After four years' work, a joint team of Japanese and Mongolian
archaeologists announced on October 4 that they had found what they
believe to be the true mausoleum of Genghis Khan
(1162-1227).??
The ruins, dated to between the 13th and 15th century, were
found at Avraga, around 250 kilometers east of Ulan Bator, the
capital of the People's Republic of Mongolia. Team members said
that they expect the discovery to provide clues to the whereabouts
of the khan's actual burial site, which they believe may be within
12 kilometers of the mausoleum.
There is a preexisting mausoleum in China's
Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, rebuilt by the government in 1954.
Most historians agree that Genghis Khan died in 1227 when going out
to battle in the Liupan Mountains in today's
Ningxia
Hui Autonomous Region, but they do not agree on where he was
buried.
The Chinese mausoleum is located on the vast Ordos Plateau, 30
kilometers south of Ejin Horo Banner. It comprises four palaces
covering an area of over 50,000 square meters. Two huge flagpoles
decorated with nine galloping steeds stand aloft before the
26-meter-high main palace, symbolizing the Mongol's prosperity and
happiness. There is a tomb here, but it only contains the khan's
personal effects and not his actual remains.
Liu Zhaohe, director of the Cultural Relics Bureau in Inner
Mongolia, insists that what the Japanese-Mongolian team found are
palace ruins, and according to nomadic people's funeral customs,
the khan would not be buried either within or near his palaces.
Liu said that in 2001 a US-Mongolian expedition also announced
it had discovered the khan's burial place on a hillside northeast
of Ulan Bator.
He added that Genghis Khan left testament for his burial place
to be kept secret, and all the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty
(1279-1368) followed suit. So far not a single Yuan Dynasty
emperor's tomb has ever been found.
Because of the secrecy, the subject has always been the cause of
controversy and speculation; that his warriors looted large amounts
of treasure while sweeping across Eurasia adds another incentive to
discover its location.
Legend says that the surface of his tomb was trodden smooth by tens
of thousands of horses before being planted with trees. The 800
soldiers and over 1,000 laborers who built the grave are said to
have been killed to prevent anyone passing on its whereabouts.
Over the past decades teams from many countries, including
Hungary, Poland, the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, France,
Canada, Russia, Turkey and South Korea, have invested heavily in
seeking it.
Qi Zhongyi, a 34th generation descendant of Genghis Khan, is
adamant that the mausoleum in China is the sacred place as far as
Mongols are concerned, and disapproves of attempts to find his
final resting place.
Displaying a portrait of the khan's family that was acquired when
his coffin was opened during a grand memorial ceremony in 1954, Qi
said: "For generations Genghis Khan's exact burial place has
remained a mystery. We should not go against our ancestor's behests
to try to unveil it."
According to Shamanist beliefs, Mongolian people worshiped the
soul of the deceased, not their remains, said Qi. Historical
records say the white camel hair, to which the khan's soul was
believed to adhere, was buried in the mausoleum on the Ordos
Plateau.
Memorial ceremony is held in the mausoleum four times each year.
"For hundreds of years, people have come here to pay their
respects. So attempts to find his tomb is both unnecessary and
meaningless," Qi said.
Mongolian President Nachagyn Bagabandy once said while visiting
China that it's not important where Genghis Khan was buried and
that we should respect his wish to keep his burial site a
secret.
(China.org.cn by Shao Da, November 26, 2004)
