PLAYED IN DAILY #5
Issyk-Kul
River, lake and ice · Tian Shan mountains, Kyrgyzstan
THE STORY
A high saline lake that rarely freezes
Issyk-Kul is an endorheic saline lake at 1,607 m in the Tian Shan mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan. Reaching 668 m deep, it is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, and its salinity means it rarely freezes despite cold winters. The lake is a Ramsar site and part of the Issyk-Kul Biosphere Reserve.
Source: Wikipedia ↗An early Black Death site with a sunken town
A 2022 genetic study of burials in two cemeteries near Issyk-Kul found the Black Death there in 1338 or 1339, eight years before it devastated Eurasia. On the lake's northwest shore, the settlement of Toru-Aygyr, founded in the 13th century, was submerged into the lake by earthquakes in the 15th century.
Source: Wikipedia ↗