Talkhir

Talkhir, known in medieval sources as Talhiz, stood at the mouth of the Talgar gorge on the northern slopes of the Tian Shan. Its walls enclosed houses, workshops and streets beside the river. Merchants and craftsmen connected the town with the wider Silk Roads: imported objects found here came from lands as distant as China, Iran and India.

A tenth-century Persian geographical work named Talhiz among the towns of the region. Excavated houses reveal the organisation of urban households, with rooms and working areas arranged along streets within the settlement. The town continued into the Mongol period, when the routes through the Ili country carried travellers and goods between the steppe and the cities farther east. Its ruined walls preserve the outline of a once busy foothill centre.