Emily Chan
While surveying the ruins of an abandoned fortress in northeastern Mongolia, a team of archaeologists unexpectedly discovered an elite grave that contained the remains of a woman dressed in a yellow silk robe.
The fortress is known as Khar Nuur and was part of a long wall that extended throughout the countryside. It was built sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries during the Kitan Liao Empire.
The empire once controlled vast areas of land, including large portions of central and eastern Mongolia.
After its downfall in 1125, the Mongolian Empire, led by Genghis Khan (Chinggis Khan), rose to prominence. The period between these two empires is poorly understood due to a lack of preserved historical and archaeological evidence.
The woman’s burial offers insight into the lives of people in the region who existed more than 1,000 years ago.
“The period between the fall of the Liao dynasty and the rise of the Mongol state and empire is a relatively obscure period in the history as well as the archaeology of this region—partly because there was no centralization of control over Mongolia and no strong political entity, so investment in monuments is less than other periods,” explained Shelach-Lavi, a professor and archaeologist who was part of the excavation project.
In addition, Mongolia has been largely unexplored. The team was the first to target the area where the grave was found. The burial was unmarked and hidden within one of the walls at Khar Nuur.
It consisted of a wooden coffin, various grave goods, and the body of a woman. Only 25 other Mongolian burials from this period have been discovered in total.
Radiocarbon dating of the well-preserved skeleton revealed that it belonged to a woman who was between 40 and 60 years old at the time of her death. She was buried between 1158 and 1214 C.E. She was wearing a yellow silk robe and a birchbark headdress that resembled traditional medieval women’s hats.
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