An integrated assessment of landscape evolution, long-term climate variability, and land use in the Amudarya Prisarykamysh delta

We jointly examine the natural history and the land-use history of the Prisarykamysh delta over the last 5000 years. The study area is located in the southern part of the Aral Sea Region in Central Asia and can be described as an anthropogenic desert as well as a land reserve for the development of irrigated agriculture in the lower reaches of the Amudarya river. We compiled a series of landscape– archaeological maps for different periods, including the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages, the Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Age. The maps are based on the analysis of remotely sensed data (both satellite and aerial photography) and on the results of fieldwork conducted by the authors. We suggest that there is a correlation between the timing of irrigation cessation and the current state of landscapes (from heavily salinized solonchaks to clayey takyrs to sandy deserts