Before his death, the emperor left a will that his tomb would forever remain undiscovered. Almost 800 years later, his tomb remains the greatest mystery for archaeologists.
Emperor Genghis Khan – the most revered emperor by the Mongolian people
In 1227, Genghis Khan – the great conqueror in human history – died after forcing the Western Xia to surrender. His death remains the most mysterious to historians, according to Ancient Origins.
According to the writings of Marco Polo – the first European to travel across Asia during the Middle Ages – Genghis Khan died from a poisoned arrow that struck his knee. However, the Mongolian Secret History – the official chronicle of the Mongolian people – states that Genghis Khan died after falling from his horse during a hunting trip.
Just like the death of the “Mongol Warlord”, the location of his tomb is also a puzzle that has yet to be solved by modern scholars. Throughout his life of warfare, Genghis Khan and his world-famous cavalry swept across from Asia to Europe, plundering and dominating countless wealthy cities.
According to Qulishi, Genghis Khan’s tomb undoubtedly contains numerous treasures and riches from Western and Eastern cultures. His tomb is even said to be a hundred times richer than the famous Tomb of Qin Shi Huang in Xian, China.
The only certain thing that historical records agree on about Genghis Khan is that his body was brought back to Mongolia after his death. Many Mongolian historians believe that Genghis Khan was buried near the Onon River. According to Marco Polo’s writings, Genghis Khan may have been buried in the Altai Mountains – a place where many Mongolian kings are said to have rested in peace.
The death of Thành Cát Tư Hãn is still a mystery to this day
Mongolia’s history does not record anything about the tomb of Genghis Khan. It is possible that the location of the tomb has been erased from official records. Even today, Mongolians do not want the world to find the final resting place of their great leader. There are many rumors that Genghis Khan’s tomb is protected by a deadly curse. However, no curse is strong enough to deter archaeologists from searching for his tomb.
In 2001, Maury Kravitz, a wealthy businessman from Chicago, organized a search for Genghis Khan’s tomb in the Khentii Mountains of northern Mongolia. After four expensive and unsuccessful attempts, the Mongolian government banned Kravitz’s archaeological team from digging in the mountains.
In 2000, a group of famous Chinese archaeologists claimed that they had found Genghis Khan’s tomb in a mountain in the northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang. However, the team could not provide any evidence to support their claim.
According to legend, as a young man, Genghis Khan fled to the top of the Khentii Mountains to escape his enemies. Standing on the mountain peak, he prayed to the heavens for the strength to unify the Mongol tribes.
Khentii is a mountainous region that many people suspect to be the location of the tomb of Genghis Khan
The will of Genghis Khan later became a reality and he believed that the Khentii Mountains had given him strength. Khentii became a sacred mountain of the Mongolian people. In the Middle Ages, Khentii was called Burkhan Khaldun, which means “Great Forbidden Place” in Mongolian.
In 2009, Albert Lin, with the sponsorship of the National Geographic channel, organized a large-scale search for the tomb of Genghis Khan in the Khentii Mountains. Their advanced archaeological methods, which did not involve excavation of the terrain, received a lot of attention. The archaeological team discovered a large and diverse collection of artifacts such as arrowheads and pottery in an area covering over 10,000 square kilometers.
In another effort, the Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California, USA, used high-resolution 3D technology to search for Genghis Khan’s tomb around the Khentii Mountains with the help of over 10,000 volunteers. However, information about Genghis Khan’s tomb remains elusive.
According to Qulishi, the clue leading to Genghis Khan’s tomb was hidden by his loyal sons and generals using a single method: killing anyone who knew about it.
“When Thành Cát Tư Hãn’s remains were brought from Tây Hạ to his homeland, Mongol soldiers killed anyone they encountered on the way. After Thành Cát Tư Hãn was buried in his tomb, 1,000 horses were brought in to trample any remaining traces. A tent was erected to cover the tomb and trees were planted around it until the ground returned to its normal state. The group of soldiers tasked with burying Thành Cát Tư Hãn were either forced to commit suicide or killed by another group of soldiers to protect the secret,” Qulishi wrote.
In 2002, a group of American archaeologists led by historian Woods from the University of Chicago claimed to have found Thành Cát Tư Hãn’s tomb on a mountain about 200 km north of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. However, they were unable to excavate the tomb due to a “curse.”
According to the group, Thành Cát Tư Hãn’s tomb is protected by a wall over 2 km long. Many snakes suddenly appeared and sprayed venom when members of the archaeological team dug up to the wall. In addition, many of the team’s vehicles suddenly rolled down the mountain for unknown reasons. Many Mongolians also condemned the American archaeologists for disrespecting their ancestors. Finally, Woods’ archaeological team had to return to the US with regret.
According to the historical research website Grunge, the reason why Thành Cát Tư Hãn’s tomb has not been found to this day is that his body was buried in a very simple way.
“The great conqueror’s body was contained in a coffin carved from a large tree trunk. After the burial, thousands of horses were brought in to erase any traces. At the burial site, the loyal generals of Thành Cát Tư Hãn would kill a baby camel right in front of its mother. The next year, they would release the mother camel. It would naturally find the spot where its young was killed and shed tears. The generals held the first and last memorial service for Thành Cát Tư Hãn. After that, no one ever went there again,” Grunge describes.
The tomb of Thanh Cat Tu Han is believed to contain countless treasures acquired from his conquests.
Grunge also mentions some other theories that suggest that Emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried in the form of a watery grave. The generals buried the emperor’s stone coffin along with countless treasures at the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul, located in present-day northeastern Kyrgyzstan. There is a legend that the emperor’s soldiers diverted an entire river to create a resting place for their leader.
In addition to scarce historical records, the search for Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb also faces many technical challenges.
The Mongolian territory is very vast, with many uninhabited areas. Mongolia is 7 times the size of the UK but has a transportation system that is only 2%. The population density of Mongolia is extremely low, making it one of the lowest in the world. In such conditions, finding a tomb is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
In the end, after nearly 8 centuries of searching efforts, the world still has not found any clues to determine the location of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb.
