Archaeologists Search for Hidden Tomb of Genghis Khan

October 20th, 2008

The first news is that there might even be a hidden tomb that holds the body of Genghis Khan. The legend goes that Genghis Khan lies buried somewhere beneath the dusty steppe of Northeastern Mongolia, entombed in a spot so secretive that anyone who made the mistake of encountering his funeral procession was executed on the spot.

Upon his burial, his men brought in horses to trample evidence of his grave, and just to be absolutely sure he would never be found, they diverted a river to flow over their leader’s final resting place.

So…800 years later, scientists at UC San Diego’s Center for Interdisciplinary Science in Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3), are taking a look to see if they can find it. Interestingly enough they will be using advanced visualization technologies whose origins can be traced back to the time of the Mongolian emperor himself. Too bad they didn’t have as effective acne treatment back then, or decent plumbing for that matter.

“As outrageous as it might sound, we’re looking for the tomb of Genghis Khan,” says Dr. Albert Yu-Min Lin, an affiliated researcher for CISA3. “Genghis Khan was one of the most exceptional men in all of history, but his life is too often dismissed as being that of a bloodthirsty warrior. Few people in the West know about his legacy — that he united warring tribes of Mongolia and merged them into one, that he introduced the East to the West making explorations like those of Marco Polo possible, that he tried to create a central world currency, that he introduced a written language to the Mongol people and created bridges that we still use today within the realm of international relations.

“But as great a man he was, there are few clues and no factual evidence about Genghis Khan’s burial, which is why we need to start using technology to solve this mystery.”