The expansive ruins of Sauran have been only partly dug out but the excavations have already revealed a sophisticated system of underwater canals that kept this oasis thriving. There has also been some restorative work done, clarifying the lay out of this Medieval city.

It seems that the city with the name of Sauran changed its location on several occasions due to the changing course of the Syr Darya, that was the city’s for water source. Sauran has been mentioned in texts since the 10th century, but this location seems to have been inhabited only from the 13-14th centuries all the way until the 18th century.

It was one of only a few cities of Central Asia that survived the Mongol onslaught. The city administrators must have learned their lesson from nearby Otrar, which taunted the Mongols and was subsequently razed to the ground, with all inhabitants killed. Later Sauran even became the the capital of the Mongol White Horde, and later, a military fortress under Tamerlane and the capital of the Kazakh Khanate.

In the end, people gradually abandoned it, probably because of a lack of water and the nearby Turkistan gained in importance instead.

The walls itself are still many meters high in some places but crumbling in several locations but still provide shade from the strong sun and sometimes from the temperatures rising above +40C.