S. Reichert, N. Erdene-Ochir, S. Linzen, L. Munkhbayar, J. Bemmann
{"title":"Overlooked—Enigmatic—Underrated: The City Khar Khul Khaany Balgas in the Heartland of the Mongol World Empire","authors":"S. Reichert, N. Erdene-Ochir, S. Linzen, L. Munkhbayar, J. Bemmann","doi":"10.1080/00934690.2022.2085916","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Cities in the Eurasian steppes, a core of nomadic empires, are rare. Erecting a city from scratch is even less typical. However, Khar Khul Khaany Balgas, situated north of the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia, is such an exceptional example, never built over by subsequent settlements. Overlooked until now because researchers dated its latest settlement phase into the 17th century a.d., the first radiocarbon dates and material culture prove its existence during the Mongol empire only. During the past years, we conducted comprehensive geophysical and topographic mapping of the site, as well as a pedestrian survey, including its hinterland, and excavated a kiln. The layout of the city resembles that of the capital, Karakorum. Both cities together reveal that the Mongol Khans had a specific idea about the organization of a city. They were dependent on Chinese craftsmen to erect the buildings but not on Chinese city planning and ideology.","PeriodicalId":47452,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":"47 1","pages":"397 - 420"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2022.2085916","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT Cities in the Eurasian steppes, a core of nomadic empires, are rare. Erecting a city from scratch is even less typical. However, Khar Khul Khaany Balgas, situated north of the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia, is such an exceptional example, never built over by subsequent settlements. Overlooked until now because researchers dated its latest settlement phase into the 17th century a.d., the first radiocarbon dates and material culture prove its existence during the Mongol empire only. During the past years, we conducted comprehensive geophysical and topographic mapping of the site, as well as a pedestrian survey, including its hinterland, and excavated a kiln. The layout of the city resembles that of the capital, Karakorum. Both cities together reveal that the Mongol Khans had a specific idea about the organization of a city. They were dependent on Chinese craftsmen to erect the buildings but not on Chinese city planning and ideology.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Field Archaeology is an international, refereed journal serving the interests of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, scientists, and others concerned with the recovery and interpretation of archaeological data. Its scope is worldwide and is not confined to any particular time period. Contributions in English are welcomed from all countries.