The Ukok high land

UKOK – an object on UNESCO’s Natural World Heritage List

Ukok Plateau is situated at the very South of the Altai Republic at the border crossing of the four major States of Asia: Russia, Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia.  The plateau lies at high altitudes, and its climate is distinguished by exceptional severity.  But since ancient times, the beauty and difficulty of accessibility of Ukok, and its openness in all directions, have lifted it to a place of religious worship of the forces of Heaven and Earth, in a region of intense cultural interaction of the Eurasian ethnos: Indo-European, Mongolian, Turkic, and Chinese.  It is no wonder that Ukok is called the “Alter of Eurasia.” 

On the North, Ukok is bordered by Ukok Ridge with an altitude of 3157-3244 meters (in the center of which is Bertekskaya Basin, located at a height of over 2100 meters).  The territory of Ukok is covered with a large number of lakes, swamps, and rivers and streams flowing from the glaciers.  The plateau is completely clear of forest.  Its main river, the Ak-Alakha, forms intricate loops and dry channels in the central part of Bertekskaya Basin.  The plateau is framed on the South by the majestic mountain mass Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola (“the Five Sacred Peaks”).  The highest mountain in the ridge is Nairamdal, which at a height of 4374 meters, is the second-highest point in Siberia, after Belukha.  The ice caps of Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola are the largest in Altai, and feed the major rivers of the region: The Katun’, Khovd, and Irtysh.  This is the divide between the watersheds of the Northern Arctic Ocean river basins and the rivers forming the vast land-locked basins of Central Asia.  Topped with icy caps and keeping watch in all directions, the Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola Ridge symbolizes the center of the Eurasian continent—its geographical and cultural heart. 

Ukok is rich with both plant and animal life.  Of the species listed in the Red Book alone, 16 types of plants (including gold root and red root) and 40 types of animals and birds (including the snow leopard, the argali mountain goat, Pallas’ cat, the black stork, mountain goose, and steppe eagle) can be found on Ukok Plateau.  Thanks to its remarkable natural wealth, Ukok was included in UNESCO’s Natural World Heritage List in 1998 as part of the “Golden Mountains of Altai.” 

Sensational archeological discoveries in Bertekskaya Basin were made in the 90s.  Burials from the Afanasevo (3000-2000 BCE), Gunno-Sarmatian (first century CE), and ancient Turkic cultures were uncovered here.  But the excavations of kurgans from the Scythian period brought the most unexpected results.  Scholars had the opportunity to study a tangible discovery from the early Iron Age (from the sixth to first centuries BCE)—a culture which received the name, “Pazyrykskaya” after Pazyryk Hole in the Ukok region of the Altai Republic.  The whole world heard about the Novosibirsk archeologists’ discovery of the grave of the so-called “Ukok Princess” (or “Ice Princess”), which allowed the reconstruction of the physical appearance, and details of dress, way of life, and cultural ideas of the Pazyryks.  The world was again reminded of Altai’s connection in ancient times with the trade and cultural ties between all of the major centers of those times.  There are many hundreds of such burials, ritual complexes, stone formations and petroglyphs (rock paintings) on Ukok.  The large majority of them remain unstudied, and no one can say what other staggering scientific discoveries archeologists, botanists, geographers, physicists, glaciologists, and paleontologists will make here.  

It is not an overstatement to say that Ukok is the greatest natural and cultural treasure trove of the Eurasian peoples, of whose wealth, only a tenth has been discovered; and which requires special care and protection.  Therefore, it is of utmost necessity to guard the plateau from ruinous anthro-technical influences.  Any incursion of the fragile high-altitude ecosystem would incur large-scale consequences.  Even under small temperature changes, the frozen subsoil begins to thaw, leading to the loss of precious cultural artifacts.  The thin layer of fertile soil, which supports the life of plantations of Ukok gold root and other relict vegetation, can be irreversibly damaged by the tracks of an off-road vehicle.  Human voices have forced the snow leopard to change dens forever; and the noise of motors has driven Red Book birds from their nests. 

But the greatest danger was presented long ago by lobbyists for the construction of an “Altai” gas main and roads through the Kanas Pass to China. The realization of these projects would lead to irreversible environmental damage on Ukok and the loss of its status as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage zone.  Therefore, the Altai community and all of Russia are conducting a tireless fight against the projects.  The community’s position is strengthened by the completely obvious alternatives  to the project.