Kyzyl Kala, Southern Karakalpakstan

Kyzyl Kala stands about two kilometres west of Toprak Kala. The compact fortress measures approximately 65 by 63 metres. Its lower layers date from the 1st–2nd centuries AD, indicating that it was founded while the royal city of Toprak Kala was being developed and was closely connected with it.

Square towers reinforce the northwestern and southwestern sides. The southeastern tower contained the entrance, approached by a ramp running along the wall. The walls rise to around 16 metres. A second inner wall parallels the outer circuit, separated by a corridor about two metres wide, while the upper exterior wall carries two tiers of arrow loopholes.

Some upper rooms had painted walls, and a network of vaulted chambers occupied the foundation platform. Kyzyl Kala functioned actively from the 1st to the 4th centuries before abandonment. In the 12th and early 13th centuries, under the Khorezmshahs, it was restored as a frontier garrison. Its original role may have been a guard post for Toprak Kala or the castle of a Khorezmian noble.