Chilpyk Kala, Southern Karakalpakstan

The circular structure of Chilpyk stands on a hilltop about 43 km south of Nukus, near the highway to Urgench. The monument is approximately 65 metres in diameter, and its perimeter walls survive to a height of about 15 metres. There are no clear traces of internal buildings or defensive loopholes. Instead, the interior forms an open clay court paved with dark sandstone. The earliest construction dates from the end of the 1st century BC or the beginning of the 1st century AD.

Numerous fragments of Zoroastrian ossuaries found on the hill slopes support the interpretation of Chilpyk as a dakhma, or tower of silence. In Zoroastrian funerary practice, bodies were exposed before cleaned and sun-dried bones were placed in ceramic ossuaries. After the Arab conquest and the conversion of Khorezm to Islam, Chilpyk acquired a different function. The structure was rebuilt and used as a guard and signal tower overlooking the surrounding routes.