A watershed moment for Mongolian archaeology!

Over 20,000 petroglyphs recently found in the south Gobi:

Highlighting four rock art discoveries from this archaeological survey in Ömnögov’ Province - a thread 🧵

1/n isee.mn/n/57644






Dr. T. Iderkhangai (Ulaanbaatar University) led a team to conduct an archaeological survey in Gurvantes County, the westernmost county of Ömnögov’ Province.

Local authorities requested and funded their work in the Baysakh and Goyot districts (баг/bag) of Gurvantes.

2/n

“The enigmatic deer stones speckling the Mongolian steppe have long invited questions. Now fresh research is providing clues to why they were carved and what they may represent”: the-past.com/feature/conjur…

1/n Deerstones can stand up to 4.8m tall, are generally granite, and were produced between 1300-700 BCE (Mongolia's Late Bronze Age).

These stele get their name from their "exaggerated, strikingly stylised maral (Cervus elaphus sibiricus, Siberian red deer)" engraved imagery.

2/n

Always fun to see someone tweet about a cool find from a Xiongnu burial!

In this case, it’s the ‘Roman’ glass bowl from Gol Mod 2, which is deserving of its own thread 🧵

https://twitter.com/the_jackmeister/status/1621579540563742722

1/n Here’s a different picture of the Gol Mod 2 glass bowl, from “Encyclopaedia Xiongnu” (2013), edited by Tsagaan Törbat:

2/n

The Aluchaideng (Ar Tsaidam) crown – a thread:
dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/fisher/ima…

1/n In 1972, archaeologists excavating two monumental burials at Aluchaideng (Ar Tsaidam/Ар Цайдам in Mongolian) in Inner Mongolia [Hanggin banner, Ikh Zuu aimag/Ordos prefecture] discovered this crown along with numerous other spectacular artifacts.

2/n

A recent article by Dr. Ruslan Muradov on highlights of the history and archaeology in Turkmenistan prompted me to look into how some of these sites bear witness to the Mongol conquest of Western and Central Asia (H/T @caa_network): voicesoncentralasia.org/between-the-ar…

A thread 🧵

1/n Three city ruins discussed by Dr. Muradov were key sites in the expansion of the Mongol Empire: Nisa, Merv, and Urgench.

2/n

Previously unrecorded images discovered and photographed at the multi-period Del Uul rock art complex in Mongolia – a thread 🧵

1/n Del Uul is a famous petroglyph complex in the Middle Gobi (Dundgov’ Province). Although well known in Mongolia itself, the Del Uul complex has not received the international attention that it deserves.

[Images source: ikon.mn/p/krb]
2/n

Earlier this year, a joint Mongol-Turkish research team led by Mongolian historian Dr. D. Ankhbayar discovered what they believe are the ruins of the summer palace of Hülegü (Хүлэг, Hüle’ü, Hulagu) Khan: eguur.mn/341309/

[Previous thread:

https://twitter.com/csen_nomads/status/1537209515711442945

]

2/n Further work at this site has yielded more evidence that this was a Mongol period construction in the form of ceramic fragments in the Mongol style: facebook.com/urugmnmedia/po…

3/n

Has the Dragon City, capital of the Xiongnu/Khunnu, been discovered?
A thread on an amazing archaeological find from Central Mongolia:
1/n Dr. Iderkhangai Tömör-Ochir and his team of archaeologists from Ulaanbaatar University have conducted years of research at an earthen walled site in the Khangai just north of the extensively-studied Xiongnu/Khunnu cemetery at Tamiryn Ulaan Khoshuu cemetery. 2/n

The ship of the desert vs. the iron horse, a thread! 1/4 A camel caused train delays in southern Russia as it jogged along the tracks in front of a passenger train (H/T @KennyLinden): bbc.com/news/blogs-new…
2/4