MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORT AND TOURISM OF MONGOLIA
MONGOLIAN NATIONAL
ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
General plan and the main theme of the exhibition
Ulaanbaatar
2013
Translation from Mongolian
MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORT AND TOURISM OF MONGOLIA
MONGOLIAN NATIONAL ARCHEOLOGICAL
MUSEUM
General plan and the main theme of the exhibition
CH. AMARTUVHSIN (Ph.D)
Institute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy
of Science
G. EREGZEN (Ph.D)
Institute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy
of Science
B. DAVAATSEREN
Specialist at the Ministry of Culture, Sport and
Tourism
Ulaanbaatar
2013
2
Translation from Mongolian
CONTENT
I. BACKGROUND STUDY
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1.1. Current situation and future trends of Mongolian Archaeological study
1.2. Protection of archaeological discoveries and current issues
1.3. Opportunities to transform archaeological findings to a public good
1.4. Demand and the importance of archaeological museum
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10
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II. PLANNED DESIGN, STRUCTURE, SELECTION OF LOCATION OF
THE MUSEUM
2.1. General design of the museum building
2.2. General structure of museum
2.3. Selection of the location of the museum and environmental issues
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III. GENERAL PLAN AND THEME OF THE EXHIBITIONS
3.1. General theme of the exhibitions
3.2. General plan of the museum halls
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18-54
Translation from Mongolian
BACKGROUND STUDY
Mongolia is the home country of the nomadic people who settled their empire since the
ancient time and those who once contributed to the culture and the civilization of the
humanity. Therefore, in Mongolia, thousands of heritages, that show the trials of the primeval
people and the cultures of the primeval states, exist. The study of such heritage is called the
archaeology.
Archaeological studies of Mongolian heritages started from the second half of the 19th
century. Scientists and tourists from Russia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark have travelled
through Mongolia and marked Mongolian heritages, consequently brought them to the world
audiences. In 1920s expeditions to discover Mongolian ancient heritages started to explore
those sites. These research teams were: Kozlow’s expedition of Russian academy of Science
to excavate the Noyon mountain, Andrews’ expedition which was financed by the American
Museum of Natural History. These expeditions conducted various excavations at the
historical sites of Mongolia and discovered and excavated many rare findings that attracted
the world audience.
Unfortunately, as these expeditions had become the way to lose the ancient heritage,
government of Mongolia established the registration office of the ancient heritages beside the
Institute of Scripture and initiated the registration and the documentation of the
archaeological findings. Furthermore, it prohibited the operation of foreign expeditions in
Mongolia and promoted the local expeditions to study the archaeological heritages. In 1927,
expedition leaded by scientist and the member of staff at the Institute of the Scripture,
A.D.Simukov, who is called Shar Damdinjav, started the excavation of the Noyon mountain.
However, due to the lack of researchers to study the findings, expedition did not succeed
even though the excavation of the site was successful. As a result of the efforts made by
Mongolian government to prepare own archaeologist at the end of 1940s, in the middle of
1950s, first local archaeologist were able to conduct their studies. The first archaeologists
made significant contributions to the archaeological studies of Mongolia and defined the
“General trends of Mongolian ancient history”. However, there was countless number of
archaeological sites in the vast land of Mongolia and the limited number of archaeologists.
Thus, joint expeditions with former socialist countries such as the Soviet Union, Hungary and
Czech used to be conducted. In 1990, joint projects with the socialist countries were
completely discontinued when the socialist regime collapsed.
After the transformation of Mongolia to the market system, the government was unable to
support the archaeological researches due to the lack of financial resources and only few
scientists were able to continue their studies with the aid of third countries. During the
socialist regime, Mongolia was a closed country to the foreign countries and this closeness
secured the researches and result of the ancient studies at some degree. Therefore, many
foreign scientists, archaeologist and amateurs started to visit Mongolia because international
researchers were looking forward to the opportunity to study the Mongolia as it was the home
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Translation from Mongolian
to the nomadic generations. This opened the opportunity for Mongolian archaeologists to
carry out their research with their financial assistances. Furthermore, this had partially
resolved the financial issues of Mongolian archaeological sector and presented an opportunity
to further develop.
Since 1990, hundreds of researcher from more than 20 countries, such as the United States of
America, France, Germany, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, and Peoples Republic of
China, visited Mongolia and conducted number of joint expeditions of explorations and
excavations. As a result, large numbers of archaeological sites were opened and heritages,
which were not imagined before, were discovered. It has given the opportunity to write the
Mongolian history from different angles which has to be credited to the joint researches
conducted during the past 20 years.
There has been no financial support from the government in the archaeological researches.
However, the Mongolian academy of science, Institute of Archaeology, National museums,
some universities and institutes have conducted archaeological researches only with the
financial assistances of foreign professional organisations, foundations, and the private
researchers. Even though these efforts have brought the sector step forward, preservation of
heritages and findings, research laboratory and related issues to be developed further were
left behind. Funding for the joint expeditions with the foreign researchers is usually used for
researches only, thus the restorations and preservations of the heritages are usually
experiencing the lack of funding.
As mentioned above, Mongolian archaeological studies have been conducted by the Institute
of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Science, universities and institutes. Large
number of heritages and findings were accumulated without any proper preservation
facilities, restoration laboratories on site and off site, however, the most of the findings were
not treated with any initial restoration and preservation works such as strengthening.
Therefore they are facing severe damages which in the future cannot be restored and even
perish. Currently, the state preservation facilities are full and there is no preservation facility
at the state nuseums. Also, it is not possible to relocate the archaeological heritages and
findings accumulated at the universities and institutes. These factors are now resulting in the
archaeological and historical invaluable heritages from our ancestors to face the danger of
perishing.
Due to the decentralised locations, existing heritages are not registered and filed. This brings
the urgent need of “archaeological museum” with the preservation facility to collect these in
one place and preserve, and to exhibit and promote these heritages inherited from the
ancestors.
After the formation of the new government, the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism
understood the urgent need of the new archaeological museum and established the working
group to produce the “General plan and the theme of the exhibition” in order to initiate the
project to build a new museum.
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Translation from Mongolian
1.1. Current situation of the Mongolian archaeological studies and future trends
Archaeology is the youngest of the human sciences, and has been studied since the time when
people started to interest and study their history and prove it with the sound documents. It has
been documented that in BC 6th century, King Pavillion excavated the ruins of the Naboni
Church (BC 555-538). The document never mentions the reason why he excavated the ruin,
however it is believed that he admired the beauty of the structure and was looking for new
ideas for the projects and designs from the ruins of the church [Mongolian .. 2007:6]
There are many examples in Mongolia similar to the above mentioned. In the “History of the
world conqueror” by Persian historian Ata-Malik-Juvayni, documents the history of Ugudei
khan of Mongolia, who had built numerous castles and palaces and was residing at the bank
of the river Orkhon. It is documented that the khan had initiated the excavation project of the
small hill beside Khar Balgas of Uighur which was not too far away from Kharkhorin, the
capital of the empire, and found the statue with unknown scripts and gathered scientists from
all over the world to uncover the mystery behind the statue. It is also documented that the
Mongolians respected the knowledge of the ancient time, establish the institutes of historians
and always valued the power of book.
Since the victory of the national democratic revolution in Mongolia and the announcement of
the revival of the nation and the country in the beginning of the 20th century, Mongolians
became able to conduct the modern scientific researches, specially the archaeological
researches in Mongolia. On the 9th of November 1921, Peoples Government established the
Institute of Scripture which became the foundation of the modern Academy of Science with
the mission to develop the scientific researches and high the technology in Mongolia.
In 1924, faculty of history was established at the Institute of Scripture, selected the member
of institute and started the registration of the historical and cultural heritages in the
countryside of Mongolia with the assistance of those with the knowledge of scripts, history
and culture in order to create the fundamental tools of researches, and to promote the
scientific knowledge.
Since the beginning, the archaeological study of Mongolia was developed by the international
co-operations, and the new Institute of the Scripture was giving a great importance on
contacting international scientists and researchers and cooperations with them. This can be
shown with the evidences. It is also rightful to mention the archaeologists, those who were
invited from the Soviet Union, namely, V.E.Lisovsky, V.A.Kazakyevich, G.E.Borovka,
S.A.Kontratiyev, P.K.Koslow, S.A.Tyeplouhov, A.D.Simukov, B.Ya.Vladimertsov,
B.Baradin, L.A.Amsteramskaya, B.B.Bambayev, S.E.Rudenko, D.D.Bukinich who made
significant archaeological researches in Mongolia, also those invited from the western
countries achieved significant research results in Mongolia. One of them the expedition
leaded by the researcher R.Ch.Andrews from the National Natural Museum of the United
States of America which conducted first significant paleontological and archaeological
research in the southern Mongolia in 1992-1923 and 1924.
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Translation from Mongolian
Contributions of the foreign researchers, especially from the Soviet Union, to the
development of the modern scientific researches in Mongolia, contributions of the Mongolian
researchers and intellectuals have to be noted.
The institute of the Scripture has made significant efforts to promote those with the research
interests and talents by making the senior staffs of the institute their mentors and sending
them to the courses of research methodologies which were organised abroad.
The Institute of the Scripture was restructured and become the Mongolian Institute of Science
on the 20th of December, 1930 by the Decision of the State assembly. In 1935, department
of history was formed within the institute and Mongolian famous writer D.Natsagdorj was
appointed as the head of the department. Also in 1935, the institute appointed a staff to
examine the conditions of the statue of Bilge khan of Tureg, the Kultyegen monuments at the
Khushuu Tsaidam in the valley of Orkhon river and the statue of Tonyukuk in Nalaikh. As a
result of this examination, state took those heritages under its protection and protection fences
were erected around those statues and monument and a paid security guard was hired. In
1934, member of board of the institute of the Science decided to establish local offices in the
countryside and appointed local representatives and researchers to promote the mission and
the activities of the institute for the public, to receive public assistances, to provide scientific
knowledge for the public and to discover the ancient heritages, monuments, statues and grave
yards, mark and document those findings. This decision was introduced to the Government
and granted the permission to set up these units.
As the operation of the Institute of Science expanded and research papers were produced,
there was a necessity for the scientific journal that would deliver the research results to the
public knowledge. At this time, journal called the “Research news” was planned to be
published, however it was not published until 1935 and the first issue was published under
the name of “New mirror”. In the first issue of 1936, first ever research paper of Mongolian
archaeological researches called the “Issues of archaeological researches in Mongolia” by
J.Tseveen was published.
Archaeological researches were developed further since the Institute of Science of Mongolia
and the Science Academy of Soviet Union signed the agreement of cooperation in 1947. At
this time, Mongolian archaeologist were working with the archaeologist from the Soviet
Union and enriching the archaeological findings of Mongolia with the new discoveries and
conducting field studies throughout the central, eastern and southern regions of Mongolia in
order to gather more information and knowledge needed to write the first book of the
“History of the Republic of Mongolia”.
Mongolian and Russian joint historical-ethnicity expedition leaded by the research member
of the Academy of Science of the Soviet Union, S.V.Kisyelev and scientist Kh.Perlee of the
Institute of the Science of Mongolia, made a significant discovery in the field of archaeology
and made the first step towards the study of Mongolian ancient history that was based on the
archaeological findings. Mongolian famous historians and archaeologists Ts.Dorjsuren
(1923-1994), N.Ser-Odjav (1923-1990) and D.Navaan were in this expedition.
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Translation from Mongolian
From 1950s, Mongolian professional archaeologist were born and started to research
Mongolian history in their interested fields. Since this time, few national archaeologists
graduated from the State universities of Moscow and Leningrad conducted archaeological
expeditions with the scientists from the Soviet Union, Hungary, East Germany and
Czechoslovakia in order to promote international cooperation while conducting their own
researches.
The Institute of Science and the National University of Mongolia were joined to form the
new organisation named the Institute of Science and Higher education of Mongolia on the 5 th
of May 1957. At this time, the research organisation named the centre for the history and
economics studies was liable for the Mongolian archaeological researches. Special research
journals of Mongolian history, language and archaeology were published since this time and
one of them was called “Studia Archaeologica” which was published in 1960.
When the Mongolian Academy of Science was established on the 13th of October, 1969, the
centre for the history and economics studies was expanded and reformed to the Institute of
History which was one of the main few institutes of the Academy of Science. It had
archaeological-ethnographical (with small laboratory) departments for medieval, new and
later history, 17 research staffs and the first head of the centre was Dr. N.Ser-Odjav (19231990).
Mongolian and Russian joint expedition of the history and culture, which was leaded by
academician A.P.Okladinkov (1908-1981), A.P.Dyeryevyanko, Sh.Natsagdorj (1918-2001)
D.Dorj (1936-1991), conducted number of explorations covering all the provinces of
Mongolia and made significant contributions to the explorations of medieval history,
archaeology, and the ethnic heritages of Mongolian people.
In 1978, the section of archaeology and ethnography of the institute of the science was
reformed to the department of archaeology and ethnography. In 1998, it was expanded and
became the Centre for the archaeological researches at the Institute of History of the
Mongolian Academy of Science. The head of the centre was Professor D.Tseveendorj and it
had 15 research staff.
The Centre for the archaeological researches at the Institute of History of the Mongolian
Academy of Science conducted various archaeological studies and further developed the
cooperation with the foreign researchers from the countries with high technological
advancements. As a result of the policies conducted by the centre, number of projects were
initiated and the technological and personnel capacities were strengthened. Furthermore, The
Centre for the archaeological researches was further expanded and the Institute of
Archaeology was established by the Resolution 159 of the Government of Mongolia on the
9th of August 2002. It has been conducting researches in the field of the Stone Age, Bronze
Age, Early Iron Age, the Xiongnu period, Middle ages, Restoration studies, and
paleoanthropology-paleozoology.
In Mongolia approximately 60 archaeologists are working at The Institute of Archaeology,
The department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the National University of Mongolia,
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Translation from Mongolian
The Department of Archaeology of the Ulaanbaatar Institute of the National University of
Mongolia, Mongolian National Historical Museum, The Institute of History at the Mongolian
Academy of Science and The University of Science and Technology.
The Institute of Archaeology at the Mongolian Academy of Science are working with the
organisations and researcher of Russian Federation, The United States of America, Japan,
Korea, Germany, France, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco, Kazakhstan and the Republic
of China on the joint projects. In the recent 10 years, approximately 200 field expeditions
were organised within the framework of various projects. Approximately 900 researchers
took part of the expeditions mentioned above.
Co-operations with the foreign research organisations and the researchers opened the
opportunities for Mongolian scientists to publish their research papers in the international
peer reviewed journals, promote internationally, participate short and long courses and
trainings in the countries with the high science and technological advancements, and to
promote Mongolian archaeology at the international level. Moreover it is helping young
scientist to specialise in their fields and improve their foreign language knowledge.
Identification of the age of the discoveries of the international expeditions by the specific
laboratory tests has significant implications.
Since 1995, in association with The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Sibirian
branch of the Russian Academy of Science and The University of Arizona of the United
States of America, the “Mongolian Stone Age” project, since 1999, in association with The
Institute of Archaeology of The University of Bonn, the “Kharkhorum” project, since 2000,
in association with the Turkish International cooperation agency (TICA), the “Excavation,
restoration and preservation of some monuments of Turk empire in Mongolia”, in association
with the University of Michigan of the United states of America, the “archaeological
expeditions in the southern region” project, since 2001, in association with the University of
Niigata, the “New century” project to study the first capital of Mongolian empire the Aurag
palace, since 2002, in association with the National Museum of South Korea and Mongolian
National Historical Museum, the “Mon-Sol” project, since 1997, in association with the
Institute of Desert of France, the “EURASIAT” project, since 2004 in association with the
Smithsonian Institution of the United States of America, the Archaeological and
Anthropological study of Ancient Mongolian nomads, since 2005 in association with the
Seoul National University of South Korea, “IA-SNU” project (Institute of Archaeology-Seoul
National University), since 2006 in association with The Institute of Archaeology and
Ethnography of the Sibirian branch of the Russian Academy of Science, the Institute of
Archaeology of Germany, the study of the Skiff age archaeological heritages in the Mongolia
Altai, in association with The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Sibirian
branch of the Russian Academy of Science, the “Archaeological study of the graves in the
Noyon mountain in the Southern region of Mongolia”, in association with the Foreign
language of the Osaka, Japan, Type writer-2 project, in association with the Neuchatel
university of Switzerland , Boroo Gol project, in association with the Anthropology museum
of Monaco, the Toulouse university of France, the Mongolian Deer Stones project, in
association with the Cheongju Church, Museum of Korea and the Institute of Gyeongju, the
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“paper copies of the Mongolia historical heritages”, in association with the Sapporo Gakuin
University of Japan, the “Eastern Mongolian stone weapons”, since 2007, in association with
the North-eastern Historical foundation of the South Korea, the Rock painting in Govi-Altai
province of Mongolia, since 2009 in association with the Nation Institute of the Cultural
Heritages of South Korea, the “Study and preservation of the cultural heritages” project, in
association with the Nara University of Japan, the “Chin Tolgoi” project, since 2010 in
association with the Kumamoto University of Japan, the “Anthropological study of
Mongolian ancient nomads”, since 2011 in association with the Yale University of the United
States of America, the “Valley of Tarvagatai”, in association with the Ehime University of
Japan, the “Iron history of Mongolia”, since 2012 in association with the Kyushu University
of Japan and various other projects were conducted respectively. Apart from above
mentioned projects, joint research teams were set up in 2006 with the Seoul National
University of Korea, in 2007-2008 with the “Archaeologia” of Kazakhstan, in 2009-2010
with Toulouse University of France.
The Department of Archaeology at the National University of Mongolia was established in
1995 and initiated the program to prepare national archaeologist and anthropologists. In the
last decade, hundreds of graduates from the department and there are now contributing to the
development of Mongolian historical, archaeological and anthropological sector.
This department carried out a large number of student field studies, explorations and
excavations from the stone to the medieval age heritages and discovered many new findings.
Today the head of the department is Professor U.Erdenebat and working with 3
archaeologists, 2 palaeontologists and 2 social anthropologists, in total 7 members of staff.
Appendix 1: Brief information of the research organisations
conducting archaeological researches in Mongolia.
№
Research organisations
1
The Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian
Academy of Science
The Department of Archaeology-Anthropology
of the National University of Mongolia
The Department of Archaeology of the
Ulaanbaatar Institute of the National University
of Mongolia
Khovd branch of The National University of
Mongolia
Mongolian National History Museum
The Professor’s team of History and Tourism
of the University of Science and Technology
The Archaeological section of the Institute of
History of the Mongolian Academy of Science
The International Institute for the study of
nomadic civilization
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
Date when
Number of
started to
professional
conduct
staff
archaeological
researches
2002 (1924)
45
Average
number of
projects
conducted
per year
30
1995
3
2
2000
4
3
1
1
6
5
2
1
2
1
1
2
1991
Translation from Mongolian
The Ulaanbaatar Institute, the National University of Mongolia established the Department of
Archaeology in 2000. It became the second university to prepare the archaeologists. At that
time the department was based on the Centre for the Archaeological studies of the Institute of
the History of the Mongolian Academy of Science and it was able to provide academic and
practical studies for the students which later date was able to provide employment
opportunities. Approximately 10 of the employee of the Institute of the Archaeology of the
Mongolian Academy of Science are the graduates of the institute. Three of them further
studied and received PhD degrees.
Currently the department is conducting approximately 10 foreign and local projects and of
which the most significant one is the “Gol Mod-2”, the study of Huns nobleman’s grave in
Undur-Ulaan county of Arkhangai province. This project successfully excavated the one of
the largest Huns nobleman’s grave in Mongolia within the short time of period and
discovered many invaluable heritages.
Now, the department employs 8 employees (1 with PhD, 5 with masters, and 2 with
bachelor’s degree) and the head of the department is Professor D.Erdenebaatar.
Mongolian National Museum is one of the large organisations conducting the archaeological
researches. Currently the museum is carrying out 5 projects in association with the
professional organisations of the United States of America and South Korea, namely
Mongolian-Korean “Mon-Sol” project, Mongolian-American “Deer Stone” projects. These
two projects are contributing to the training of young professional as well as contributing to
the Mongolian Archaeological researches.
Since 2008, the Institute of History of the Mongolian Academy of Science conducting the
archaeological studies within the framework of Mongolian ancient history and the study of
origin with two researchers (1 with PhD and 1 with master’s degree). It has organised
approximately 5 national field expeditions since it was established and achieved significant
results.
The Professor’s team of History and Tourism of the University of Science and Technology
has been involved with the archaeological research projects since 2011. The team has 9
professional archaeologists (2 with PhD, 5 with master and 2 with bachelor’s degree) and
involved more with the preservation of the archaeological findings.
The International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilization has been implementing the
archaeological research projects since 2001. However, currently the institute does not
employee any professional archaeologists; it works closely with the professionals of the
different organisations under the contract.
Khovd branch of The National University of Mongolia does not have an independent
department for the archaeology. Since 2011 (?) with the support of the Department of
Archaeology and Anthropology, it has conducted one joint project with the foreign
organisation and carrying out few preservation studies.
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Translation from Mongolian
These demonstrate that the participation of foreign organisations in Mongolian archaeological
studies is significant and sector is dependent on the foreign investments. This also shows that
there is a necessity for the Independent national field expeditions and to study the own
culture and history with own resources and discover new heritages when the country is
stepping towards the new age of development.
Preservations of archaeological artefacts and current issues
The result of the archaeological research is the artefacts and when it is displayed for the
public it becomes an exhibit. There are two types of archaeological artefacts in Mongolia,
namely those in possession of the state and those in possession of the individuals and private
collectors. Archaeological heritages of the state are preserved at the organisations mentioned
above and local museums
Mongolian collection of archaeological heritages had been accumulated since the 1920. Since
then, Mongolian historians and archaeologists have collected hundreds of heritages.
Appendix 2. Preservation status of archaeological
heritages at the local museums
1
Some
organisations
preserving Quantity (approx.)
archaeological heritages
Mongolian National Museum
5000
2
The Institute of Archaeology at the 30000
Mongolian Academy of Science
3
The Institute of History at the
Mongolian Academy of Science
Department of Anthropology and
Archaeology at the National
University of Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar Institute of the National
University of Mongolia
Professor’s team of History and
Tourism of the University of Science
and Technology
4
5
6
200
5000
1000
100
Locations of the
heritages
Fond room in the
basement
Fond room in the
basement and metal
container
In possession of
researcher
In possession of
researcher
In possession
researcher
In possession
researcher
of
of
The main factor affecting the preservation of the heritages is the lack of efficient actions
taken by the Government of Mongolia in preserving Cultural heritages. In the past twenty
years Cultural heritages have been lost and become an only proclamation. As a result the
cultural heritages become its value and faced today’s chaotic situation.
It is possible to demonstrate the condition of archaeological heritages those have been
protected by the state by several examples shown in the following paragraph.
Two of the six places, where archaeological heritages have been located, are using basement
rooms and metal containers that are not furnished for the preservation of such heritages. In
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the remaining four locations, archaeological heritages have been kept by the individual
researchers with no preservation facility. Due to the lack of professional preservation
facilities, archaeological heritages are kept by the individual researchers even though it is not
appropriate and also due to the lack of state effort to collect such heritages and register and
document. Currently, there no such policy undertaken by the state. One of two organisations
with preservation facility is keeping the archaeological heritages in its own basement room
while other one organisation is using the basement room of a residential building. These
facilities do not meet the basic requirements of such preservation facility and the heritages are
now at the risk fire, water and there is no fire exit.
Current issues facing the archaeological artefacts can be categorised into following. First,
Necessity to further develop the state regulations for a) establishment of the Registration of
archaeological heritages b) database of the registered heritages. Second, capacity
development of the professional researchers a) creation of new position for the fund
management (photographer, fund staff, IT staff) b) establishment of criteria for the
preservation and restoration work (whether to do restoration work for the further researches
and analysis).
1.3 Possibilities to create public goods by the archaeological heritages of Mongolia
The possibilities of public goods that can be created from the by the archaeological artefacts
of Mongolia
1. Archaeological artefacts preserved in Mongolia have never been displayed and
exhibited with the chronological orders and thus establishment of new Museum of
Archaeology will deliver this possibility
2. Archaeological artefacts and heritages preserved at the institutes conducting
archaeological researches in Mongolia will be preserved in the facilities that meet the
international standards
3. The restoration of the artefacts is one of the main activities of the museum.
Restoration of the heritages will not be limited to the stock that is already
accumulated, it will further restore and strengthen the new artefacts at the site. It will
make the significant contributions to the preservation cultural heritages.
4. Delivering the historical heritages and artefacts to the public will contribute towards
education of youth with historical knowledge, bringing up to be proud of their
heritages and with the will to protect them.
5. Establishment of class room dedicated for the lessons of fundamentals of archaeology,
culture, history and the customs for the school pupils, kids in the kindergarten will
enable the possibility of hybrid activity
6. Establishment of a museum with new exhibits will add on to the sites that tourists
visits and contribute towards the promotion of Mongolia
7. Furthermore, local tourism will be increased due to the new museum. local tourists
understanding of the preservation and restoration of the historical and cultural
heritages will be improved.
8. Environmental management of the museum will improve the appearance of the capital
city and add onto the recreational areas
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Translation from Mongolian
1.4 Main necessity of the Archaeological museum
The necessity of the new archaeological museum can be defined as follows:
1. Mongolian archaeological artefacts have never been seen by the public. Therefore
it is necessary to establish the archaeological museum in timely fashion
2. Creation of the full database and the registration of the archaeological artefacts
accumulated and preserved at the organisation conducting archaeological
researches
3. Researches, preservation and restoration facility that meets the international
standard will be built.
The benefits of the Archaeological museum can be defined as follows
1. Improvement of social responsibilities of the public, especially the youth, educating
youth with the national history, culture and pride.
2. Creation of new recreational area
3. Development of tourism sector in Mongolia and promotion of Mongolian history and
heritages in the foreign countries
4. Improvement in the value independence by displaying the materials related to the
independence of Mongolia
5. It is important to establish the museum showing the history of the country with the
first priority at the face of economic development.
Therefore, establishment of the New Archaeological Museum is indeed demanded in
Mongolia.
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Translation from Mongolian
II. PLANNED GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE MUSEUM, DESIGN AND THE
SELECTION OF THE LOCATION
The new “Mongolian National Archaeological Museum” will become an important site that
will promote the culture and history of Mongolia and further it will become a significant site
for the recreation of the public.
It is a common trend for the museum to have the design related to the exhibits shown with the
site. Furthermore it was shown by the research that the exhibition building with great light
accesses and trendy design attracts more audiences. Thus the incorporation of these main
factors in the building of the museum is essential.
Figure 1. Design of the museum building
There is a huge number of historical and archaeological artefacts that can be used in the
design of the museum building. However, they may not fully represent Mongolia as a whole
as those artefacts will only represent the particular time and era. The building structure of
Mongolia had mostly followed the structures of other Asian countries and incorporated small
details that represent the Mongolian tradition and culture in the ornaments and the minor
parts of the buildings. On the other hand, the ger is the representation of the nomadic culture
and it is well known to the world by its origin which is Mongolia. The Ger has been the main
building of Mongolians of the Steppe since the bronze era until now. It has been the housing
of not even Mongolians, it was a housing of Turk nations and has been used by its original
shape.
Therefore the incorporation of the shape of Mongolia ger into the main design of the building
of the Mongolian National Museum of Archaeology is appropriate. Modern museum
buildings have large glasses, hence the design of the building should also incorporate the
modern trend of museum buildings.
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The working group is planning to develop the design of the museum with several gers
surrounding the main building of the museum which gives the impression of “Khuree”. The
whole complex will be carefully planned taking into account the locations of the exhibitions,
office, the capacity of the building and the combination of modern and ancient cultures.
(Expectation of the museum building is shown in Figure 1)
2.2. Structure and the size of the museum
Every museum has its uniqueness. However, the museum should have the main exhibition
hall, preservation area, temporary exhibition hall and the office area. If these are not featured
in the museum, the operation of the museum would not be sustainable. The existence of the
restoration facility depends on the characteristics of the preservation facility. Furthermore,
the museum should have the area for kids with the attractive exhibits for the kids, spacious
conference hall, research laboratory, refreshment area and should become the area where
visitors could spend their free time as it serves the three main purposes such as exhibition,
educational and research facility.
The new Mongolian National Archaeological museum is planning to become the complex
exhibiting the history of ancient Mongolia covering the era of the Yuan Dynasty and Mongol
Empire that was established by the Chinghis Khan and his descendants based on the cultural
heritages and archaeological artefacts found in the land of Mongolia which was inhabited
since the 800000 years ago. Therefore the museum should have the main five facilities for the
exhibitions, foundation, laboratory, education and the office. The exhibition facility should
have the permanent and temporary exhibition halls and displays (stone statues) located
outside of the museum building. Also it should have the refreshment area with cafe, drink
dispenser, souvenir shop, book store and the children hall with simple exhibits. The
preservation facility keeps the several thousand of heritages that had been buried
underground, and that requires special treatments by their materials such as cloth, metal,
textile and stone, and by the size of the item. Thus it should have the cleaning, sterilization
and the relocation equipments. The archaeological artefacts cannot be put in the exhibition as
they have to restored and strengthened. Due to the absence of the restoration facility,
archaeological finding are restored and strengthen in the foreign countries. As the museum is
planned receive all the artefacts found in Mongolia, register and document, restore and
strengthen and make available for the public display, the museum should have the laboratory
for the restoration and strengthening of the archaeological artefacts. The museum is the
organisation that shows the leadership in educating public the cultural and historical
knowledge. Hence the new museum should have the conference hall, class rooms and
meeting rooms (See Chart 1).
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National Archaeological Museum
Chart 1. The structure of the new Mongolian National Archaeological Museum
The size of the building depends on the size of the exhibition hall, preservation area,
laboratory, conference hall and the office. The aim of the new museum is to collect and show
the archaeological artefacts preserved at the Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian
Academy of Science, the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the National
University of Mongolia and the Mongolian National Museum. It is difficult the estimate the
number of artefacts that have been preserved at these institutes, however it is estimated that
the number of exhibits will reach approximately no less than 100 000 pieces. From the
experiences of well know museum around the world, the museum with the similar number of
exhibits reside in the 100 metre square building or bigger. The exhibitio hall is usually 15
000-40 000 metre square in those museums. For example, Korean National Museum has 310
000 pieces of collections and 15 000 of them is shows constantly to the public. The size of
the building is approximately 137 100 metre square with 27 000 metre square exhibition hall.
The museum building size depends not only on the number of exhibits; it also depends on the
number of visitors. The number of visitors of the famous museums around the world reaches
several millions while in Mongolia the number of visitors to the national museums reach
approximately 35000-50 000 per year due to the small number of inhabitants.
Therefore, it is expected that the size of the new museum building would be approximately
50 000 metre square with the exhibition area of 10 000 metre square. It is only the preestimations and will change once the blue print of the museum building is produced
according to the regulations and standards.
2.3. The location of the museum and the environmental compatibility
The working group set up by the Ministry of the Culture, Sport and Tourism to initiate the
General plan and theme of the Archaeological museum suggests three locations:
1. Gorkhi-Terelj Resort
2. Nuyan-Ukhaa, New residential area at the Yarmag
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Staff
Research centre
Office
Administration
Meeting rooms
Large findings
Stone findings
Educational unit
Clay findings
Cloth, textile findings
Foundation
Iron findings
Research equipment’s unit
Registration
Restoration laboratory
Laboratory
Displays outside
Temporary exhibition hall
Permanent exhibition hall
Book and Souvenir shop
Children museum
Exhibition
Translation from Mongolian
3. National Park
The working group expects that the third option i.e. National Park is the most suitable
location for the new museum in terms of the location, environmental compatibility and the
other aspects. Other two locations are located relatively far from the residential areas and it
requires to make an arrangement for the accommodation of the museum staff. The National
park is most suitable location for the museum as it is located in the close approximity to the
city centre and it is easier to travel to and from the museum for the foreign tourists and even
for the local visitors and it has a recreational area.
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III. GENERAL PLAN AND THE THEME OF THE EXHIBITION
3.1.
The main theme of the exhibition
The new Archaeological Museum will show the history of Ancient to the Medieval era of
Mongolia to the public based on the archaeological artefacts, heritages and research results
and aims to promote Mongolian ancient history. Therefore it should be the national museum
with the state acknowledgement.
From the experiences of state museums around the world, such museums have common
propose which is to promote the national history, culture, the developments and its success
story to the public and to create the national pride and the courage. The exhibits in those
museums are usually organised by the chronological orders. For example, Chinese National
Museum which was the newly organised and moved to the new building in 2011 display the
archaeological artefacts that show the Chinese history from the stone age to the modern age
in chronological order in 28 halls. The display aims to show the important and famous
heritages rather than the entire history. For example, in the Bronze Age hall, only bronze
containers, weapons made of jade and jewels which are famous heritages of an ancient in and
Xiongnu empires who had established their states in the Central China rather than showing
the entire artefacts of the Chinese Bronze Age. Furthermore, only 9 000 of 620 000 pieces of
archaeological heritages are displayed in the permanent exhibition halls.
Korean National Museum which was moved to the new building in 2005 displays the
artefacts in the chronological orders in the halls of primitive, ancient, medieval and modern
history. In addition these halls, the hall of donated heritages, paintings and scripts were
established. Further, new halls such as the hall of Asian culture, hall of hand made products
were also incorporated. The museum has 310 000 pieces of archaeological artefacts and 15
000 of them are displayed in the permanent exhibition hall.
Western and American museums on the other hand have different arrangements than Eastern
museums. For instance, The Louvre museum in France has the collections of Egypt,
collections of Greece and Rome, Islamic culture, sculpture, accessories, paintings, prints and
quick drawing sections (8 sections). In total it has 380 000 exhibits and 35 000 of them are
displayed in the permanent exhibition halls. The main theme of the exhibitions in the State
Hermitage Museum of Russia is similar to the theme of the Louvre Museum of France. It has
the halls of the collections of Egypt, Renaissance of Italy, cultural aspects of Italy and Spain,
Kings’ belongings, Golden age of the Western world, art aspects of Germany, Britain,
Switzerland and France, Russian culture, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist arts’.
This shows that the main theme of the museums exhibits around world closely relates to
existing stock of heritages. In other word, Asian museums mainly aims to promote the own
history and to create the prime and courage of their own culture and history and displays it in
it chronological orders while the western museums exhibits closely relates to the stock of
their archaeological artefacts. The American museums have more educational purpose. In
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Translation from Mongolian
conclusion, the theme of the exhibition closely relates to the stock of existing artefacts and
the purpose of the museums.
Mongolian archaeological researches studies the culture and the history of the people and
states who had been here for thousands years since the 800 000 years ago up to 700-800 years
ago which cover the time the when people started to live in Mongolia, pre and new bronze
age, Xiongnu, Tureg and Mongol empires of nomadic which begins. Therefore, the displays
of the new archaeological museum could be organised in a chronological orders as such it
shows the history of Mongolia as the archaeological heritages relate to the time mentioned
above.
3.2.
The structure and the organisation of the exhibition hall
There will several issues in displaying archaeological artefacts of Mongolia in chronological
order as mentioned above. Due to the fact that there are some periods not studied at all and
even when it was studied the artefacts are not suitable for the display. For instance, the
transformation from the new stone age to the bronze age is not clearly studied, ancestors of
Xiongnu and evidences of several hundred years after the Xiongnu empire are not discovered
even the history of those periods are well studied. Furthermore, there are mysterious periods,
such as Xianbei, Joujan periods, which does allow the continuity of the researches. In order to
organise the exhibition as such it does not reveal the breaks in the archaeological researches
and make it more interesting for the public, museum should have for main divisions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Prehistory (From Stone age through the Iron age )
Ancient empires ((3rd century BCE – 6th century CE)
Post ancient empires (7th – 11th century CE)
Mongol Empires (12th – 15th century CE)
Depending on the number, size, attractiveness, display, the periods when it is related and the
theme, exhibits will be shown in 2-3 exhibition halls. For example, it can be organised in the
following three different halls: the ancient history section will include the artefacts from the
various periods, Stone age hall including the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods,
Bronze age hall, Early Iron Age hall
division
Hall of Turk
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Hall of the Empire
empires division
Hall of Material Culture
division
Hall of Kidan
division
Hall of Uighur
Mongol Empires
Hall of Xiongnu Culture
Post ancient
Hall of Xiongnu art
Ancient Empires
Hall of Early Iron age
Prehistoric
Hall of Bronze age
Hall of Stone age
Permanent exhibition hall
Translation from Mongolian
Chart 2. Structure of the exhibition hall
In the ancient Empires division, Xiongnu, Xianbei and Joujan periods are planned to be
included. However, current archaeological artefacts only belong to the Xiongnu period, it is
not possible to divide this section into three different halls. However, exploration and
discovery of Xianbei and Joujan period heritages remain the one of priorities of Mongolian
archaeological sector. The probability of discovering the heritages from these periods is high
in Mongolia, the possibility of establishing the separate halls for these periods remains in the
plan. The archaeological heritages and artefacts were discovered from the tombs, ruins of
ancient cities, thus the division of Ancient empires should be located in the hall of tombs and
the hall of city ruins.
Post ancient empires division will display the Tureg, Uigur and Kidan periods and artefacts
of these empires are planned to be displayed in separate halls (3 halls).
Mongolian empire division will the most important and the interesting part of the museum.
The artefacts of the period are usually clothes, weapons and accessories found from the
tombs. Also, remains of the craft place, factory and domestic accessories found in the ruins of
Kharkhorin and Aurag palace. There are also various collections and book accessories related
to the Mongol Empire. Thus, this division should have two sections such as a section for the
arts, culture, and power of the army and weaponry and a section for the development of the
hand crafts, manufacturing and the Kharkhorin and various palaces built by craftsmen from
different places in the world. Furthermore, the possibility of building a section for the
Chinghis khan, the history and the culture of the Empire built by his sons or the section for
the Buddhist heritages.
a. Prehistoric division (from Stone Age to the Early Iron Age)
This division’s goal is displaying the materials that showing ancient people’s typology,
mode of life, life condition, custom and religion, who has lived in Mongolia, and it based
some necessities that including photographs, art, map, copy, mini models, computer graphic,
light effect and monuments that connected period of Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic,
Bronze and Early Iron Age.
Division of history is dividing following 3 halls.
1. Stone Age hall
2. Bronze age hall
3. Early Iron Age hall
Hall of Stone Age. Result of the many years archaeological research, so many farmsteads,
smitheries, rock paintings and burials that symptoms of Stone Age people living, have found
and marked from now on 800.000 years ago.
From 800.000 years ago (this is the first time the people live in area) to iron era was
named “Stone Age”.
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Paleolithic or Old Stone Age subsisted long time more than others and take into
consideration of tools shape and design it was divided 3 classifications (low, medium, high).
Tool’s shape and design, close knit the climate situation, main usage of nourishment and type
of plant and animal, which ancient people used. In other words, homo-erectus, homo-habilis
or upstanding walk, well rising brain, half monkey people who lived in our country from
800.000-100.000 years ago period of low paleolithic. For that time, environment was wild
forest cover, abundant plants, lakes and rivers and more than warm and moisture weather.
And many animals mammoth, horn-nose, buffalo, hours, deer, camel, mountain goat lived in
this period that kindly natural environment. People who lived in that time usually has ate fruit
and plant and they killed big animals push them toward canyon and valley. And they used big
stone, sharpened wood, chopper (beat 2 stones and it would be a sharpened stone), hand
punch, sharp knife and other big tools. As the end of that time sharpened tools was arise.
The homestead remains of the people who lived at the Lower Paleolithic Age were found
from the biggest river basins near desert and Altai zone, including Nariin Gol of Ulziit soum,
Tsagaan Agui of Bayanlig soum, Baigragiin Gol of Jargalant soum and Bosgo of Shinejinst
soum, Bayankhongor province, Tsakhiurt Village of Bulgan soum and Otson Maanit of
Khanbogd soum, Umnugovi province and Yarkh Mount of Gurvansaikhan soum, Dundgovi
province, North Tsenkher Cave of Mankhan soum, Khovd province, Barlag River and
Uyench River of Altai soum, Bayan-Ulgii province and Sainshand soum, Dornogovi
province. These singularities are generally divided into 2 parts: Open area along river and
lake banks and Cave between the rock cliffs. The cultural levels which show the people lived
for long years are not found from the open areas, but there are many traces which show the
people lived for long time in cave. Total 13 cultural levels and traces related to the various
times were found from the Tsagaan Cave, Bayanlig soum, Bayankhongor province which is
the studied part of the Lower Paleolithic Age. The Paleomagnetic analysis proved that the
lowest level spanned 730 000 years ago.
The Middle Paleolithic broadly spanned from 100,000 to 40,000 years ago. At that time, the
drop in the temperature and glaciations impacted to the flora and fauna greatly were occurred
in the north of the country. Because of it, the human life conditions were changed and human
reached to the level to adapt with coldness and change the ways finding foods. For this, the
human development and imagination skills were changed and they obtained the skills to
prepare dwelling, make clothes and make fire in order to protect from coldness. Their tools
were developed from simple type till accurate and well-developed type.
The End of Paleolithic Stone Age or Upper Paleolithic broadly spanned from 35-40 000 to 15
000 BC years ago. At that time, climate conditions were dry and extreme which are similar to
current climate and rainfall measure was decreased. For this, big and large animals were
decreased dramatically and reached to die or migrate to other areas. The fast and small
animals were developed instead of them. The scientists regarded that Homo sapiens were
originated at that time. The human methods to make tools were changed and the accurate
weapons and tools, including cutter, driller, knife, hemisphere scrapper, small axe, hunt lance
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and stone knife with wooden handle for cutting, drilling or connecting were developed due to
the human imagination development. Also, they used the animal bones and horns as the tools.
One of the important findings is the rock paintings and carving which is the first art style.
Red ochre painting of ostrich, camel and wild goat was found from the North Tsenkher Cave,
Mankhan soum, Khovd province and rock carvings of woolly rhinoceros were found from
Rashaan rock, Khentii province. Also, cattle paintings at Chandmani Khar Uzuur, Buyant
soum, Khovd province are the rare monuments which show the Upper Paleolithic Art
features.
The objects found from the singularities of Old Stone Age are the tools and instruments,
made of stone and animal bone and horn. The skull nape of ancient man, found from the area
named Salkhit, Norovlin soum, Khentii province in 2006 was the significant findings to study
the body and image of the ancient man. The skull remains called “Mongolanthropus” is the
anthropolite which is the first found from Central Asia.
The next age of Old Stone Age is the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age. It is the transition
period to Neolithic Age and its durations are different in all areas. Our archeologists argued
that the Mesolithic Age spanned from 15 000 BC to 8 000 BC. The Mesolithic is a
progression of technical and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of archery
which is the mechanic tool. The remains of Middle Stone Age were discovered from Chikhen
Cave, Bayan-Undur soum, Bayankhongor province, Kheree Mount, Khalkh Gol soum,
Dornod provimce and Dulaanii Gobi, Dornogovi province and plate arrowhead found from
these areas is the real findings which proved the tool development of that time. Also, seal
image of Rashaan Rock and rock paintings of Mojoo are the significant facts, showing art
development of Mesolithic Age.
The next of Mesolithic age is the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The Neolithic is a progression
of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic
crops and of ceramic productions. The Neolithic began about 8 000 BC and ended between 4
000 and 3 000 BC. The cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere
in our country. At that time, the stone tools, such as thin plate instruments, sharp knives,
lances, arrowheads and fish-hook made of stone and bone were developed highly. The trace
of ceramic elements was found. The people lived in our country at that time had the
settlement life style and lived in underground dwelling and used fishes and crops.
Thrashing stone pans and fish-net plumbs, appeared everywhere in Mongolia are the
evidences that the cropping, fishing and hunting were important to life of Neolithic people.
Underground dwelling, found from Tamsagbulag, Dornod province is the rare finding which
expressed the dwelling type and measure of the Neolithic people. Also, the grave mound,
found under the dwelling floor, containing ornament, sharp bone knife and accessory made of
oyster is the evidence that societies of Neolithic Age had the aesthetical feelings, but not only
clothing. Also, facial stone shaman, found from grave mound in the Norovlin, Dornod
province is the evidence of the highly developed religion.
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As above-mentioned, the archeological research results of Stone Age are great and it is
interesting and important how to exhibit them to publics. The most of findings of the Stone
Age, especially Paleolithic Age are the tools and instruments made of stones and the
filaments, plates and splinters used to make the tools. Today, “Stone tools” are exhibited in
the Hall of the Stone Age at the biggest museums, including “Mongolian National Museum”
in accordance with the chronology. These tools are not interesting to simple people, but it is
interesting to the archeologists. The visitors spend the small times at the hall. For this, the
way to exhibit the parts of Paleolithic Age as interesting to publics is to divide the tools into
several parts and use the model, picture and computer graphics. For example: the process
making stone tools and development sample of Paleolithic people should be exhibited using
pictures and computer graphics and its meanings to give to the people must be clear and
understandable. Also, it is significant and interesting to provide the environment derivatively
and create animals which move and call at real volume. The mammoths, dinosaurs, tigers,
leopards, birds and whales which are made substantially are in the U.S. Natural History
Museum and it makes the interests to the children and their parents to visit to this museum.
The bones and paintings of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros which are representatives of
Paleolithic animals are found from our country. The human bone of the Paleolithic Age was
recently found from the area named Salkhit and these findings can be the main factors to
create them materially.
We are planning to create the Hall of Stone Age of “Archeological Museum” to be newly
built as followings regarding above.
1. Create the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros and hunters who hunt these animals
materially in the central part of the hall /It can make the real imaginations of that time
to the visitors and it can be the important exhibits to bring children to the museum/
2. The inner squares of the hall can be divided into 2 parts with the help of model
showing hunt of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. A side of the hall will be the
Paleolithic and Mesolithic and other side will be the Neolithic.
3. The Paleolithic and Mesolithic part shall be divided into several theme sub-parts to
show the exhibits.
- Sub-part, consisted of the nameplates and markers which contain the time
conditions, characteristics of our country and singularities and map which shows
the monument distributions.
- Sub-part, consisted of computer graphic picture, showing the human evolution of
that Age and their differences from modern people and human bone, found from
area named Salkhit
- Sub-part, consisted of the compared exhibits of Stone Age showing the stone tool
developments and changes of the Upper, Middle and Lower Paleolithic Age,
handmade or computer graphic pictures, showing processes and techniques to
make these tools and animation videos
- Sub-part showing the Three Tsenkher Cave and Mojoo Rock Paintings which are
the findings of Upper Paleolithic Age
4. The Neolithic part shall be divided into several theme sub-parts to show the exhibits.
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Translation from Mongolian
-
-
-
Sub-part, consisted of the nameplates and markers which contain the time
conditions, characteristics of our country and singularities and map which shows
the monument distributions.
Sub-part showing the life, habit and dwelling of Neolithic people based on the
underground dwelling and findings of Tamsagbulag and elements, found from
other areas.
Sub-part showing the traditions and religions, consisted of the models of the
mounds found from the Norovlin and Tamsagbulag and other related findings.
Hall of Bronze Age: The ancient people who lived in our country started to make the useful
products by processing natural copper and copper ore 4500-5000 years ago. It endured from
3000 BC to 3500 BC. The “Bronze” is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually
with tin as the main additive. It is hard and tough, and it was so significant in antiquity that
the Bronze Age was named after the metal. It was made before 2000 BC. At the Bronze Age,
the climate was extreme in Mongolia, thus the people of this age were impossible to develop
agriculture and settle. For this, they started to hunt wild animals and domesticate other
animals. The animal husbandry was the main factor of life from the middle of Bronze Age
and the people transited to the clan type. Therefore, there were the struggles of animals and
people between clans. In the Late Bronze Age or 11th century BC to 9th century BC, life
resource of the people lived at the country was developed as the “nomadic animal
husbandry”. The elements of titles and degrees, appeared in tombs and mounds are the proof
of “class society” system was already development. Mongolia is covered with Bronze Age
burial mounds, four cornered mounds, dear stones and rock paintings. Some are huge,
extensive, and extremely visible on the landscape while others are barely identifiable. Burial
mound is a structure including a central mound and a round or square surrounding frame.
Usually, the area between mound and frame is left open and within it may be rays aligned
with the cardinal directions or their subdivisions. Burial mounds are spread in central and
western parts of Mongolia and there are plenty of burial mounds everywhere, but it was not
studied well. The burial mounds are called as “Kyalgasan uur” or “Khyrgys khuur” by
Western Mongolians and as “Khergesuur” or “Khirgesuur” by Central Mongolians. Local
citizens and people do not know its differences, they call the burial mounds as “Khirgisuur”.
The burial mounds are different in its shapes and structures. Some researchers divided the
frames of burial mounds into 60 types. It is related to frames and subdivisions around stone
piles. Its characteristics are the stone piles which are round in the central part. It has the round
or square surrounding frames. Frame subdivisions can be single or more, but small circular
altars are usually found outside the frame. Mounds with square fence are surrounded with
square fences which each corner has a small round circle. Stone rings outside a frame are
round and its diameter size is less than 1.5m. There are 5-15 stones surrounding burial mound
incomplete or about 30 stones surrounding burial mound fully. Or there are different stones in
southern east of burial mound. Number of surrounding stones is depended on burial mount
size. Stone pile of middle sized burial mound is 1-2 m high and its diameter is 5-10m and
frame is 15-20m. The 8-10m high burial mounds with diameter of 40-70 are appeared. Frame
of these big burial mounts is more than 10m and its size is 40 000 sq.m, including its
surrounding stone fences.
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Translation from Mongolian
The burial mounds were not studied well and it is indefinite whether the burial mounds are
funerary or worshiping. Some researchers argued that the burial mounds are designated to
worship because the most burial mounds were robbed and broken. But the human bone was
found from the stone piles of some burial mounds, including Kharbukh River Bank,
Dashinchilen soum, Bulgan province is described it as funerary. The worshipping traces, such
as horse skulls and burned animal bones were found from the small ring features of Burial
Mounds.
The interesting findings related to the burial mounts are the monument called as Deer Stones.
The reason to name Deer Stone is the deer images carved in the central part. Deer stones are
appeared everywhere in Eurasia and total 1000 Deer Stones were found and registered. The
west border of distribution is reached to Elba River, Germany and East border is reached to
Dornod province, Mongolia. The most of these Deer Stones or 900 were found from central
and western provinces of our country.
The Deer Stones are divided into 3 types, including “Describing Deer Generally”,
“Describing Deer Exactly” and “No Deer Images”. The first types of Deer Stones appeared
everywhere in central regions of our country and south of Baikal Lake and are called
“Mongolian-Baikal type”. The second types found from Altai and Soyon Mount basins are
called “Altai-Soyon type” and third type appeared from Altai to Eastern Europe is named
“Eurasia type”. The most of Deer Stones are first types describing the flying deer. It is the
basic type of Deer Stones. Around the upper sections are 2 round images and lower section is
covered by a carvings of belts. On the main or middle section there are many deer and
animals. The lower belt is covered by the carvings of knives, swords, bows and quivers,
battle-axes, whetstones, hooks. The archeologists found the “five cornered image” as shield
at the upper part of the lower belt. Some archeologists explained that small round images are
explained as sun and moon, but some of them argued that it is earrings. Lower belts are also
explained as necklace. The belts are described as same as the threaded beads. Lower belts of
the Deer Stones were described with the weapons and the belt of big stones is reached to 5
cm wide. Some of them are covered by many patterns and decorations and explained as
“sword-belt”. As above, the Deer Stones are the symbol of human, especially “soldier and
warrior”. For this, some archeologists explain the Deer Stones as the first type of Human
Stone. Few Deer Stones describing face image were found from Uushgiin Uvur near Murun
city, Khuvsgul province.
Image of deer and animals in the Deer Stones are explained differently, such as “tattoo”,
“deer stone clothes” or “ways to deliver human spirit to the sky”. Because, deer carved in the
Deer Stones are flying. Also, deer was worshipped in the shamanism, shaman drums were
made of deer skin and deer was explained as the vehicle of great shamans.
The Deer Stones are found in single or double, but sometimes, 15-30 deer stones in left of
burial mounds were found.
Burial mounds and Deer Stones are main findings of Bronze Age in central and western
regions of Mongolia. But 4 cornered mounds are the important findings of this age in Eastern
Mongolia. 4 cornered mounds are appeared near Central Regions, Great Lakes Depression
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Translation from Mongolian
and Great Wall of China, but not only in Eastern Mongolia. The monuments allowed us to
make general territory limit of the residents. Therefore, the 4 cornered mounds were found
with Burial Mounds from Central Regions. The archeologists explain that 2 different
civilizers met in the central part of our country and established a country later. Funerary
characteristics and findings of 4 cornered mounds are similar to Huns, thus some
archeologists argued that its creators were ancestors of Huns. For this, they may be the
ancient ancestors of Mongolians.
Reason to call 4 cornered mounds is the four repetitions of the engraved motif around the
body. 4 cornered mounds are clustered. Its size is different from 1.5x2.5 to 5x10m. The head
of body is toward to left and body is placed flatly and there are stone pillow under head and
leg. Also, animal heads and blade-bones are around the body. It is the trace of “Khoillogo”
worshipping ceremony which found from Huns mounds. The 4 cornered mounds are shallow
and most of the 4 cornered mounds are robbed and broken. But plenty of findings which are
important to assume art, culture and life of that period were found. For example: Bronze
helmet from the 4 cornered mounds, located at Egiin Gol, Bulgan province, Bronze ornament
with flying horse and stone pan used to process bronze from Asgat mounds, Khentii province
and ornament and arrowhead from Erdene soum, Tuv province were found.
Other findings of the Bronze Age of Mongolia are “Rock Painting”. The rock paintings of
Bronze Age are divided into 2 basic types, such as red ochre painting and carving. Red ochre
rock painting are appeared in the limited areas, including Ikh Tengeriin Am, Ulaanbaatar city
and Selenge River Basin, but rock carvings are appeared everywhere in our country and
covered the vast territories. There are the thousands rock carvings. The rock paintings are
significant to art and evidence because of hunting, wars, animals, events, human and animal
images and clothes described in the rock paintings. There are many areas, consisted of the
thousands findings called as “Natural Gallery”. The 10 km long rocks of Baga Oigor,
Tsagaan Salaa and Shiveet Khairkhan, Bayan-Ulgii province are the real natural museum
with various rock paintings. For this, the monument which is rare in the world was registered
in the “World Heritage”, UNESCO.
The findings of Bronze Age, including burial mounds, deer stones and four cornered mounds,
rock paintings and bronze instruments represent the Bronze Age of Mongolia. But the
archeological surveys have been intensified in the recent years and several independent
findings of the Age were found. For example: Mounds of “Afanasiev Culture” of Neolithic or
Bronze Age were found from Altan Tolgoi and Takhiltat Uzuur, Tsengel soum and Khar
Yamaat River and Sogoo River, Ulaankhus soum, Bayan-Ulgii province and findings of
“Chemurchek Culture” /in Mongolian “Khemtseg Culture”/ of Early Bronze Age /3-2nd
thousand years BC/ found from Khovd and Bayan-Ulgii province. The “Sparse Mounds”
appeared everywhere in south parts of Mongolia are studied accurately and it is proved that it
is the findings of Middle Bronze Age. It allows us to exhibit the cultural developments of
archeology of Bronze Age in Mongolia chronically.
We are planning to organize the Hall of Bronze Age, Archeology Museum to be newly built
as followings regarding above.
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1. The model of complex consisted of burial mounds, deer stones and 4 cornered mounds
which are the general representations of Bronze Age of Mongolia will be placed in the
center of the hall. Burial mounds, deer stones and 4 cornered mounds are the
archeological findings which are known by the travelers. Paintings and images of the
most monuments were cloud and unclear and covers the big spaces everyone can’t
understand and see. For this, making its model and explaining its meanings are
cognitively significant. Also, we can attract the people’s interests based on their
desires to sit through something. The many deer stones have been copied and created
based on the actual size within the expeditions of the Archeology Institute with some
countries in the recent years, so we have the material base.
2. The wall of a side of the hall will be covered by the rock paintings. There are
interesting images and descriptions of fighting people, hunting, migration, man, wild
animals, wild goat and deer in the Mongolian rock paintings. Especially, interesting
images and descriptions will be chosen from Tsagaan Salaa, Baga-Oigor and Shiveet
Khairkhan rock paintings and exhibited using the copies and picture effect.
3. At other wall of the hall, the changes of grave mounds of all Ages from Neolithic to
Late Bronze Age will be described in a type using photos, videos and map, a type
showing bronze tool process, a type exhibiting bronze tools and instruments and a type
of bronze products describing animals. The crusher stone used to extract copper ore
from Oyu Tolgoi, the stove melting copper from Gobi area, the bar casting bronze
instruments from Khovd province and the stone pan of casting from 4 cornered
mounds and other sites were found, so the objects to exhibit bronze instrument process
are enough. Also, many bronze tools, including the bronze knives, hack and arrowhead
and various bronze instruments with animal images which are the representations of
Skiff-Siberia animal image art are stored in the fund of Archeology Institute and
National Museum, so I believe that these items are enough to exhibit the findings
interestedly.
Hall of Early Iron Age: Archeologists argued that ancient nomadic people lived in
Mongolian territory started to use the iron which was hard and high-qualified material in the
8-7th century BC. The time of Iron Age is different around the world. The people of China
started to use the iron later and people of Korea started to use the iron in 3-2nd century BC.
The iron was started to use in America in the Middle Age. The iron was used firstly in Asia.
The ancient iron findings are connected to the 5000-6000 years BC. The metal processing
technology was introduced to our country through the countries of Middle Asia and nomadic
people began to use the iron before Chinese people.
The findings of Early Iron Age of Mongolia were found and studied from Western Mongolia
near Altai Range. For example: Some grave mounds found from the Chandmani Mount near
Ulaangom, Uvs province in 1970s and grave mounds of “Pazyryk Culture” discovered from
Bayan-Ulgii and Khovd province in last decade are the general representations of this Age.
Funerary traditions and instrument models found from Ulaangom were covered with the
special characteristics and archeologists emphasized it as “Chandmani Culture” in the
archeological books. Total 70 grave mounds of the Chandmani Culture which are divided
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into 4 types were extracted and analyzed. The most interesting grave mounds are the bigsized wooden tomb and total 2-10 people were found from the tomb. Head of the people were
directed to the west and western south and legs were bind. Ceramic pot, lead and golden
earrings, glass necklace, accessories made of marmot tooth and deer tooth, arrowhead made
of bronze, knife, paddle, mirror, buckle, knobble, fang, pendant, awl, animal imaged
ornaments and bone carving, bone buckle, wooden bow and comb were found.
Also, horse, cow, sheep, goat and dog bones for offerings were found from the grave mounds.
There were few iron knife and arrowhead among the findings and it is the evidences of iron
use besides bronze. The human bones found from Chandmani grave mounds were Mongolian
and European styles.
Grave mounds of the semi-nomadic people who lived in Altai basin and used the gold, silver,
bronze, iron and wooden instruments which are the Skiff-Siberian animal image art types
were found from Russian Altai in 1920s. It was named “Pazyryk culture” as name of the
firstly discovered area. The grave mounds of this civilization were stored well due to the
permafrost soil. For this, the findings, including carpet, wooden instruments and horse
accessories were not decayed and buried people were found with the skin and hair as
mummy. For this, it is rare in the world and many scientists pay attention to the findings.
The findings of this type were found near border of our country and Archeology Institute
began the exploration and researches with the archeologists of many countries in mid of
2000. In the exploration results, the grave mounds of “Pazyryk Culture” were found from the
most soums of Bayan-Ulgii province and about 40 grave mounds were extracted and studied.
Well-stored findings, including gold, iron, wood and carpet were discovered from the
extractions. The findings discovered by Mongolian-Russian-German joint expedition from a
grave mound near Olon Guur River, Ulaankhus soum, Bayan-Ulgii province in 2007 were
well-stored.
The grave mound was covered by the wooden tomb. The body of 174 cm tall man who was
30-35 years old was found from the tomb. It was remained with skin and hair.
It was discovered that the man had the tattoo made of blue ink at his chest. Also, marmot skin
garment, felt hat with bird-imaged wooden accessories, short cotton trouser, long felt boot,
belt with wooden buckle, bow and arrow, bronze mirror with felt cover, paddle with wooden
handle, deer-imaged wooden carvings and wild animal-imaged necklace he used, horse he
rode and saddle and whip he used, bowl and horn bowl were well-stored. For this, the
excavation was one of the top 10 findings of world archeology in 2007.
Therefore, there are many findings of Early Iron Age which are interesting to visitors. We are
planning to organize the hall as the followings.
1. The model of Pazyryk warrior who wears the mask with deer horns, bird-imaged
felt hat, marmot skin del and felt boots, rides the horse with golden saddle and
accessories and holds paddle, bow, arrow and knife will be created and placed in
the center of the hall.
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2. The inner parts of the hall will be divided into 2 parts at the help of Model of
Pazyryk Warrior. The Findings of Chandmani Culture will be exhibited at a side
and findings of Pazyryk Culture will be exhibited in other side.
b. Division of Ancient Empires /3rd century BCE to 6th century CE/
We planned that the Xiongnu, Xianbei and Joujan Age are included in the division of Ancient
States, but the archeological findings are connected to only Huns Age. For this, findings and
instruments of the Xiongnu people which established the Mongolian State will be exhibited
in this section.
The Xiongnu established the first empire from the ancient nomadic people of the Central Asia
in the 3rd century BC and conquered the vast territories from South China to Siberia and from
East Turkestan to Korean Peninsula. The territories of the Empire were vast and nations and
clans conquered by the Xiongnu were unlimited. They existed in the world when the world
developed countries, such as Missouri, Rom, Persia and Chinese Khan existed. Also, the
Xiongnu were the bridge between East and West cultures and their military educations were
high, so they could remain their name in the histories of 2 cultures. For this, history and
culture of Xiongnu are significant to the ancient historical survey of the world.
The archeological findings of Xiongnu were appeared everywhere in Mongolia, Baikal and
Tuva, Russian Federation, Inner Mongolia, Xingjian, Khukh Lake and Gansu State, China,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In the recent years, the findings of Xiongnu were found from the
Hungary, Italy and France. The most of findings were registered in territory of our country.
For example: 5000 of the total 7000 grave mounds of Xiongnu and 15 of total 20 cities were
found in our country. In the result of archeological studies, it was proven that Xiongnu were
our ancestors genetically. As above, Xiongnu conquered the vast territories and many
nations. For this, there are many countries which have interests to take the history of
Xiongnu. We plan the Hall of Xiongnu majestically as same as Hall of Mongolian Empire
and will advertise that home territory of Xiongnu is Mongolia and most findings of Xiongnu
are in our country. It is significant cognitively and important to advertise our ancestor’s
contributions in the world history.
Archeological findings of Xiongnu are generally divided into 3 parts, including grave
mounds, settlement centers and craft guilds and rock paintings. The grave mounds were
studied widely. About 500 grave mounds of Xiongnu had been studied for more than 90 years
since Noyon Mount monuments were studied firstly in 1924. Particularly, the grave mounds
of noblemen of the Xiongnu people at Noyon Mount, Gol Mod, Gol Mod-2 and Duurlig Nars
were extracted and analyzed in the recent years. It is shown that these findings are
architectural and engineering monuments which are consistent to the ancient constructions of
the world. Foreign archeologists exclaimed that the grave mound of Xiongnu is the
Underground Pyramid. The grave mound of Hun nobleman was constructed in the 20 m deep
underground and its size was 100 m. The big constructions established under the sands are so
interesting. The holes of nobleman grave mounds are decreased stage by stage up to down
and long tunnel or “gate” was constructed in front of the mound in order to prevent the slip. It
is the evidence of the engineering method showing the pre-planning provided in order to
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remove the earths from the holes. Also, findings which are significant to determine their life,
tradition, art, culture, religion and foreign relations were found from the big grave mounds
and tombs. For example: Expensive carpets, cart painted by lacquer, golden and silver
antelope, dragon, yak and wild goat souvenirs and horse accessories, various kinds of utensil,
ornaments made of jasper, more than 1 m big ceramic vase, golden and silver urn accessories,
necklaces made of glass and precious stones, golden animal-imaged decorations, buckle,
lacquer bowls, bone accessories and gave-away were found from the nobleman tombs and
grave mounds. Horse accessories, utensils, bowls, musical instruments, animal-imaged
bronze instruments and foreign-originated ornaments were found from the simple small grave
mounds. Some of them were instruments originated from the a far Greece-Rom, Egypt, India
and Persia and our ancestors might have contact with the highly developed countries of that
time and used the fascinating things. For this, the grave mounds of Xiongnu are the important
monuments which may be registered in the list of “World Heritage”, UNESCO after Orkhon
Village and Altai Rock Paintings.
Another type of Xiongnu archeological findings is the settlement center and craft guild. The
remains of about 10 cities, including Tereljiin Durvuljin, Gua Dov, Burkhiin Durvuljin,
Khureet Dov and Undur Dov, the “Boroo’s settlement center” village which was the biggest
center of handcrafts and border fortresses, such as Bayanbuleg Turi and Mangas Khuree were
found from our country. Therefore, the production traces, including iron ore processing stove,
ceremony vase and clay product drying stove were found from Khustiin Bulag and East
Baidlag River Village were discovered and studied. The findings are the important evidences
that Mongolian people made the production and did not rob the required products from the
Khan State and western estates.
Besides above monuments, there are the art works of the Xiongnu, including rock paintings,
found from Yamaan-Us, Khovd province, Tsagaan Gol, Govi-Altai province, Khakhuuliin
Gol, Umnugovi province and Del Mount, Dundgovi province. These findings will be the
general material base to organize the Hall of Ancient States, Archeology Museum to be
newly built.
1. The hall will be 2 stories generally. Visitors will go from upstairs to downstairs.
Because the upper floors will be organized stage by stage, such as Xiongnu nobleman
grave mound. In the central part of the hall, the cart with 4 horses, found from the
nobleman grave mound will be placed after its reconstruction. The floor under the cart
will be the clear glass and the nobleman tomb will be placed under it. The gate of the
hall will be same to grave mound’s entrance. The glass box will be made in all stages
of wall and the exhibits will be shown in themes. For this, it will give the feelings as
same as entry to Hun’s nobleman mounds.
2. If the hall is equipped in accordance with this plan, the nobleman tomb will be located
in the central part of the downstairs and it is possible to look the tomb from upper and
next sides.
3. Several thematic exhibits which can give the general concept about Xiongnu will be
located in the upstairs. For example:
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-
Sub-part of general introduction which can show history, territory and findings of
Xiongnu
- Sub-part showing settlement centers and craft guild of Xiongnu
- Sub-part exhibiting Xiongnu and their clothes, garments and accessories
- Sub-part covering Xiongnu and their horse accessories and carts
- Sub-part including utensils and food instruments
- Sub-part showing their foreign relations in reality
4. There may be the several thematic sub-parts covering the art works and rock paintings
of the Xiongnu in the downstairs. The nobleman tomb of the Xiongnu will be located
in this floor, thus the copies of stitched felt rug, animal and plant-imaged textile
materials, urn’s golden, silver, bronze and plate decorations and rock paintings are
suitable to the hall.
c. Division of Post Ancient Empires /Covering 6-12th century AD/
We planned to exhibit the historical and cultural monuments of Turks, Uighur and Khitans
which established their states and existed in Mongolian territory for certain times in this part
of the museum. For this, the halls will be divided into 3 parts as followings.
1. Hall of Turk Empire /7-9th century AD/
2. Hall of Uighur /9-10th century AD/
3. Hall of Khitans /10-12th century AD/
Hall of Turk: Turks are the nomadic people who had resided in the Central Asia from
ancient time and closely related to Mongolians in their history, culture and origin. They
established the powerful Turk Empire which rapidly expanded to rule huge territories,
covering current Mongolia in Central Asia in 6th century AD. The Turk Empire collapsed by
Uighur Empire in 740s. Turk lived in the western parts of Altai Mountains under Joujan
Empire. Turk conquered Joujan Empire under leadership of Buman in 552. Therefore, the
empire interacted extensively with various dynasties, such as many clans and dynasties under
Joujan. Buman moved his palace from west of Altai to Orkhon village. Turks expanded the
territories from Korean Peninsula to Aral Sea and from Great Gobi to Baikal Lake. At that
time, our neighbor China was weak and south Byzantine Empire accepted Turk Empire. Turk
noblemen earned high profits from taxes and trade and were so rich. Their capitalization
made the desire to be independent and they began to struggle each other. In the result of
neighbor countries’ policy to fraction the Empire, Turk Empire was divided into 2 states,
such as East and West in 590s. East Turk succeeded the old Turk Empire and conquered the
territories of North and Inner Mongolia, Buriat and Manchu.
The Tang Dynasty which rapidly expended was established in China in the beginning of 7 th
century and conquered Turk Empire in 630s. Turk was under the Tang Dynasty for 50 years,
but Turk Empire was independent under leadership of Kutulug and his advisor Tonyukuk in
690s. But the Empire was conquered by Uighur 60 years ago or in 745.
There are many monuments of Turk in our country. The monuments are classified to offering,
grave mounds and script monuments. The monuments for offering are the special stone piles
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called “Pagan” with purpose of easing spirit of the dyed people. It is different from grave
mounds. 4 flat stones are boxed in the earth, depending on the origin and rank and in front of
it, human rock is erected. In front of the monument, the long stones are erected frequently. It
is the simple and big complex, consisted of special fence, offering church, course of human
stones and shinning monuments. Simple offering areas were designated to the simple citizens
and juniors and special fenced offering areas were for the noblemen, lords and kings. Most of
the pagans were the simple pagans for simple citizens and juniors and stone valve of the
pagans was blank or illustrative. The monuments were different, including long, short and
designed. The human stones were few, middle or many.
The monuments of Turk for the kings and noblemen are most famous. For example: The
Pagans of Bilge Khan and her brother Kulitegin, located in Khushuu Tsaidam, Khashaat
soun, Arkhangai province, Pagan of Minister Tonyukukyn, located in Nalaikh, Tuv province,
Shiveet Ulaan’s Pagan, located in Bayan-Agt soum, Bulgan province and Ongi Tiver
Monument or Alf Eletmish’s Pagan, located in Uyanga soum, Uvurkhangai province, etc.,
The Pagan of General Kultegin is covered by the 67x29m earth fence and the fence is
surrounded by the protective water canal. Sheep stone sculptures are located in 2 sides of the
East Gate of the fence. In inner parts, 3.3 m big shinning monument with the Turkic
scriptures of “Orkhon-Yenissei” called “Runi” and Chinese Kanji is located. There are the
stone ways from the monument till 10x10m offering church, located in the central part. The
human stones are placed in 2 sides of the way and it might be the biggest art complex. The
offering church is covered by the gold and silver decorations and there are small versions of
the king’s and noblemen’s properties in the church. When the Bilge Khan’s pagan was
extracted and studied in 2002, about 3000 jewels, including golden crown, silver deer
sculpture, golden and silver pots, cups and golden and silver door knobbles were found.
Another monument of ancient Turk is the grave mound. The monuments are divided into
some parts, such as underground stone mounds, tomb with wall paintings and rock mounds
using cliff and canal. The man and horse are found from the simple stone mounds, so it is
called “Mound with horse”. Bow and arrow, sword-belt, knife, knife-grinder, utensil, earring,
wooden comb and horse accessories, including horse bit, saddle wood and footstall the
departed used were found from these grave mounds.
The tombs with wall paintings are the interesting findings which are studied newly in recent
time. About 40 paintings covered by dragon, tiger, horseman and church were discovered
from the tomb near Ulaan Kherem, Bayannuur soum, Bulgan province which was extracted
and analyzed in 2011. Also, various kinds of gold and silver accessories and golden coins
were found from the tomb.
The rock mound is one of the significant findings which keep the integrity of clothes,
weapons and horse accessories. The rare things, such as of weapons, horse accessories and
musical instruments found from the rock mounds are well-stored. For example: Bow and
arrow, horse accessories and wooden musical instrument the warrior used was discovered
from the rock mounds near Jargalant Khairkhan, Mankhan soum, Khovd province found in
2008.
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As above discussion, there are plenty of Turk archeological findings, scripture monuments
and architectural remains in our country. We are planning to organize the Hall of Turk
Empire as the followings.
1. The main Turk archeological monuments are the kind and nobleman pagans,
consisted of the offering pagan, especially offering church, human stone, shinned
stone and animal-imaged stone sculpture, offering stones and earth fence. For this, we
plan to place the model of the pagan in the central part of the hall with its
explanations.
2. Gold and silver accessories, found from Bilge Khan’s pagan are stored in the
Mongolian National Museum and we will exhibit these accessories with the above
model.
3. The findings and artifacts found from the grave mounds and tombs will be divided
into several sub-parts and we will exhibit the life, culture, art and religions of Turks
using the findings, photos and paintings.
4. An important thing is the wall paintings of the tomb found from Bayannuur and it is
possible to exhibit the original copies of these wall paintings as the special hall of the
new museum.
Hall of Uighur Empire: Uighur history is the story of a small semi-nomadic tribe from
the Altai Mountains, which was under the Turk Empire. The Uighur has been under the
Xiongnu, Xianbei, Joujanand Turk Empire from the ancient time. Uighur tried to obtain the
independence in the mid of 8th century and competed with rival powers in Central Asia,
including Turk Empire under leadership of Peilo in 754. Therefore, Uighurs conquered the
tribes of Old Turk Empire and became the most powerful dynasty in Central Asia. After Peilo
died, Moyunchur and Bayanchur (747-759) succeeded the Uighur Crown and expanded the
territories, including Kyrgyz from south and Khitans to the east. Ultimately, the Uighurs
expanded their territories from Altai Mountains to Khyangan Range in the west and from
Gobi to Soyon Mount in the south.
Uighur strengthened for short-time, but collapsed after short times. Uighur collapsed due to
the Kyrgyz tribes which competed in 820s. Kyrgyz won the Uighur in 840 after fought for
many years, entered to the Mongolian territories and destructed their Capital city. Khans and
noblemen of Uighur escaped from Kyrgyz to East Turkestan and East Regions and the
Empire collapsed.
Uighurs developed the foreign trade, handcraft and culture more than other nomadic tribes.
For example: Uighurs made trade in south regions and supported the trade, handcraft and
culture. They had the good relations with Chinese Tan Dynasty, helped them to stifle the
revolts and brought the craftsmen to the country. Uighur constructed the cities and settlement
centers using Chinese craftsmen. As the history, Uighur constructed the Ordu Baliq city
/Black Ruin/ in the Orkhon Village in 751s. Remain of the city is in west bank of Orkhon
River in 30 km from Kharkhorin soum center. As the survey, Black Ruin city was the big
city, covering the 25 km squares and it is the biggest cities among the cities constructed in
our territory. There were several districts, including trade and handcraft part, Khan’s palace
and church. Now, remain of the Khan’s Palace is 600x600 m and has 4 cornered fence. The
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fence height is reached to 12m. There are the traces of canals surrounding the fence.
Fascinating palace, church and stupa were in the fence. Also, the shinning stones with
“Uighur, Sogd, Runic and Chinese script” were found from the Black Ruin.
Black Ruin is one of the important findings which were registered in the archeological
finding list of “World Heritage”, UNESCO.
Besides the Black Ruin, several city remains were discovered from our territories. For
example: “Biibulag’s ruin” or Baibalyk city ruin, located in Khutag-Undur soum, Bulgan
province. The city was consisted of 3 surrounding muddy fences. Its middle fence is
235x238m. The wall of the fence was 7 m high in some parts of the ruin. As the reference
materials, Baibalyk was the cultural center of Uighur. Sogd and Chinese craftsmen and
traders resided in the city and made trade. Also, Sogd scientists visited to the city and
distributed the Buddhism and translated books and sutras into Uighur.
The biggest representation of the findings related to Uighur is the offering construction
complex called as “Offering Pagan” which was surrounded by the shinning stones and fences
for kings and noblemen of Uighur Empire. The significant representation of these monuments
is the “Mogoin Shine Us” monument, located in the territory of Saikhan soum, Bulgan
province which is the offering pagan for the 2nd Uighur King Moyunchur. The monument is
covered by the 47 x25m long and square earth fences. There are the stone piles for the
offering in the central part of the fences. There is a big shinning stone with turtle fundament
behind the stone piles. The biography and successes of Monyunchur King were carved in
Turk script called “Orkhon-Yenisei” on the monument. The shinning monument with the
Turk script as same as above is the “Terkh scripture monument” found from Tariat soum,
Arkhangai province. The monument is kept in the archeological institute, Science Academy.
These monuments prove that the Uighur used Turk script. The several monuments with
Uighur script we know were studied. For example: “Doloodoi’s script” monument and
Taikhar stone script, kept in the museum of Uvs province and Khairkhan script found from
Jargalant soum, Govi-Altai province.
There are many human stones and grave mounds of the Uighur people which were found and
studied. For the grave mounds, it is similar to the grave mounds of Turk. They buried the man
with the horse and used the round stone block. Also, the tombs have been discovered and
studied in the recent years. For example: Olon dov monument, located in Khotont soum,
Arkhangai province and “Shoroon Bumbagar”, located in Zaamar soum, Tuv province, etc.,
The wooden dolls and horse and animal images which were accurate and well-designed were
found from “Shoroon Bumbagar” tomb and these findings are sufficient to be used as
museum exhibits.
We are planning to organize the Hall of Uighur using the above monuments and artifacts
found from archeological research results.
1. The model of King Palace with earth fences in Black Ruin city will be placed in
the central part of the hall. It is the important monument, registered in “World
Heritage”, UNESCO. For this, it is significant in advertisement and suitable to
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exhibit the city images of ancient nomadic people. Mongolian-German joint
expedition extracts and studies the Black Ruin Monument, so we think that they
can give use the information required to make the model.
2. Besides the Model, located in the central part of the hall, we will exhibit findings,
artifacts and shining monument scripts in a side of the hall. Also, we can exhibit
the Moyunchur’s shinning monument, Terkh monument and Doloodoi’s
monument of Uighur Age. Because Moyunchur’s shinning monument is outside
without the protection, it is eroded. It is possible to place the original monument in
this museum.
3. The artifacts found from the grave mounds and tombs will be exhibited in other
side of the hall. We are planning to exhibit the artifacts, such as wooden doll ,
horse and animal images found from Shoroon Bumbagar, Zaamar as the special
part.
Hall of Khitan (Liao) Empires: Khitans are the nomadic Mongolic people, originally
from Mongolia. Khitans are the generations of Eastern Hu of the Xiongnu and the Xianbei
after Xiongnu Empire. They were the main enemies of Turk, but served to Uighur. The
Khitans had great powers since Ambagyani of Elyu Tribe was selected as a leader of 8 Khitan
tribes in 901. Khitans adopted the laws in 921, issued the ranks to the ministers and made the
administrative innovation. Therefore, Khitans could be the Empire by conquering the
neighbor countries. At the time, Khitans changed the empire name as “Great Liao” or “Iron
Empire”. Liao Empire covered 55 dynasties and implemented the administrative units,
including South 16, North 28 and Foreign 8. The country had the 5 capital cities and covered
the Altai Mountains to the west, Shar Sea to the east, Kherlen River to the north and Shar
River to the south. South China, Bokhai or Korean settled people, nomadic people of North
Regions and semi-settled citizens and traders of West Regions were included in the Empire.
Liao divided the administrative systems into south and north in order to organize these tribes.
The settled people were included to south administrative unit and nomadic people were
included to the north unit.
Liao Empire lost its powers due to the uprisings of Zurchid in 1113 and collapsed in 1125
due to the joint attack of Altan Dynasty established by Zurchid and Chinese Sun Dynasty.
After the fall of Liao in 1125, some people led by Yelyu Dash of Khitan King Family moved
further west and established the state of Kara Khitan in East Turkestan, which was finally
destroyed by the Mongol Empire.
The Mongolia was a border state of Khitan Empire. For this, Khitans administrated Mongolia
by dictators. The most of Khitan monuments found from our country are the remains of cities
and walls led by the dictator. For example: Chintolgoi, Ulaan Kherem, Khermen Denj and
Khar Bukha Balgas along Tuul River and East Kherem, West Kherem and Bars city-I along
the Kherlem River were the remains of cities led by dictators. The Chintolgoi Fence was
studied well and name of this city was noted as “Cheni-joy” or “Queen City” in the history.
Because the city was built by the initiative of Khitan hetaera in 994. The remain of the city is
located in the territory of Dashinchelin soum, Bulgan province. In the result of extraction of
the ruin for long years, remains of the buildings and grain warehouse were found. Also,
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ceramic vase, game, tooth brush, ceramic sculpture and coin which can show the life and
culture of the people were found from the ruin. Chintolgoi Fence is 1256 x 655 m earth
square fence and 20000 Khitan warriors resided in this city. About 700 families of Bokhai
/Korea/ and Zurchid /Manchu/ were settled in this city compulsorily in order to provide their
food demands. For this, findings of Chintolgoi ruin keep the features of Khitan, Korea and
Manchu. After Yelyu Dashi moved with the warriors who were in Chintolgoi city to the west,
the city was destroyed.
An interesting monument of Khitan’s cities is the “Kherlen Bars Stupa”, located on the bank
of Kherlen River. This monument is located in the Khitan fence called Bars city-1, located on
the bank of the Baruun Duruu Lake, Tsagaan Ovoo soum, Dornod province. There were
double stupas, but small or 5-story stupa was destroyed in 1940s and 7-story stupa was
remained. The monument of Khitan Age is the highest building among our ancient
monuments.
Khitan scripture monument is rare all over the world and no one could still decipher the
script. Several important monuments of “Great” and “Small” script of Khitan were found
from our country. For example: Branch Mount scripture, located in Murun soum, Khentii
province, Taikhar stone scripture, located in Arkhangai province and Buleen Ovoo’s scripture
monument, located in Erdene soum, Dornogovi province.
There are many grave mounds and tombs related to Khitan period found from our country.
For example: Dugui Tsakhir rock mound, found from Bayantsagaan soum, Bayankhongor
province in 1997. The dry human body, the clothes, including hat, garment, silk del, skin del,
sword-belt, trouser, hide boots and shoes, the weapons, including bow and arrow, the animal
accessories, including saddle, footstall, hair rope, whip and horse bit and the utensils,
including wooden bowl, lacquer bowl, upper frame, wall and felt were found from this rock
mound. The findings are concerned to the Khitan and the archeologist who studied the
artifacts argued that it was the grave mounds of Naiman and Khereid tribes, existed in Khitan
period. For this, these monuments are the significant findings to determine cultures of
Mongolian people lived during Khitan period.
We are planning to organize the Hall of Khitan as followings:
1. The model of 7-story stupa of Kherlen Bars in the central part of the hall. The
monument is interesting because of the highest monument found from our
country. Also, it is the famous monument of Khitan. The several similar stupas
were found from China and studied well, thus it is possible to restore the
monuments.
2. City and fence ruins and artifacts of Khitan state will be placed in a side of the
hall. For the architecture, Khitan cities found from Mongolia contained the effects
of China, Korea, Manchu and Uighur and the findings and artifacts reflected the
cultural effects of these countries. The interesting artifacts, including tooth brush,
mechanic game and ceramic sculpture found from the Khitan city extractions and
we think that it can increase the significances of this part.
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3. Dels, garments, weapons and animal accessories will be placed in other side of the
hall. People can see what are the images, clothes, weapons and animal accessories
of ancient Mongolian people.
d/ Division of the Great Mongol Empire /12-15th century AD/
The 13-14th century is called as “Mongolian century” in the world history. An obscure group
of Central Asian nomads exploded across the steppes and established the world's largest
contiguous empire in history - the Mongol Empire. The Mongols took control of
approximately 40 big and small states from the backs of their sturdy little horses. The
beginning of this great empire is related to conquering the Merged, Tatar, Khereid and
Naiman tribes and establishing the Great Mongol Empire after Chinggis Khan was raised as
king of Khamag Mongol Tribe. The Mongolian people were joined under the leadership of
Chinggis Khan in 1206, they moved against the neighboring Tangut and Altan dynasty and
conquered the Koresm in the west. The empire was expanded till East Europe and Middle
Asia in the Ugudei, Guyug and Munkh Khan Age and till South China and Eastern South
Asia in Khubilai Khan Age. Unfortunately, the great empire was divided into states: Golden
Orde, Il Khant, Chagadai’s State and Yuan State. The most of these states collapsed due to
the cultural and religious policies and uprisings in the late 14th century and early 15th century.
Mongolian people wrote a history of a century of the world, so they remained their traces
everywhere. For this, one of the interesting things foreign tourists want to see is the historical
trace of this great empire. Therefore, our people, but not only foreigners are proud of the
history of Chinggis Khan and want to see the remains and cultures of this great empire. For
this, the hall of Great Mongol Empire at the archeology museum to be newly built is the most
important part of the museum. It is required to exhibit the findings, found from Mongolia and
other countries as the photo or copy.
The archeological monuments and artifacts related to the history of Great Mongol Empire,
found from Mongolia are the clothes, weapons and accessories found from the grave mounds.
Also, there are the utensils, trace of production and handcraft and human stones found as the
survey of Kharakhorum and Aurag Ord. For example: the grave mounds in Mongolia were
found in 2 types, such as the underground stone-covered grave mounds and rock mounds at
the rock grave. The stone-covered grave mounds are the mostly studied from these mounds.
The most stone-covered grave mounds are long shaped and covered by the wooden urn /no
wooden urn/ in 1.2m deep hole. Artifacts in the grave mounds were different, depending on
the age and sex of the person. For example: arrowhead, wooden bow, iron knife, belt
accessory, wooden comb, iron scissor, bronze mirror, golden earrings, stone necklace and hat.
The so interesting heritages, such as golden and silver accessories, animal accessories, bone
belt, bronze, golden and silver belt accessories and portable golden seat were found from the
several grave mounds, located in Tavan tolgoi, Ongon soum, Sukhbaatar province. Also, 3
kinds of garment and golden belt accessories were discovered from the grave mounds,
located in Bukhiin Khoshuu, Delgerkhaan soum, Khentii province. Archeologists argued that
these grave mounds are the mounds of noblemen, but it is not the mounds of khan. The
artifacts were well stored in the rock mounds. The precious heritages, such as hat, boot,
garment and belt of the noblemen of that age were found from Tsagaan Khanan grave
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mounds, Noyon soum, Umnugovi province, but the saddles, horse bits, iron sword with
wooden pack, bow with horn, different kinds of arrow and belt accessories were discovered
from Artsat Del rock mound, located in Bumbugur soum, Bayankhongor province.
There are many city and settlement center ruins of Great Mongolian Empire in Mongolia:
Kharakhorum, Avargin Balgas, Khushinteel Balgas and Shaazan khot. Ruin of Kharakhorum
city, Capital of Great Mongol Empire and ruin of “Aurag” or “Avargin Balgas” which is the
Palace of Great Chinggis Khan, located in current Delgerkhaan soum, Khentii province were
studied well. In the result of several long-term archeological excavations and surveys in
Kharakhorum city ruin, the general structure, trade street, trans-national district and Buddhist
monastery of the city were discovered. Also, ceramic burning stoves were newly found. The
large number of ceramic products, iron and steel products, golden and silver accessories and
coins which show the property level of that age were gathered from Kharakhorum city
excavations.
About 60 human stones, found from the East Mongolia were created at the Great Mongol
Empire Age. The images of human at the human stones were clearly described, thus I can be
deemed as the sculpture. Garments, belts, accessories and chairs described at the stones are
significant to study clothes and instruments of this age.
The above-mentioned archeological heritages and artifacts are the important facts which
show life, image, rank, property culture, production development and city structures of the
people of Great Mongolian Empire Age. But it is impossible to restore age of the 13-14th
century based on these heritages and artifacts. For this, it is required to organize the
archeological research results and artifacts interestingly using comparative pictures, books
and computer graphic effects. We are planning to organize the hall of Great Mongol Empire
as the followings.
1. The first part will be divided into 2 halls and we are planning to add the hall of Great
Emperors’ successors, or cultural heritage hall of Mongolians in foreign countries, or
hall of great works of Middle Age.
2. In the first hall, there will be the heritages which exhibit history of Mongolian state
establishment, Chinggis khan and his successors and the several thematic exhibits
which show images, traditions, garments, accessories and weapons of Mongolian
people of 13-14th century. It is possible to create wax sculpture of horseman who is
equipped with the weapons which show the military force and wax sculpture of
Mongolian woman who is decorated by traditional hat and long garment in the central
part of this hall. Our planning other version is to place human stone which is the
representative of Mongolian Age. The images, garments and accessories of the
noblemen of that period were described at the human stones accurately.
3. In the second hall, several thematic exhibits which show the foreign relations, foreign
policies and dependent nations of Great Mongol Empire and Mongolian contributions
to the history of world will be exhibited. In the central part of this hall, the model of
the Tumen Amgalant Palace of Ugudei khan which was the main building of
Kharakhorum city will be created with the famous silver wood. It is possible to
exhibit it as the model or 3D and 4D type using computer graphics.
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List of figures:
Figure 1: Stone Tool of Paleolithic (Uyench soum, Khovd province)
Figure 2: Micro Tools of Upper Paleolithic (Zuukhiin Suuren, Bayankhongor province)
Figure 3: Part of Human Skull of Paleolithic found from Mongolia (Norovlin, Khentii
province)
Figure 4: Red ochre painting of Paleolithic (North Tsenkher Cave, Khovd province)
Figure 5: Human accessories of Neolithic (Norovlin grave mound, Dornod province)
Figure 6: Exhibits of the U.S. Natural History Museum /Part of Mammals/
Painting 2: General sample on Hall of Stone Age of newly planning museum
Figure 7: Plan of burial mounds (frame is 20x18m and stone pile diameter is 15m with 13
supportive parts in 2 rows in left of the burial mound which was found from the Egiin Gol,
Bulgan province)
Figure 8: Deer Stone (Jargalantiin Am, Arkhangai province)
Figure 9: Bronze artifacts in Bronze Age
Figure 10: Four-cornered mound /Uglugchiin Gol, Khentii province/
Figure 11: Part of Rock Painting registered in the list of World Heritage /Shiveet Khairkhan,
Bayan-Ulgii province/
Illustration 3: General appearance on Hall of Bronze Age of newly planning museum
Figure 12: Rock painting exhibit in Bangude Museum, Korea
Figure 13: Ceramic Vase with animal image pattern, found from Chandmani mound
/Ulaangom, Uvs province/
Figure 14: Bronze knife found Chandmani mound /Ulaangom, Uvs province/
Figure 15: Animal skin garment found from Pazyryk cultural mound /Olon guuriin gol,
Bayan-Ulgii province/
Figure 16: Wild sheep-shaped wooden souvenir found from Pazyryk grave mounds /Olon
Guuriin Gol, Bayan-Ulgii province/
Figure 17: Horseman of Pazyryk restored based on the artifacts found from mound
Illustration 4: Hall of Early Iron Age of the newly planned museum
Figure 18: Tomb Mounds of Xiongnu nobleman, located in Noyon Mount
Figure 19: Gold, Silver and Stone accessories found from tomb mound of Xiongnu nobleman
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Translation from Mongolian
Figure 20: Part of ancient Persian textile found from Xiongnu tomb/Noyon Mount, Tuv
province/
Figure 21: General drawing of Xiongnu city found from Mongolia
Illustration 5: Hall of Xiongnu of the newly planned museum
Figure 22: Golden Crown found from Turk Bilge Khagan
Figure 23: Shinning monument with Turk Runic script /Tonikuk’s monument, Tuv province/
Figure 24: Rock painting of Turk Age /Shoroon Bumbagar, Bayannuur, Bulgan province/
Illustration 6: Appearance of Hall of Turk Empire of the newly planned museum
Figure 25: Satellite picture of Khan Palace of Black Ruin, Capital of Uighur Dynasty /Khar
Balgas, Arkhangai province/
Figure 26: Bugat shinning monument of Uighur Empire /Tsetserleg soum, Arkhangai
province/
Illustration 7: Appearance of Hall of Uighur of the newly planned museum
Figure 27: Stupa of Khitan /Kherlen Bars city ruin, Dornod province/
Figure 28: Ware found from Chin tolgoi excavation /Dashinchilen, Bulgan province/
Illustration 8: Appearance of Hall of Khitan of the newly planned museum
Figure 29: Floor of Buddhist Temple, Kharakhorum city of Great Mongol Empire
/Kharkhorin, Uvurkhangai province/
Figure 30: Golden bracelet found from Kharkhorum excavation
Figure 31: Ware of Great Mongol Empire /Kharkhorin, Uvurkhangai province/
Illustration 9: Appearance of 1st Hall of Great Mongol Empire of the newly planned museum
Illustration 10: Appearance of 2nd Hall of Great Mongol Empire of the newly planned
museum
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