The Karatau Mountains are located in southern Kazakhstan just north of the Syrdaria River, and they display a unique geomorphology. The name Karatau means Black Mountain in the Kazakh language. The mountains, aside from housing a varied geology, contain numerous stone archaeological sites that represent the many stages of cultural evolution from the early Paleolithic Age (1 million BP) to the Neolithic Age (6500 BP)[1].
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 24th, 1998 in the Cultural category[2].