UNESCO WHS from Kazakhstan

May was a good month when it comes to cards from new UNESCO sites. I've got great cards, some of them from not so common countries. These two are from Kazakhstan, from where I only had one site. Both cards were sent by Adil. On the Western Tien-Shen card he used a postcrossing stamp :)

Western Tien-Shen was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2016 and the Petroglyphs of the Archaeological Landscape of Tanbaly in 2004.

Photos: 2021 «Qazaqstan 30»

From the fields of wildflowers at lower altitudes to dramatic craggy peaks of winter snow, Kazakhstan's heavenly Western Tien-Shan mountains are some of the most biologically diverse and prosperous regions of the world. Three protected areas make up the World Heritage Site - Karatau Nature Reserve, Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve, and Sairam-Ugam National Park. Together they offer a haven for endemic rare and endangered species. It was also here that some of the first fruits were domesticated centuries ago before spreading out across the world on the trading routes of the Great Silk Road. - in: https://visitworldheritage.com

 

 Photos: 2021 «Qazaqstan 30»

Set around the lush Tanbaly Gorge, amidst the vast, arid Chu-Ili mountains, is a remarkable concentration of some 5,000 petroglyphs (rock carvings) dating from the second half of the second millennium BC to the beginning of the 20th century. Distributed among 48 complexes with associated settlements and burial grounds, they are testimonies to the husbandry, social organization and rituals of pastoral peoples. Human settlements in the site are often multilayered and show occupation through the ages. A huge number of ancient tombs are also to be found including stone enclosures with boxes and cists (middle and late Bronze Age), and mounds (kurgans) of stone and earth (early Iron Age to the present). The central canyon contains the densest concentration of engravings and what are believed to be altars, suggesting that these places were used for sacrificial offerings. - in: https://whc.unesco.org