The Hunt for Genghis Khan’s Tomb

Genhis Khan, the 13th-century conqueror and imperial ruler, died 800 years ago. Historians, archaeologists, and grave robbers have searched for his tomb ever since he died. Germans, Japanese, Americans, Russians, and Brits all have led expeditions in search of his grave, spending millions of dollars. All have failed... until possibly now.

Legend has it that Khan’s funeral escort killed anyone who crossed their path to conceal where the conqueror was buried. Those who constructed the funeral tomb were also killed—as were the soldiers who killed them. One historical source holds that 10,000 horsemen “trampled the ground so as to make it even”; another that a forest was planted over the site, a river diverted. All of this is legend. No one knows if any of these stories are true or not.

Using drones and surface-penetrating radar, and enlisting the help of thousands of people to sift through satellite data and photographs, a team of America and Mongolian scholars and archeologists has searched the mountain range in a remote area in northwestern Mongolia, systematically photographing 4,000 square miles of landscape looking for any hidden structures or odd-seeming formations. Now the team believes they have some solid clues.

You can read more in an article in The Daily Beast at http://goo.gl/o0Tdf.

My thanks to newsletter reader Larry Head for telling me about this article.