\/p><p>Even by the standards of Genghis Khan, the destruction was impressive. Almost every trace of the city\u2019s existence was erased. Samarkand grew rich again \u2014 in the 14th and 15th centuries, it was one of Central Asia\u2019s wealthiest centers, a magnet for scholars and artisans from across the world \u2014 but the ruins of the earlier city were left alone. Its mud-brick walls crumbled back into the land. Subsequent inhabitants never built upon the rubble. The modern suburbs that have crept around it only emphasize its void; it stands preserved as an architectural <em>memento mori<\/em>.<\/p><p>Much of Uzbekistan, I saw as I traveled on, is littered with the remains of vanished civilizations. From Samarkand, my route led west for 500 miles by train, from the country\u2019s more fertile east to the vast, arid region of Karakalpakstan. The track parallelled the Amu Darya, the river that divides two forbidding deserts: the Kyzylkum (\u201cRed Sand\u201d) to the north and Turkmenistan\u2019s Karakum (\u201cBlack Sand\u201d) to the south. There was nothing red or black in the vastness I could see, nothing but low, wind-sculpted dunes stretching on and on. But then in the distance a grey silhouette appeared, a kind of flat-topped mountain with symmetrically sloping sides. Even from afar it was clearly not natural. After watching it for a while \u2014 the only thing to focus on in the horizontal endlessness \u2014 I recognized it as Chilpik Kala.<\/p><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--full_width_alt  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n              <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2081\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=a4f5c57e6de4c5c1926088cf81b14c68\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=244&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=300&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=8d9802d146751da516fd00f85797a0bf 300w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=crop&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=512&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1024&amp;wpsize=noema-social-twitter&amp;s=1b377f1c6e250548a68ff853f1c50534 1024w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=624&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=667cbeebc640a436eb7eff8dc153a80c 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=975&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=0d4e815ffba9edcef9aeb2c3d55f8663 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1249&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1536&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=23cfe859c790d9817a4ad56e10b24b2e 1536w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1665&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=2048&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=ca1aca32ae0ce714f309f5ba55baec53 2048w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1610&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=66796e2d2ebae3612db68b27b9b4a446 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=488&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=dca28a618930cea83243f495551a7729 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_006-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=a4f5c57e6de4c5c1926088cf81b14c68 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>Atop Chilpik Kala.\n<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--double_image  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n            <div class=\"\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2064\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=aa941826e8a7ae3e50039ce63ecc0142\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=242&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=0fc65515d5c7b24209c60eef0f14ac6f 242w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=953&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=76d8094636efc99e1e4da2c760a68b39 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1238&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=e5f13baa9379b8990dff75b483345207 1238w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1651&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=582cda2df8f7d02721ec498d8cf4075f 1651w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1488&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=685a7fce7a3c9606a4c8789d2473616e 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2456&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=67d6195dd3a9d38a083d2acc4091f0f4 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=744&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=f93a2a4faf440028923c05b925aa000d 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_008-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=aa941826e8a7ae3e50039ce63ecc0142 2064w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2064px) 100vw, 2064px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n          <!-- Secondary image. Only for 'Double Image' option -->\n      <div class=\"content-image__secondary-wrapper\">\n\n        <!-- <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\"> -->\n        <div class=\"\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2062\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=47ca90075d7b0edd9d937906693414c5\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=242&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=33a72d0d9b9e1ff4496d024df46495f8 242w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=825&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=9de02548fa9d5f4cbecd07d08adc5029 825w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=953&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=3b567f88c7ce2c02fba2493b464bd94d 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1237&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=f90e56a6735e4fe83af07f836e0dc55d 1237w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1490&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=0a9d5d11c06f8f9ca22e2264bf5ba6d0 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2458&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=797400d3c027cc0a9c48071d012fba8e 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=745&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=c8cb4875db1306f6162523d5ca9bc046 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_013-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=47ca90075d7b0edd9d937906693414c5 2062w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2062px) 100vw, 2062px\" \/>          <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>A cleft in the rock atop Chilpik Kala.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"content-image__secondary-caption\">\n            \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>Saxaul, a large shrub that thrives in the desert, not far from Chilpik Kala.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n          <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>A gargantuan \u201ctower of silence,\u201d Chilpik Kala was a site for the mortuary practice of excarnation. Two millennia ago, bodies were laid on top of it to be picked apart by carrion birds, keeping the decomposing flesh from polluting the sacred elements of earth, water and particularly fire. Before Arab invasions from the west spread Islam across the continent, this region \u2014 ancient Khwarazm \u2014 was a heartland of Zoroastrianism. The Arabs characterized its people as \u201cfire-worshippers.\u201d<\/p><p>Zoroastrians do not <em>worship<\/em> fire \u2014 like Muslims, they recognize one god \u2014 but the sacredness of fire is central to their faith. From Iran to India, where Parsi (Persian) refugees fled from religious persecution, fire temples are dedicated to eternally burning flames fed by priests with sandalwood to ensure they never fade. But the supply of worshippers is less sustainable than wood \u2014 there are fewer than 200,000 in the world today. <\/p><p>Far to the south of Chilpik Kala, across the border in Turkmenistan, is another site that houses an eternal flame. On my map it was marked as \u201cDoor to Hell (Tourist Attraction).\u201d Also known as the &#8220;Shining of Karakum,&#8221; the Darvaza gas crater is a collapsed natural gas field 230 feet wide that has been continuously burning for half a century. Its origin is debated \u2014 some say it was caused by a drilling accident, others that the pit formed naturally \u2014 but it was flared deliberately by engineers in the 1980s to burn off methane escaping into the atmosphere. Since at least 2010, Turkmenistan&#8217;s government has planned to extinguish it, but this will be difficult and expensive; for now it provides a source of income to local tour guides. Visitors take selfies against a bowl of orange flames. A Canadian explorer, descending the crater in 2014 protected by a Kevlar suit, described it as a roaring \u201ccoliseum of fire.\u201d<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-custom-separator-continuous-line\"\/><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--double_image  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n            <div class=\"\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1989\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=8cc4c10fe442156563891e909885f7c2\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=233&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=6a577443e3fedf6a910f11fe8650b46d 233w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=796&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=444f0a7f3ba1cf421f53d3c9a67ce34e 796w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=988&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=08ed1a1a381b59fd1350081aca536e12 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1193&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=3b321d3ad17b8c6243b44cfd58ef28fc 1193w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1591&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=982712019a1c36c94f2216110a1e9959 1591w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1544&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=be18943553c72b25f32dc1b4139ccf5d 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2548&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=59f520d307f01383c3039f8951f38920 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=772&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=312cf797961b7dae3522b878cc4a02cf 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/TismAL2o-noema_hr_009-copy-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=8cc4c10fe442156563891e909885f7c2 1989w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1989px) 100vw, 1989px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n          <!-- Secondary image. Only for 'Double Image' option -->\n      <div class=\"content-image__secondary-wrapper\">\n\n        <!-- <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\"> -->\n        <div class=\"\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1989\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=652e48759737dccb907dcad849a4f942\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=233&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=33691582037dbb3768d9f7f08f52ae95 233w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=796&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=3314501ade048750dd246a89e348e5a4 796w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=988&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=82965d9e70de4935b7bc8e9869e1ab31 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1193&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=23e18f503f0dddf7a3e4e723e9a3bcf3 1193w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1591&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=b72a8e66e57158e136f7ba1b13a107eb 1591w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1544&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=0cd9d9b5a1c7d9d55773dc649e8f8d8c 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2548&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=da1fcf2a31166511e2c8b926cfa93c10 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=772&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=6a6d80ad2a65d9a2f0e67e09664de283 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_010-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=652e48759737dccb907dcad849a4f942 1989w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1989px) 100vw, 1989px\" \/>          <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>In Nukus.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>My 12-hour train ride ended at Nukus, Karakalpakstan\u2019s capital, a down-at-heel industrial city structured on the principles of Soviet linearity. One of the places I visited first was the state history museum. Among dusty relics of the cultures of ancient Khwarazm were melancholy displays of the region\u2019s vanished animal life: dead-eyed foxes, snarling wolves and the strange, trunk-faced antelope \u2014 once widespread, now endangered \u2014 known as the saiga. Saddest of all was the \u201clast Turan tiger,\u201d killed in 1949 on the banks of the Amu Darya, its face displaying an expression of pure madness. Officially, the Turanian or Caspian tiger is extinct, but they once roamed from eastern Turkey to western China.<\/p><p>What most drew my attention was a dusty diorama. Draped with nets, a wooden boat was beached inside a cabinet. Behind it was a painted sky teeming with painted gulls. A bunch of taxidermied fish had been strewn around its hull. The sign upon the case simply read \u201cARAL.\u201d<br><br>Until the 1960s, the Aral was the world\u2019s fourth-largest inland body of water, covering an area of around 26,300 square miles. Its Uzbek name, Orol Dengizi, meant \u201cSea of Islands.\u201d In the space of the last six decades it has shrunk to a tenth of its former size, one of the worst ecological disasters in history. Technically an endorheic lake, a body of water with no natural outlet, its existence was dependent on the inflow of two rivers: the Amu Darya and, farther to the north, the Syr Darya. Under Soviet mismanagement, both rivers were diverted into arid steppe to irrigate booming cotton farms \u2014 \u201cwhite gold.\u201d The planners knew what was happening but considered the loss worthwhile; the Aral became what ecologists term a \u201csacrifice zone.\u201d As the shoreline receded year by year, the water\u2019s salt content increased, causing a mass die-off of aquatic species. Soon the Amu Darya no longer reached the shore. This astonishingly quick decline was charted by satellite images that show, frame by frame, the ragged coastline becoming desert, islands turning into peninsulas, landmasses merging, brown and yellow replacing blue. In the final frame, all that remains are a few disconnected pools.<\/p><p>The exposed seabed, bleached to a ghostly white, has become the Aralkum, the world\u2019s youngest desert. Its surface is littered with millions of tiny shells. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20160915-the-aralkum-deserts-ghostly-fishing-fleet\">Rusting trawlers<\/a> beached on dunes of pale sand, once part of a thriving fishing fleet, have become iconic \u2014 and Instagrammable \u2014 symbols of collapse, the eerie centerpiece of a post-apocalyptic tourist industry. Four-wheel-drive vehicles ferry visitors from Nukus to Muynak, once a busy industrial port, to view these graffitied \u201cships of the desert,\u201d and from there to the nearest seacoast, now a journey of many hours on bone-shaking dirt roads. There you can stay in a yurt camp overlooking the dying sea, little more than a narrow lake stretching north into Kazakhstan.<br><br>My journey to the sacrifice zone followed the same itinerary. The other passenger on the tour was a software designer from London named Steve. To a soundtrack of blaring Uzbek pop, in a battered SUV driven by a gold-toothed man named Kolya, we ascended to the Ustyurt Plateau, a vast, elevated shelf of desert once roamed by Kazakh nomads, the eastern edge of which used to be the Aral\u2019s sea cliffs. The scale of what we saw from there was impossible to comprehend: a living ecosystem now dead, a sea replaced by desert.<\/p><p>What remained of the South Aral was visible from the yurt camp, a panoramic view over eerily still water. The unreal mirror of its surface captured the changes of the sky as it slid from dawn to dusk, from blue to blood orange. Each morning started with a ritual: The 30 or so tourists who had come here on their separate tours \u2014 Canadians, Japanese, Spanish, Russians \u2014 were roused from sleeping in their yurts to watch the sun rise over the sea, which produced a light effect I had never seen anywhere before, a reflection like a bar of gold, perfectly vertical, that split the body of the water into scintillating halves. The desert glowed Martian red; the water ran with blood and flames; the half-asleep spectators took pictures on their phones. It occurred to me that this was another form of fire worship \u2014 a ball of flame, symbolizing life, rising over the ebb tide of something dying.<\/p><p>Down by the waterline, the sense of death was magnified by a stench like a decomposing body. While Kolya smoked his cigarettes, I trudged ankle-deep through grey, stinking mud to bathe; the water felt viscous, as slick as glycerine. Its high level of salinity makes it similar to the Dead Sea, so swimming is nearly impossible; Steve and I bobbed comically on a kind of liquid mattress. It turned out we were not alone. Surrounding us were squiggling crustaceans, later identified as <em>Artemia<\/em> or brine shrimp, a species of extremophile that finds its evolutionary niche in places that are otherwise inimical to animal life.&nbsp;<\/p><p>Better known as \u201csea monkeys,\u201d these shrimp have <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/food\/tiny-shrimp-lifeline-for-communities-uzbek-aral-sea\/\">provided<\/a> the children of the last Aral fishermen with a new way to make a living on the sea\u2019s retreating shores: harvesting dormant <em>Artemia <\/em>cysts to be sold as fish food. In 1960s America, they were marketed as Instant Life, magically reanimating when added to water. When the wheels of our Toyota sunk in soft sand, a group of brine shrimp harvesters appeared from nowhere to help dig out the tires. Later we saw them speeding across the dried-out seabed in a repurposed Soviet military vehicle, scarves wrapped around their faces, trailing a cloud of white dust \u2014 a post-apocalyptic vision straight out of \u201cMad Max.\u201d<\/p><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--full_width_alt  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n              <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1698\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=71ed06f8867a89c2b80a0958c159413a\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=199&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=300&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=1d5607106af9b0447fa3d9069795948b 300w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=crop&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=512&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1024&amp;wpsize=noema-social-twitter&amp;s=3da5afaf3d93a9c7a462994f367e347c 1024w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=509&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=521167ef9e0fdf9b8539ee652d027481 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=796&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=b80595a67748e6c08135cb06be7f0a81 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1019&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1536&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=dab878e2dced3d45133981a7309a2d26 1536w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1358&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=2048&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=143782423161d0f723fb11cb74d2764d 2048w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1313&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=4945034037fc979a176d5423f3298e89 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=398&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=fa9898735c60a469c8b799ad47d1c38f 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_011-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=71ed06f8867a89c2b80a0958c159413a 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>The desert near Gyaur-Kala.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>The term \u201cpost-apocalyptic\u201d is commonly applied to the Aral, and the label is hard to disagree with. The disappearance of the sea has made the summers hotter and drier and the winters colder, and for years the wider region has been wracked by drought. Maelstroms of dust laced with carcinogenic pesticides and other toxic residue are lifted by the wind into the atmosphere, millions of metric tons of it a year. Until 1992, an island called Vozrozhdeniya was used to develop biological weapons, including bubonic plague and anthrax \u2014 which, like <em>Artemia<\/em> cysts, can lie dormant for decades. Exposure to the chemicals can cause a quick and painful death; an anthrax outbreak was the possible cause of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20170926-the-deadly-germ-warfare-island-abandoned-by-the-soviets\">incident<\/a> in 1988 in which 50,000 saiga died within an hour. The ex-island, landlocked now in the western part of the Aralkum, has since been partly decontaminated, but its poisons are suspected to have seeped into the soil. The Karakalpak population suffers from high rates of cancer, anemia and respiratory disease, a legacy of decades of polluted fallout. With the loss of tens of thousands of jobs from the collapsed fishing industry, the region is among the poorest in Uzbekistan.<\/p><p>The tiny crustacean bodies wriggling in the brine are a clear example that if the apocalypse has come, life has managed to carry on. The brine shrimp harvesters have adapted to another form of fishing. Now their vehicles plow the seabed that their ancestors once sailed above \u2014 from a distance, they could be trawlers on a mirror sea. Paying to see the site of an ecological catastrophe has been criticized by some as voyeuristic, but so-called \u201clast chance\u201d or \u201cdark\u201d tourism has enabled many locals to continue living here, running yurt camps and hotels and acting as guides for foreigners.\n          <div class=\"eos-subscribe-push\">\n            \n            <a target=\"https:\/\/shop.noemamag.com\/?utm_source=MiddleCTA&utm_medium=website\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.noemamag.com\/?utm_source=MiddleCTA&utm_medium=website\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">Read Noema in print.<\/a>\n            \n          <\/div>\n        <\/p><p>A hardy, woody shrub called saxaul is another form of new life. Saxaul thrives in arid, saline environments, and it can grow to the height of a small tree. Its roots fix sandy soil in place; a fully grown plant can stabilize four metric tons of it or more. The government of Uzbekistan is planting it everywhere it can, and the bleached white of the desert is turning green. The endangered saiga have adapted too, using the seabed as a corridor to migrate from Kazakhstan. A herd of around 200 grazes on Vozrozhdeniya, which translates as \u201crebirth\u201d or \u201cresurrection\u201d; despite the toxins in its soil, the former bioweapons base is now a protected nature reserve.<\/p><p>And across the border, there is even hope for the North Aral. Unlike the inexorably shrinking lake that Steve and I experienced, the Kazakh remnant of the sea is, incredibly, <a href=\"https:\/\/astanatimes.com\/2025\/01\/water-volume-in-northern-aral-sea-surges-by-42\/#:~:text=ASTANA%20%E2%80%93%20The%20volume%20of%20water,the%20public%20in%20the%20Aral\">growing<\/a>. With the installation of the eight-mile-long Kokaral Dam, an $86 million project completed in 2005, the Syr Darya once again nourishes the sea; within only a few months, the water level <a href=\"https:\/\/www.columbia.edu\/~tmt2120\/the%20future.htm\">rose<\/a> by almost 12 feet. The sea\u2019s salinity has decreased and mackerel have returned, reviving the local fishing industry. The city of Aralsk, once a port, remains as landlocked as Muynak, but it is possible that the water might one day return there.<br><br>The South Aral, however, will almost certainly be gone in a generation. <\/p><p>On my last morning in the yurt camp, I found myself sharing the sunrise with a Russian woman. The Russians had kept themselves apart, I noticed, from the Western tourists, the war in Ukraine an unmentioned barrier between us. But Irina made it clear that she was against the war. She spoke in broken English and seemed on the verge of tears. \u201cThe war, crazy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe world, crazy. Russia, Ukraine \u2014 brothers.\u201d With two fingers for a gun she mimed shooting herself in the head. And then she turned to the limpid sea reflecting the colors of the sky. \u201cHere, <em>mir<\/em>,\u201d she said \u2014 the Russian word for \u201cpeace.\u201d<\/p><p>The thought that she had found peace in such a desert of death \u2026 I didn\u2019t know what to say. We shook hands rather stiffly before we went back to our groups, but on parting she told me something else: \u201cLife is beautiful, and so short.\u201d<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-custom-separator-continuous-line\"\/><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--full_width_alt  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n              <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1712\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=dd63b622cb5ca200ebe620e962127005\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=201&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=300&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=2fadc2fda981a7f0d1ab83c2a1dc7d60 300w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=crop&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=512&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1024&amp;wpsize=noema-social-twitter&amp;s=14b0004c6791fecaef580d8a2386ccab 1024w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=514&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=36ca61b130a17100997bc96137387906 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=803&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=adae345d4deccbb8d5c07630b8b5dd21 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1027&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1536&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=15a0623747d2afb1acd09178bf91c4cd 1536w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1370&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=2048&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=269aa6ee83b403f2a511c61749c56e35 2048w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1324&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=9fd5019cafbff74938efb4fd63d7e956 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=401&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=89e8656bcad0cb4bee5de0597df5632a 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_014-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=dd63b622cb5ca200ebe620e962127005 2560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>Desert roads not far from Chilpik Kala.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>Steve had another take on the journey back to Nukus. \u201cThis used to be a sea, now it\u2019s hell on earth!\u201d<\/p><p>Kolya had stopped the SUV beside a long wire fence. Shredded plastic waste was scattered among the seashells. A metal tower rose from the sand, a kind of monstrous Bunsen burner roaring with orange flames, a fearsome sight against the blue of the desert sky. Here was another eternal flame, one of many natural gas flares.<\/p><p>At night from the yurt camp I had seen them flickering, distant sparks of light in the otherwise perfect blackness. In another adaptation to the sea\u2019s decline, the exposure of the seabed has enabled a rush for fossil fuels. Under the polluted sand and elsewhere in Karakalpakstan lie an estimated 60 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.7 billion metric tons of oil. The exploitation of these reserves is a government priority, and the Central Asia-Center pipeline, a branch of which runs west of here, is conveniently placed to carry gas to Russia. The pipeline is controlled by Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant, and Russians are the leading investors in oil infrastructure. The water might be gone, but carbon flows. Dozens of potential fields are slated for exploration.<\/p><p>It can\u2019t be a coincidence that an ancient faith that venerates fire took root in a region that is soaked with fossil fuels. Our turbocharged industrial culture venerates fire too \u2014 but rather than symbolizing renewal, our addiction to petrochemicals, in an age of climate breakdown, signifies the opposite. If fire represents both life and death, we have chosen the latter option.<\/p><p>Dust devils swirled around us as we drove south, and small tornados of white sand occasionally spun across the road. Kolya stopped to let them pass with an odd politeness, as if they were other travelers going on their way.<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-custom-separator-continuous-line\"\/><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--double_image  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n            <div class=\"\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1719\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=dc3805c58e6db0e0a3bb26536f658d32\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=201&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=7ab76157b4a7ef2f88860bf8ef87eb34 201w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=688&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=cf77eaa52e67acfd2a420d3762063098 688w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1144&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=c9af3f43b4f1c1591e24c0e24e84fc41 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1031&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=027358ed3ec16f7082458f19c3885c7b 1031w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1375&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=ab6417254a8bf66e7228741478775c61 1375w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1787&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=7a85b643272c1532b89019949f5432d0 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2949&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=c7c881282c4859ec37f442234e564f1e 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=894&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=ad032caa7e84f04f9114160d37d42d0d 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_016-copy-2-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=dc3805c58e6db0e0a3bb26536f658d32 1719w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1719px) 100vw, 1719px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n          <!-- Secondary image. Only for 'Double Image' option -->\n      <div class=\"content-image__secondary-wrapper\">\n\n        <!-- <div class=\"aspect-ratio-wrapper\"> -->\n        <div class=\"\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1719\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=ac487dc1ca52e877606ff90bcf234179\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=201&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=759d5d3540b0d567a9d6c00597cc26d9 201w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=688&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=9e22babebac4788be591ada58378e1a2 688w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1144&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=cd4d61d5124f3f09b56129485b8c47d5 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1031&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=ff4c04ae3d3c4a4dc35cfc66e0c7577d 1031w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1375&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=224787a28835624a5d2cbf495de916f9 1375w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1787&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=88d1237bcee59caeab8aeb60938fcf7e 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2949&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=d973254f5f58e982c8d0e14d53f7fcb0 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=894&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=4f44b7bd57277f6179079bf3bb2ca083 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_004-copy-2-1-scaled.jpeg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=ac487dc1ca52e877606ff90bcf234179 1719w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1719px) 100vw, 1719px\" \/>          <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>Among the ruins of Mizdarkhan.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>The necropolis of Mizdarkhan, 13 miles southwest of Nukus, sprawls over three low hills rising from the yellow steppe. It is the place of the first human and the end of days. My first impression is of an abandoned termite mound. Two thousand years ago, it was very much alive, one of the largest cities in the oasis region of Khwarazm. At some point, the living fled and the dead moved in. It still has an eerie feeling of being occupied; the mausoleums resemble houses, the spaces between them winding streets. Some modern tombs are modeled after yurts with curving ribs of rebar. Propped against walls like ladders are the wooden frames often used to carry corpses to their final resting places. Many of the simpler graves have collapsed into gaping holes \u2014 it feels as if the dead clambered out and went for a walk, wandering like dust devils among the fallen brickwork.<\/p><p>A sign near the entrance gate warns against improper attire, worshipping the tombs, lighting candles or hanging ribbons \u2014 all practices frowned on by Islam. Clearly, older superstitions have not quite gone away. Across a dried salt marsh looms another mud-brick ruin, a site called Gyaur-Kala. The Arabs coined its name: \u201cFortress of the Infidels.\u201d Some guides refer to it as \u201cFortress of the Fire-Worshippers.\u201d<\/p><p>There are other mysteries here. Inside one seven-domed <a href=\"https:\/\/silkadv.com\/en\/content\/shamun-nabi-mausoleum\">mausoleum<\/a> lies a sarcophagus that is more than 80 feet long, like a siloed missile. According to legend, Shamun Nabi, a mystic with superhuman powers, was martyred here by infidels. His tomb was built to cover the length of ground his blood spilled across; either that or, as some believe, he was a giant. In 1966 archaeologists opened the tomb to try to solve the mystery. There was nothing inside it at all.<\/p><p>The highest point of Mizdarkhan is the Jumart Kassab mound, where Gay\u014dmart\u2019s wooden beacon stands against the sky. Jumart Kassab means \u201cButcher\u2019s Hill,\u201d supposedly named in memory of a wealthy benefactor who distributed beef to the poor in times of famine. As always, legends overlap: This might be yet another reflection of the Zoroastrian creation myth, in which Gavaevodata, the primordial ox, was sculpted from the same mud that formed Gay\u014dmart. Whatever the truth behind the tale, the hill was clearly a place of power: Livestock used to be driven around it seven times to ward off disease, and women would roll down it seven times to help them conceive.<\/p><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--fit_content  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n              <div class=\"\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1960\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=a450d9252ea70bca33344746dda4e9f5\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=230&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=6b76070db02fe34688bb3a1c704207fe 230w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=784&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=55262db503b46b990da896c395628374 784w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1003&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=3826bb482d8230b3c49340e11af44ae6 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1176&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=94553f8d5c4fdd0caef54daa673a380a 1176w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1568&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=a7d01b74bfee9177e014450340718c5a 1568w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1567&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=e6190272269e5abc065ddec74116aa30 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2586&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=8f5b5c7670618fafbaa56a3e72633ab3 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=784&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=268cf6688a87cb6bd956e84179c662e5 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_017-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=a450d9252ea70bca33344746dda4e9f5 1960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1960px) 100vw, 1960px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n        <div class=\"content-image__main-caption\">\n          \n      <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n        <div>The ruins of the mausoleum dedicated to Khalif Erejep.<\/div>\n      <\/figcaption>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div><p>Turning my back on creation, I approach the Apocalypse Clock. A woman is keening distantly, her sobs carried on the wind. The half-demolished mausoleum is besieged by pilgrims\u2019 bricks, stacked in untidy sevens. But a group of workmen are making more permanent repairs. One, balanced precariously at the top of a crumbling wall, has laid at least a dozen rows, postponing the end of the world by several centuries. His colleagues, taking a cigarette break, call me over to sit with them. One speaks a little English. He flicks his neck, a Russian gesture that he would like a drink, shrugging fatalistically when I say I have none to offer.<\/p><p>\u201cThe story about the end of the world. Do you believe it?\u201d I ask.<br><br>\u201cMaybe,\u201d Oktur says with a smile. Then he takes out his phone.<\/p><p>First he shows me pictures of his home and his family \u2014 and then a picture of himself holding up a six-foot-long sturgeon. \u201cEighty-seven kilos!\u201d he says proudly. The son of an Aral fisherman, he caught it in the Amu Darya, which appears in photo after photo, fish after fish, still apparently full of life.&nbsp;<\/p><p>Karakalpakstan has witnessed many endings over the millennia. The Aral today is often considered a terminal calamity, an indictment of human hubris. But life finds a way \u2014 from wriggling extremophiles to the saxaul greening its dry bed. Hard to see among the clouds of toxic dust is a picture of remarkable adaptation and regeneration as post-collapse cultures find ways to survive. The mud bricks stacked here day by day, anonymously and patiently, are an expression of hope for the world\u2019s renewal.<\/p><p>Zoroastrianism is considered not only the oldest monotheistic but also the first truly \u201capocalyptic\u201d religion. Somehow, in the fiery lands that stretch from here to Iran, a radical belief was born that the trajectory of the world arced toward a grand collapse; the future was not continuity, but a final dramatic showdown. Judaism, Christianity and Islam traced the same path, and arguably \u2014 in fears of fossil fuel-driven climate apocalypse \u2014 so does the modern industrial culture that grips us now.&nbsp;<\/p><p>Near the Apocalypse Clock is another mausoleum. An inscription on its walls, written in Arabic, uncannily echoes Irina\u2019s words: \u201cLife is beautiful, what a pity it is not eternal.\u201d<\/p><p>In a deep sense, though, it is. The fire is continually renewed. Even now, the end of the world is not the end of the world. I crouch down among the stones and made my own stack of seven.<\/p><!-- Content Image Block Template -->\n<div class=\"\n  content-image\n  content-image--fit_content  \">\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__container\">\n\n    <!-- Main Image -->\n    <div class=\"content-image__main-wrapper\">\n\n              <div class=\"\">\n              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2039\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=796cf2ff5c36004dfe512c55854e03bb\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=300&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=239&amp;wpsize=medium&amp;s=cbc6b91a44bdd5e20ffb04785a7fd3d0 239w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1024&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=816&amp;wpsize=large&amp;s=327b93d3838ae8f933ad90a0b85afb53 816w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=964&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=768&amp;wpsize=medium_large&amp;s=637966f5ed9ef898348fd8db37bea07a 768w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1536&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1223&amp;wpsize=1536x1536&amp;s=49c8d0a71401818bf386b6b05a0d00d0 1223w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2048&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1631&amp;wpsize=2048x2048&amp;s=ebb7ea5b7acf48b4ce0ccf4e83a1dcd8 1631w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1507&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1200&amp;wpsize=post-thumbnail&amp;s=8d710cc88a09902a77c7121e3d59ceec 1200w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=2486&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=1980&amp;wpsize=twentytwenty-fullscreen&amp;s=23e810428e2e887f89c0d1aa210a4629 1980w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=753&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;w=600&amp;wpsize=woocommerce_single&amp;s=b4a83167d9d07a0c8f6470a14d456c9c 600w, https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_018-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&amp;ixlib=php-3.3.1&amp;s=796cf2ff5c36004dfe512c55854e03bb 2039w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2039px) 100vw, 2039px\" \/>        <div class=\"content-image__overlay content-image__overlay-0\">\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n\n      <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"content-image__captions\">\n    \n      <\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n          <div class=\"eos-subscribe-push\">\n          \n            <a target=\"https:\/\/shop.noemamag.com\/?utm_source=BottomCTA&utm_medium=website\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.noemamag.com\/?utm_source=BottomCTA&utm_medium=website\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">Enjoy the read? Subscribe to get the best of Noema.<\/a>\n            \n          <\/div>\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5774,"featured_media":80096,"template":"","wpm-article-type":[4],"wpm-article-topic":[22],"wpm-article-tag":[],"class_list":["post-80095","wpm-article","type-wpm-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","wpm-article-type-feature","wpm-article-topic-climate-crisis"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.0 (Yoast SEO v25.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Signs Of Life In A Desert Of Death - NOEMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the dry and fiery deserts of Central Asia, among the mythical sites of both the first human and the end of all days, I found evidence that life restores itself even on the bleakest edge of ecological apocalypse.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Signs Of Life In A Desert Of Death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the dry and fiery deserts of Central Asia, among the mythical sites of both the first human and the end of all days, I found evidence that life restores itself even on the bleakest edge of ecological apocalypse.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NOEMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NoemaMag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-12T17:27:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_003-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&ixlib=php-3.3.1&s=37180c207375ee2d201a62548e698d1c\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1703\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NoemaMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"17 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/\",\"name\":\"Signs Of Life In A Desert Of Death - NOEMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_003-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&ixlib=php-3.3.1&s=37180c207375ee2d201a62548e698d1c\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-30T16:26:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-12T17:27:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"In the dry and fiery deserts of Central Asia, among the mythical sites of both the first human and the end of all days, I found evidence that life restores itself even on the bleakest edge of ecological apocalypse.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/signs-of-life-in-a-desert-of-death\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_003-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&ixlib=php-3.3.1&s=37180c207375ee2d201a62548e698d1c\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/noemamag.imgix.net\/2025\/01\/noema_hr_003-copy-scaled.jpg?fm=pjpg&ixlib=php-3.3.1&s=37180c207375ee2d201a62548e698d1c\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1703,\"caption\":\"Along the highway near Nukus, the capital of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. 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