October 2006 www.mnh.si.edu/arctic

Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History

Chinggis Khaan: 800 Years of Mongolian Statehood

WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR

William W. Fitzhugh, Director of the Arctic Studies Center

Sain Banu!!! Welcome to the Smithsonian’s festival

celebrating this anniversary of Mongolia’s birth as a nation!

800 years ago Chinggis Khaan, born in 1162 as Temujin, unified

the warring Mongol tribes and built an empire stretching from

the Pacific Ocean to the Hungarian plains. During the first week

of October, 2006, the National Museum of Natural History,

together with the Embassy of Mongolia and the Smithsonian

Associates present a special three-day program to bring the art,

culture, and history of this little-known region of Central Asia

to the American public and the wider world. During this period

we will present a cornucopia of musical performances, seminars, workshops, lectures, films, art and photography exhibits,

and scientific demonstrations that will bring ancient and modern

Mongolia to life.

To many Americans, Mongolia seems as distant as that

day in the 13th century when Temujin

was proclaimed Khan of all Mongol

peoples and received the title ‘Chinggis

Khaan.’ In the succeeding three hundred

years Mongol hegemony and influence

spread throughout much of central

Eurasia, as it did also at the end of the

Ice Age when Mongol-related peoples

immigrated into the Americas, via Bering

Strait, first as ancestors of American

Indians, and later as its Eskimo peoples.

Throughout most of the 20th century

Mongolia was hidden from the West as

an occupied border state contested by the

Soviet Union and China, and nearly half

of its people and territory (Inner

Mongolia) were absorbed into China.

Emerging from Soviet dominance in 1990,

Mongolia claimed its independence and has begun to modernize

its economy, education, and political systems and has re-joined

the free democratic world.

Mongolia at 800 is vastly different in 2006 that it was

even five years ago when I first started archaeological studies of

its Bronze Age monuments in 2001. But what a half-century of

Soviet domination and Chinese influence never could change

was the spirit and openness of Mongolia’s independent-minded

people. Year after year I marvel at the beauty of the Mongolian

country, the open hearts of its people, and the traditions that

Mongolians have maintained, reaching back over the centuries.

Experiencing this festival, I think you will recognize there

is a little ‘Mongolia’ in all of us. We welcome Mongolia back

into the wider circle of cultures and acknowledge the contributions they have made to the world over the past millennium.

Due to the wonders of modern DNA science we are told that we

are all, to some small degree, descendants of Chinggis Khaan. I

guarantee that through this festival and its educational programs

you will experience your Mongol relatedness in different ways

than millions did in the 13-14th centuries! 

WELCOME FROM THE AMBASSADOR

Ravdan Bold, Ambassador to the United States

In the heart of the vast Eurasian plateau only one nation

sandwiched between two giants survived without being swallowed

up like numerous others.

That nation is Mongolia, a land of seemingly endless steppe

and barren sand dunes bordered by snowcapped mountain ranges — a land known

for centuries for its warriors and its

nomadic life style. This year Mongolia is

celebrating the 800th anniversary of its

founding by Chinggis Khaan, recently

named by The Washington Post as “Man

of the Millennium”. He not only consolidated Mongolia’s warring tribes into a

unified state in early 13th century but also

promoted religious tolerance, pluralistic

thinking, free trade, and international

diplomacy long before these values were

appreciated by many other nations, values

which the free world has been striving for

since the end of Cold War.

Despite foreign dignitaries and

tourists from all over the world flocking to this ancient land to

become acquainted, most people in the United States know little

about Mongolia. For this reason, the Mongolian Embassy in

Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian’s National Musuem of

Natural History have joined together to host a special anniversary

festival introducing Mongolia’s history, culture, musical traditions,

folk art, and contemporary life to Washingtonians and Smithsonian

visitors. Our collaboration celebrates the rapidly growing bilateral

ties between Mongolia and the United States of America and brings

the good wishes of Mongolians everywhere to the people of

America.

Newsletter Supplement
Welcome to the family festival in celebration of 800 Years

of Mongolian Statehood! Please join us for special events

throughout the weekend at the National Museum of

Natural History. Activities include art displays, storytelling,

dancing, movies, music, scientific demonstrations with

Smithsonian scientists, and children’s activities.

Photographic Displays

National Geographic: Mongolia: A Century of Photographs

Gordon Wiltsie: Mongolia

Elaine Ling: Mongolian Portfolio

Collections from the Mongolian

Embassy

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6

Festival Hall, Second floor,

10am-5pm

See the beauty of Mongolia in

photography displays; visit a ger

(traditional Mongolian home),

or stop in for children’s activities. Visit

with Rachel Suntop, clothing artist,

and Elaine Ling, photographer.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

Festival Hall, Second floor,

10am-5pm

See the beauty of Mongolia in

photography displays, talk with

artists, learn how to felt, or discuss

current research with Smithsonian

scientists. Chris McKee discusses the

making of the documentary, Mujaan. Visit with Rachel

Suntop, clothing artist, and Elaine Ling, photographer.

11:00 Mongolian Storytelling

12:00 Musical performances including overtone singing,

traditional long songs, and the horse head fiddle

1:00 Opera performance by Saran Erdenebat

2:00 Mongolian shaman dance

2:30 Buddhist Tsam dance (with masks)

3:00 Children’s performance featuring two young dancers,

Khongorzul Khosbayar and Zolboo Munkhbaatar

SPECIAL EVENT SATURDAY

Baird Auditorium, Free to the Public, 7pm

The Mongolian Image in Western Cinema

Lecture with Film Clips

Location: National Museum of Natural History, Baird

Auditorium (enter Constitution Ave)

Myagmar Saruul-Erdene shows film clips and discusses how

Event Schedule

Friday-Sunday, October 6-8, 2006

Chinggis Khaan: 800 Years of Mongolian Statehood

National Museum of Natural History

 the West’s perception of Mongolia is greatly influenced by

portrayals of the country in film — from early caricatures of

Genghis Khan by John Wayne and Omar Shariff to the

majestic landscapes of The Story of the Weeping Camel.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

Festival Hall, Second floor, 10am-5pm

See the beauty of Mongolia in photography displays, talk

with artists, learn how to felt, or discuss current research

with Smithsonian scientists.

11:00 Mongolian Storytelling

12:00 Musical performances including

overtone (throat) singing, and the

horse head fiddle

1:00 Mongolian shaman dance

1:30 Buddhist Tsam dance (with

masks)

3:00 Children’s games with local

Mongolian school children

MONGOLIAN FILM

SERIES

11:00 The Story of the Weeping

Camel (Germany-Mongolia, 2003, 87 min)

An enchanting film that follows the

adventures of a family of herders in

Mongolia’s Gobi region who face a

crisis when the mother camel

unexpectedly rejects her newborn calf

after a particularly difficult birth.

12:45 Tribe: Darhad ( UK , 2005, 50 min)

The Darhad herders of Outer Mongolia are some of the last

nomadic people on the planet. Explorer Bruce Parry joins a

family for their arduous winter migration. He finds the going

tough as he helps them herd their three hundred animals

across a high mountain pass.

2:00 Balapan, Wings of Altai ( France , 2005, 52 min)

In the Deloun Valley of western Mongolia, nomadic

herdsmen struggle to keep their sheep alive by hunting

wolves with eagles. Hamid Sardar captures one boy’s

journey as he becomes an eagle hunter.

3:00 Cave of the Yellow Dog (Germany-Mongolia, 2005, 93 min)

From the director of The Story of the Weeping Camel, comes

a tale of the bond between a young girl and a dog. Believing

that it is responsible for attacking his sheep, her father

refuses to allow her to keep it.

4:40 Genghis Khan (UK, 2004, 60 min)

This BBC film looks at the history and the legend of Genghis

Khan.

Tsam dancer
ASC Newsletter 3

ARTISTS AND PERFORMERS

SARAN ERDENEBAT

Mrs. Saran Erdenebat

studied at the University of

Culture and Arts between 1991-

1996 and graduated with the

profession of a singer and the

degree of the Bachelor of Arts.

Later she earned the degree of the

Master of Arts by studying at this

university between 1996-1998.

Since 2001, she has been working

for the Mongolian State Academic

Theatre of Opera and Ballet as

solo singer.

“THE GREAT STORY OF MONGOLS”

The Great Story of Mongols, Inc., is a non-profit cultural

organization founded by Ganna Natsag and Sansar Sangidorj and

staffed by world-class professional Mongolian artists. The

company’s objective is to bring the one of a kind cultural

experience and tradition of Mongolian nomadic music and

lifestyle to the wider audiences of the United States and the

Western World.

The company is currently producing a dramatic full-scale

cultural stage-show called, the Great Story of Mongols, which

showcases live traditional Mongolian performances, such as

Khoomei, Tsam Dance, Shaman Dance and Drum show, to name

a few, combined with breathtaking collections of traditional

Mongolian costume fashion show (such as Tsam, Shaman,

Warrior, and ethnic costumes) presented with the originally

composed combination - traditional Mongolian and modern

electronic - music.

The Great Story of Mongols, Inc. also produces

· Mongolian Festivals for 1 to 2 days

(includes 2 to 3 Ger or Yurts, fully furnished)

· Mongolian Traditional Art and Crafts workshops

and exhibitions

· Live performances of traditional Mongolian song

and music

· Traditional Mongolian and Contemporary

Costume Fashion Shows.

For more information please visit us at

www.storyofmongols.org; Email to

contact@storyofmongols.org; or Call 703-868-6700.

ABOUT THE GREAT STORY OF MONGOLS; A STAGE

SHOW

The Great Story of Mongols begins with a brief video

introduction and a Story Teller narrating an ancient tale where

Burte Chono (the Grey Wolf) with his wife, Goo Maral (the

Beautiful Doe), settled on the banks of the River Onon and

started the nation of the Mongols.

The Shaman Dance. It has been passed on to us that the

Great Chinggis (or Genghis) himself practiced Shamanism.

From the ancient times the Mongols revered the Eternal Blue

Sky. The trinity of the Eternal Sky, the Earth and the Humankind constitutes the cornerstone of Shamanism in Mongolia.

The warrior drummers tell the story of Temuujin, an

orphan boy who would grow up to be the greatest Warrior the

world has ever known. In 1206, Temuujin - the Chinggis Khaan

- founded the Great Mongol State by uniting the feuding

nomadic tribes spread across the steppes of Central Asia. A

live performance of Khoomei, a traditional Mongolian throat

singing, accompanies this presentation.

Tsam is an ancient form of mystic dance using masks,

which has origins in Buddhist tantric traditions. The Mongolian Tsam festivals incorporate the folk art and traditions,

which are rarely surpassed by any other in its artistic expressiveness and craftsmanship. The biggest and the grandest

Mongolian Tsam Festival, the Ih Huree Tsam, was held

annually between the years of 1811 and 1937 a total of 126

times. At the height of Buddhist practices in Mongolia 500 of

the 700 monasteries that existed there at the beginning of the

20th century held Tsam festivals unique to each locality,

customs, and traditions.

In the 1990s, individual artistic expression free of

ideology became possible as a result of the collapse of the

communist regime in Mongolia. The contemporary and abstract

designs showcased here were inspired by the traditions and

lifestyle of historic and modern Mongolia.

The Project Team would like to thank and acknowledge

artists and craftsmen of Gooertunts Society.

About our Staff:

Gankhuyag Natsag (Director & Designer) is a designer

and a master craftsman of costumes and masks (including

paper-mâché). He graduated from the State Pedagogical

University of Mongolia with a major in Fine Arts. Since 1985,

Ganna’s masterpiece exhibitions have been presented in

numerous folk and traditional art festivals all over Europe and

the US, e.g. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Russia,

Switzerland, New York and the National Geographic Society in

Washington, DC. In 1992, Ganna opened his Art Studio named

“Bi-Bid” in Mongolia.

Sansar Sangidorj (Executive Producer & Composer)

earned a Master of Fine Arts degree with high honors from the

Moscow Conservatory. Sansar also pursued advanced studies

in composition in Moscow, Madrid, and Dartmouth College,

USA. In 2000, he composed Khara Khorum, a highly acclaimed

musical piece, commissioned by the Silk Road Project (founder

Yo-Yo Ma). His music has been performed in China, Germany,

Holland, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United

States. As a pianist, he has primarily played his own works.

Alimaa Jamiyansuren (Public Relations & Marketing)

holds a BA degree, in Economics, from Bryn Mawr College and

a Master’s degree, also in Economics, from Tufts University,

USA. Alimaa worked at prestigious economic consulting firms

in New York, NY and Princeton, NJ. A public relations board

director of the Washington, D.C. Area Mongolian Community

Association, she continues to combine a career in public

relations with one in economic consulting.

Mrs. Saran Erdenebat
ASC Newsletter 4

Hulegu Battumur (Manager and Musician) completed

the Music College of Mongolia as a classical instrument

percussionist. He also received a BA degree, in Art Management, from the Art University of Mongolia. As a percussionist,

Hulegu worked at the Mongolian Philharmonic Orchestra where

he also acted as the General Manager of the Orchestra.

Davgaa Otgon (Artistic Director and Dancer) is a

Khoomei singer and dancer. Davgaa graduated from the Music

College of Mongolia and studied at the Art University of

Mongolia majoring in dance choreography. Davgaa worked as a

Khoomei singer and a dancer at the Tumen Ekh ensemble, the

national ensemble of traditional Mongolian song and dance.

Bold Batchuluun (Coordinator and Actor) is a professional actor with a BA degree from the Art University of

Mongolia who played lead roles in a number of successful stage

productions in Mongolia. He also writes short stories, comedy

pieces, and poems. His voice talents have been showcased as a

presenter, poetry reader, and a host in various stage and TV

events.

Ganbold Chuluunbaatar (Webmaster) is a graphic

designer with a BA degree, in costume design, from the Art

University of Mongolia. Ganbold completed his studies at the

Kiahoga Falls Art Institute in 2002 where he specialized in art

and design. Currently, he is studying computer graphic design

and the 3D animation at the Kent State University.

Music in Mongolia is diverse, ranging from classical or

artistic music to regional and national folk

music, to music associated with Buddhist

and Shamanist rituals, to heavy metal, jazz,

rap, and all possible combinations of the

above. Mongolian music1 reflects ethnic

diversity within Mongolia and the cultural

proximity of its neighbors. The vibrant

Mongolian pop and rock scenes, which first

emerged approximately two decades ago,

provide a unique and fascinating Mongolian

perspective on globalization.

Mongolian Traditional Music

Traditional music in Mongolia

evolved from sounds in nature.2 The main

traditional musical instrument is the horseheaded spike fiddle, or moorinkhur.

According to legend, a skilled and heroic

young herdsman’s beloved horse was killed

by a witch in the form of a jealous wife.

The grieving herdsman collected his horse’s

remains and created the first moorinkhur.

The story of the origin of the moorinkhur

resembles other instrument origin legends of

Northern Eurasia, and shows peoples’ love for, and interrelationship with horses. Bards who play moorinkhur are called

uligershin. Some scholars believe that the moorinkhur has

shamanic origins, since the staffs of Mongolian shamans often

MUSIC IN MONGOLIA

Natanya Zagorski

sport carved horses’ heads. As in other northern Eurasian

cultures, the roles of Mongolian shamans and bards often

overlap; one of the shaman’s roles is to preserve the history of

the people by singing epic songs. In addition, music is a central

part of both Shamanist and Buddhist ritual; the two belief

systems have coexisted and overlapped in Mongolia for many

hundreds of years.3

Other types of musical instruments include the limba, or

flute, often used to accompany shepherds’ songs in eastern

Mongolia. Other types of flutes include the surnai or the tsuur.

Shamanist and Buddhist rituals often employ percussion

instruments.4 The hel khuur, or Jew’s harp is found in

Mongolia, Central Asia, and Siberia; playing it requires

techniques similar to overtone singing, or using the mouth as a

resonating chamber while singing to make multiple notes. The

khun tovshuur, a two-stringed lute similar to those of

Kazakhstan and the Altai region in Siberia, is swan-shaped and

strung with horsehair. It is also used to accompany singers of

tuuli, or epic heroic myth songs. The yatga, or “half-tubed

zither with moveable bridge,” was a highly important ritual

instrument, played in the palace or during musical interludes in

epics.

It is impossible to give an overview of Mongolian

music without mentioning the urtin duu, or “long song.”5

 The

urtin duu symbolizes freedom on the steppe, and has traditionally been sung while riding along slowly, solo. Urtin duu can

embody individual expression, love, and unity with nature.

Mongolian Popular Music

Mongolian rock developed as an underground genre during

the ‘70s and ‘80s; however, the Socialist government eventually

began promoting rock when its popularity first became

evident.6

 Mongolia’s Socialist government had promoted folk

music very heavily, and early Mongolian

rock in the ‘70s drew on folk music themes

with which everyone was familiar.

Mongolia’s best-known rock singer,

Jargalsaikhan, known by his black leather

jacket and long curly hair, indirectly

influenced the independence movement

with his hit song “Chingis Khan”

(Ghenghis Khan) in 1988, and is now a

leader of a band by the same name.

Jargalsaikhan notes in an interview with

MongolianExpat Magazine that prior to

that time, under the Socialist government,

few people knew very much about Genghis

Khan as a national hero. However, people

kept Genghis Khan’s memory alive through

indirect means; Jargalsaikhan’s father, a

sculptor, created a stature of a local hero

for the city of Khovd, but explained to the

young Jargalsaikhan that the statue was

actually of Genghis Khan, explaining that

“The traditional stories and heroes can

never be wiped out by oppressors.”

Another key pop singer is the female

singer Ariunaa. Described by ethnomusicologist Peter Marsh

as “Mongolia’s answer to Madonna,” Ariunaa enjoys a wide

popularity within Mongolia.7

 Fans admire her for her unusual

singing style, provocative subject matter, and charisma.8

M. Araanziin Bat-Ochir
ASC Newsletter 5

Enka-style songs are also popular in Mongolia.9 Enka is a

nostalgic Japanese musical genre originating in Meiji-Era

popular and folk music. Enka songs are usually gentle and

melancholy, in pentatonic scale with Western instruments.10

Given that Enka features pentatonic scales like Mongolian

music and that

Mongolia is not far

from Japan, it is not

surprising that Enka

is popular in

Mongolia.

Mongolia has

its share of youth

bands, such as the

hugely popular boy

band Camerton.

Their first song,

“Maamuu Naash Ir,”

became such a

popular children’s

song that it is

considered a second

Mongolian anthem.

The members of

Camerton make

frequent

appearences on

MTV Asia and have

also learned to sing

in Chinese in order

to expand their audience. Noteworthy girl bands include Spike,

Nomiin Tast, and Sansara.11

Like its neighbor Tuva, which generated world-music

circuit favorite band Yat-Kha, Mongolia has its share of heavy

metal bands, such as Hurd (“speed” in Mongolian). Hurd’s

music imparts a particularly “soft” and unique Mongolian

flavor by incorporating Mongolian ballads and classical

instruments into their songs.12 Jazz aficionados may enjoy the

group Borte, self-described as “Mongolian Ethno Jazz.” 13

Traditional and popular music coexist peacefully in

Mongolia. One quote from a member of Hurd is very telling; in

describing Mongolian heavy metal, he notes, “We are a young

country and this is the music of young people...we are not

ignoring traditional long song. It still exists.”14 Traditional

music is part of what makes Mongolian popular music unique.

(Footnotes)

1

 http://www.soundtransformations.btinternet.co.uk/

MongolaimusicEnsembleTumbash.htm

2

 http://www.greenkiwi.co.nz/footprints/mongolia/mong_music.htm

3

(http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/

page.basic/country/content.country/mongolia_541)

4

 http://www.soundtransformations.btinternet.co.uk/

MongolaimusicEnsembleTumbash.htm

5

 For more information on urtin duu, see http://

www.soundtransformations.btinternet.co.uk/

MongolaimusicEnsembleTumbash.htm 6

 http://mongoluls.net/ger/sing.shtml

7

For Ariunaa’s personal website, see http://ariunaa.htmlplanet.com/ 8

 http://mongoluls.net/ger/sing.shtml

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Mongolia

M. Badam Bolormaabw

10 For more information on Enka, see Scandinavian historian Ainur

Elmgren’s website, http://www.ainurin.net/enka.htm. 11For more information on Mongolian all-girl bands, see http://

ubpost.mongolnews.mn/

index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1110434285&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7& 12 To learn more about Hurd, see http://mongoluls.net/ger/

hurd.shtml

13To learn more about Borte, see http://

worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/

album/content.album/borte_1_mongolian_ethno-jazz_9858), or

Borte’s own website, http://borte.calabashm. 14 See http://mongoluls.net/ger/hurd.shtml.

TRAVELS IN EAST TAIGA TO ABANDONED CAMPS

ALONG THE MONGOLIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER

By Paula DePriest, Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian

Institution

For the Mongolian steppe dwellers, the coniferous taiga is

an important source of natural resources. It is the source of

firewood, wild game, medicinal plants, and other goods that are

required to supplement the herding lifestyle. In addition, for

Mongolians it is a place of special shamanistic powers and

scared sites marked by ovoos that are also associated with

animal spirits and healing herbs. For the reindeer herding

Dukha of the Sayan Mountains along the Mongolian border

with Tuva and Russian Siberia, the taiga is spiritual home,

seasonal pasture, and hunting ground. Their access and

command of its special resources provides their unique identity

among Mongolian ethnic groups. As with their taiga, the Dukha

represent the meeting of north and south, and Chinese and

Russian influences. Linguistically and ethnically they are

Tuvan, although the closing of the Tuvan border first in the

1950s and with increased enforcement in the 1990s has

virtually isolated Dukha and Tuva relatives.

In the past years the Deer Stone Project’s botany team led

by Paula DePriest has been exploring the taiga territory with

guides from the Western Taiga Dukha. These territories include

hunting grounds, plant-gathering places, and traditional, but

now abandoned, reindeer seasonal pastures. The team is

conducting plant community reconnaissance and collecting

representative vascular plants and lichens with special emphasis on those

used by the

Dukha as

pasture for

reindeer or

medicinal

plants. In

2004 a group

including

Greg

McKee,

Debbie Bell,

O.

Sukbaatar,

Oyunbileg,

and Uundra,

Dukha guide Bayanaa collects flowering plant

along the Ulaankhad Gol in June 2006.
ASC Newsletter 6

traveled with Dukha guides along the Jams and Joloc Rivers to

locate Siberian fir (Abies sibirica) that was used as a healing

plant by Dukha Shaman Suyan, now deceased. In 2005

Sukhbaatar, J. Oyumaa,

Oyunbileg, a cook Tegshbayar,

and Dukha guides traveled to the

Bussingol Depression along the

Tuvan border. This area is notable

as the spiritual homeland for

shamans of the Soyot clan, the

hunting grounds for Dukha and

ethnic Darkhats, and traditional

pastures for the overlapping

migrations of reindeer herders that

until the late 1950s crossed

today’s Tuvan-Mongolian border.

Now fifty years after closing of

that border and the cessation of

herding in the valley, the Bussingol

Depression shows ecological

succession with increase shrubs

and trees and reduced grass steppe.

This ungrazed area provides an important comparison for

studies of Darkhat pasture health. In 2006 and 2005 the

botany team also collected flowering plants at the Gol Mod II

Royal Cemetery in Arkhangai Aimag’s Erdenemandal Soum, and

in 2006 were joined in that site by Batmaatsetseg of the

Mongolian Museum of Natural History. Shaman researcher and

ethonobotanist Marilyn Walker and translator Amara joined

the team for work at Gol Mod and in the Dukha spring and

summer camps.

This year the botany team, Paula, Mongolian botanists

Oyumaa and Oyunbileg, and cook Olzii, traveled with Dukha

guides Sanjim, Bayanaa, Batmunkh, Enkhbat,

Lhagvasuren, Tataar, and Tsogt-Ochir, on a 100 Km horseback circuit starting from the Shishhid Gol ferry crossing of

north of Tsaagannur, June 15-24. The Shishhid Gol is a

tributary of the Yenesei River draining through Tuva and Siberia

into the Arctic Ocean and divides the current East and West

Taiga territories, north and south

respectively. From the ferry

crossing we traveled west along the

north shore of the Shishhid Gol to

the mouth of Tengis Gol. Passing

through this area we saw a bronze

age khereksur, and Chinggis Rock

and Fence, a rock dome and line of

rocks with surrounding circular

rock features reported to have been

constructed during the Chinggis

Khan period. Chinggis Khan

(more likely his son Joci) is

reported to have visited the

confluence of the Tengis and

Shishhid Gols to accept the

peaceful surrender of the People of

the Forest in 1207/08 leaving

footprints and a fence of stacked

stones. The Tengis Gol is a doubly important site for Mongolians as legend dictates that the Mongol clan originated from a

blue-grey wolf and a fallow doe along a body of water named

‘Tenggis.’

The Tengis valley is broad and glacier carved. Ice dams

extending from the Tengis glaciers

are proposed to have blocked the

Shisshed River during the Last

Glacial Maximum forming a lake of

the Darkhat Valley. Continuing

north and up along this Valley, and

northeast along an ice-filled

tributary, we reached the

Ulaankhad Gol, and turned north to

an unused reindeer summer pasture

along the Russian border. The

nearby summer camp was adjacent

to a 30M waterfall with deep river

gorges above and below, demonstrating the glacier formation of

these valleys. From the border we

turned south, passing through the

East Taiga spring pastures, and

visited the 10 ortzes of the East

Taiga’s early summer camp. At this camp, we were the first to

use the two new guest ortzes established to minimize the

impact of frequent guests on fragile pastures. After leaving the

East Taiga camp, we traveled to south sacred Tibetan Buddhist

sites on Renchinlkhumbe Mountain. Two ovoos, one the

ridgeline and one summit of the south peak were used for

worship by ethnic Darkhats during the two hundred years of

the Buddhist ecclesiastical estate, Darhad Ih Shav¢. The ovoo

on the lower ridge was the site of annual readings of sacred

texts until its suppression in the 1930s. Since the 1990s, the

site is being restored with new ovoos and including carved

plaques with Tibetan writing. Ten days after our departure we

returned to the Shishhid Gol ferry crossing and to Tsaagannur.

Our route along the Tengis Gol and its tributaries was a

major herding area for Dukha until resettlement of the herders

closer to the supply sites at Tsaagannur. Traditionally, the area

was connected to the reindeer herding area of northern Tuva by

a major trail, with the seasonal

migrations crossing today’s border.

Lead guide Sanjim’s family

escaped from Tuva in 1946 to settle

in this area; we visited the camp of

his relatives at the confluence of the

Shishhid and Tengis Gols and in the

East Taiga camps. Also, Sanjim

located the poles of the ortz in the

last fall camp his family used along

a tributary of the Tengis Gol.

Today both Dukha and Darkhat use

this area for some hunting and

fishing, especially in the winter

when the rivers are frozen making

travel by reindeer easy. The only

wild game that we saw was two

prong horn deer along the Tengis

Gol, however, it is reported that the

river valley to the west of Tengis Gol is supports a herd of wild

reindeer. Use of these seasonal pasture along the Tengis Gol

Botany Team examines carved Tibetan Buddhist plaques at

the ovoo on the south peak of Renchinlkhumbe Mountain.

Dukha guide Sanjim locates the ortz poles of his family’s

last camp along the tributaries of the Tengis Gol.
ASC Newsletter 7

would significantly increase the carrying capacity of

reindeer for the Sayan Mountains, but this would require

protection of the area with control of hunting to increase the

wild game, herd-building support such as importing

appropriate Sayan breeding stock from Tuva, and infrastructure development to support year-round habitation by

herding families. This will support the traditional role of

taiga as natural storehouse for the adjacent steppes.

For the time being, the taiga remains a source of goods

for sale in Hovsgol Aimag markets. On Renchinlkhumbe

Mountain we encountered two women collecting the

traditional Mongolian medicinal plant sawwort – Saussurea

sp. Our group also documented this plant in flower along

the Ulaankhad Gol as well as on Renchinlkhumbe Mountain.

The plant, a mainstay of Mongolian traditional medicines,

has special restrictions for collection. Its roots are only

collected on overcast days, such as the day we were on the

mountain. This plant is still traded to the regional centers,

and by the time we reach the market in Moron, Saussurea

from this area, perhaps the same that we saw collected, was

one of more than ten taiga plants offered for sale.

CULTURE ON CLOTH IN MONGOLIA

By Judith Varney Burch

Mongolia was a complete unknown for me, Bill Fitzhugh

is the only person I know who has been there. Sitting in his

kitchen in Washington, I asked where should I take the “Culture

on Cloth” exhibition next, and he suggested Mongolia. I have

had the good fortune of lecturing in Mexico, Japan and many

places in China. So with the backing of the Canadian embassy,

last October I made my way to UlaanBaatar, Mongolia with no

notion of what it would be like.

When I arrived in UlaanBaatar, I was shocked. A treeless

city, full of square Russian cement buildings. After the first few

days of museums and wandering, I left for Dalanzagad, the

airport in the Gobi. The area is quite desolate and the housing

minimal and windswept with sand and gravel. My sister

Kathy, who sponsored this part of the trip, and I got into a

Russian land rover with our interpreter and a driver. We headed

out over a pink and yellow gravelly area called the Gobi. Five

hours later we saw our first car. People were scarce although

we did see gers (I had known them as yurts) and the occasional

herders with camels, ponies, or sheep.

It was the end of the tourist season and we were heading

to a ger camp. At the first camp, we had the privilege of having

a Mongolian couple entertain us after dinner. An instrument

similar to a long zither was accompanied by singing. But the

most amazing thing for me was the gentleman throat singing. I

am accustomed to two women throat singing in the Canadian

Arctic, and I was thrilled at this connection and eager to share

this with my Artic friends. This was the first of many

connections I realized, between Mongolia and the Arctic.

The food was plentiful, to the point that my driver was

renamed “Second Stomach” as I often pushed unfinished plates

in his direction. Walking off with our guide I felt as if I were on

the moon, with no one around there was a vastness that was

unequalled. It seemed to go on forever. At one gorge we

wandered in and saw a beautiful family wearing dels and

carrying food for a day’s picnic in the gorge, I yearn for a del in

chilly Nova Scotia.

We did the prescribed camel ride up on the dunes, luckily

these camels were much more comfortable than the ones I’ve

ridden in Egypt; they have 2 humps and are more like a recliner!

After 4 nights on the Gobi in gers, it was time to fly back to

UlaanBaatar. As soon as I arrived in UlaanBaatar things looked

different, I am far more acclimated to Mongolia now. My sister

left shortly thereafter, and my work began. The person I

worked with at the Canadian consulate – Saruul, is effective,

warm and wonderful. I worked with many other strong and

competent women at the Arts Council of Mongolia. My

exhibition of 19 wall hangings from Baker lake in Nunavut,

“Culture on Cloth” was hung at the Mongolian Modern Art

Museum. After the exhibit was up and before the actual

opening, I had time to wander around in UlaanBaatar. I fell in

love with the place and the people. While wandering around,

the smiles and nods particularly from the older women were

heartwarming. I adored UlaanBaatar, even after my first

reaction – the people, the place, the shops, the museum folks –

all are wonderful.

The exhibition is visually accessible to all people, so it

was a terrific success according to the Canadian Embassy folks

from Beijing. This was their first cultural exchange in

Mongolia. I lectured to university students, master’s students

and professors as well as working with 8 year olds. Working

with young people began in Beijing and was met with such

success, we did it again in UlaanBaatar. The children make

astounding connections between cultures. The children then

made small wall hangings of their own culture which have now

been sent to Baker Lake. I want the artists to be recognized as

significant for their work which has become a stepping stone of

cultural awareness about the Arctic to people in Asia. I have

asked that these artists help the students create wall hangings

of Baker Lake today which will then be sent back to Beijing,

Kunming, UlaanBaatar and Nanjing. All of the works of the

children in these other areas, have now been received as gifts to

the school.

The women in Baker Lake, who have written their story

on cloth, have made the world a smaller place. The Canadian

Embassy has done a superb job celebrating their Canadian art

by sharing it with others around the world. I am a small link

and have adored seeing this happen.

MONGOLIA AT 800

Dr. Alicia Campi

In 2006 Mongolia is home to 2.5 million people on a 1.5-

million-square-kilometer (972,445-square-mile) landlocked high

plateau, averaging 1,580 meters (almost 1 mile) above sea level.

It has only two giant neighbors—Russia on the north and China

on the south. The country has a harsh dry climate and thick

forests, high mountains, and lakes in the north, but 90 percent

of the land is arid grass steppes and desert (called Gobi),

unsuitable for farming. For 3000 years it has been occupied by

nomads mounted on horseback and living in mobile round yurtlike tents known as gers. Today, nearly half of the population

still lives in the countryside and herds 33 million head of sheep,

goats, cows, horses, and camels. The country’s population is

quite homogeneous. Nearly 90 percent are Khalkha Mongol,
ASC Newsletter 8

with the largest minority (around 7 percent) being Kazakh

Turks mainly living in the western provinces. Outside the

territory of the modern independent nation are Mongols in

China (Inner Mongolia) and Russia (Buryatia and Kalmykia),

who number another 6 million.

Mongolia traces its origins to the election of a young

warrior named Temujin, who 800 years ago in 1206 was elected

in a kuriltai (council) as Khan. Temujin chose the mystic name

of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan, which perhaps means “universal or

great khan.” This great military leader established the Mongolian Empire of the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries, the largest empire

in world history. It stretched from

Siberia, Korea, and China to Afghanistan

and North India through Tibet, Central

Asia including the Silk Road cities,

Russia, Turkey, and Iraq to the borders

of Egypt and Germany. The Mongols

promoted trade, art, and cultural

exchange throughout the empire, which

is why historians call this period of

history Pax Mongolica.

Chinggis Khan reorganized his

nomadic warriors to establish a political-military system totally loyal to him.

He first led his less than a half million

Mongol warriors into North China,

where his army developed siege

techniques to attack fortified cities.

Chinggis devastated the northern capital

(modern Beijing), but the subjugation of

all of China was completed only by his

grandson, Kubilai, who in 1279 became

the emperor of a new Mongol dynasty

called Yuan. Chinggis Khan himself

began campaigns against the Muslim

Central Asian states and made a political-religious alliance with

Tibetan Buddhists, which initiated more than 700 years of

cultural and religious connections between the two peoples.

Chinggis Khan died in 1227, dividing up his empire geographically among his four sons.

These sons expanded the empire further into Russia,

Korea, China, Iran, and Syria, and built the empire its first

sedentary capital called Karakorum in the heart of the Mongolian homeland steppe. This capital was visited by Western

writers such as John of Plano Carpini, William of Rubruk, and

the famous Marco Polo. During the imperial period the Mongol

rulers in the four major parts of the empire usually promoted

the religion and arts of the peoples they ruled. This was

particularly true in Islamic and Buddhist countries. In West

Asia the Mongol Ilkhans remained in power only until 1335.

However, Mongol rule—“the Golden Horde”—persisted in

Russia until 1502, when it was destroyed by the Muscovite

state. The Mongols’ administrative practices greatly influenced

Russia, and often this heritage, also known as Tatar, is credited

with explaining why Russia’s culture is distinctive from other

European nations.

When the Mongols were deposed in China in 1368 by the

native Chinese Ming dynasty, they returned in disunity to the

Mongol steppe. Mongol generals in the western regions became

involved in Tibetan political and religious matters, and it was

the Mongols who established the political authority of the

Dalai Lama over Tibet. At this time the Mongol people were

converted to Tibetan Buddhism. Eventually, over 700 monasteries and temples were established throughout the country. In

the early seventeenth century the Manchu people made an

alliance with the Eastern Mongol nobles to conquer China and

establish the last Chinese dynasty called Qing. Over the next

three centuries this alliance disintegrated into full Manchu

Chinese political and economic domination over the Mongols.

With the fall of Manchu rule in China in 1911, Mongolia was

able to establish a weak Autonomous

Government under a Buddhist religious

leader called the Bogdo Gegen (Living

Buddha). However, Republican China

continued to dominate its foreign policy.

In 1921 Mongolia underwent a

communist revolution with the aid of

Bolshevik forces in Siberia, and became a

loyal Soviet satellite from 1924 to 1990.

The communists destroyed the Buddhist

monasteries and purged the country of

intellectuals and lamas, in their drive to

establish a secular state. Chinggis Khan

was banished from the history books.

Although there were diplomatic and

commercial contacts in the early part of

the 20th century between the United

States and Mongolia, full diplomatic

recognition did not occur until 1987.

During these socialist years, Mongolians

and Americans knew little about each

other. However, Mongolia did experience

a few notable cultural contacts with

Americans: The Roy Chapman Andrews

dinosaur expeditions in the 1920s, the

travels in the 1930s of the eminent

Mongolist and writer Owen Lattimore, and the 1945 trip of

Vice-President Henry Wallace. In 1990 the country experienced

a peaceful democratic revolution, and soon thereafter adopted a

new Constitution. Mongols consciously sought to revive native

traditions, such as great respect for their founding father

Chinggis Khan and Tibetan-style Buddhism. Today Mongolia

has re-emerged internationally because of its successful

adoption of both democracatic and free market institutions, and

because of its large untapped mineral deposits (copper,

molybdenum, gold, uranium, oil, coal.).

In the post-socialist era Mongolia has developed a strong

relationship with the United States. Mongolian Presidents have

come several times to the U.S., and President George Bush

made the first official visit to Mongolia in November 2005. The

United States is Mongolia’s third largest investor, third largest

foreign aid donor, and third most important trade partner.

American business interests include sizable private investment

in the mining, oil, cashmere goat hair, camel wool, motor

vehicle, educational and tourism sectors. Mongolia was one of

the first countries to offer support to the United States after

the September 11th terrorist attacks and has contributed troops

to coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our two nations,

despite very diverse cultures, believe they are united by

important shared interests, which is why many policymakers

consider the United States as Mongolia’s “Third Neighbor.”

Portrait of Chinggis Khaan
ASC Newsletter 9

THE DEER STONE PROJECT:

EXPLORATIONS IN NORTHERN

MONGOLIA

By William W. Fitzhugh

For the past five years Smithsonian and Mongolian

researchers have been studying the cultures and environments

of Hovsgol aimag, Mongolia’s northernmost province and one

of its least-known regions. Beginning as an investigation into

the dating and relationships of Mongolia’s enigmatic Bronze

Age stone monuments, the Deer Stone Project has developed

into a complex interdisciplinary anthropological, environmental,

and conservation program involving researchers and institutions

from the USA, Canada, and Mongolia. Results of some of the

archaeological and conservation projects are presented in the

Smithsonian’s festival, “Chinggis Khaan’s Mongolia: 800 Years

of Statehood.”

The Deer Stone Project was initiated in 2001 after Steven

Young of the Center for Northern Studies at Stirling College

and I visited the Hovsgol region in northern Mongolia at the

invitation of Ed Nef, whose Santis English-language school in

Ulaanbaatar served as our initial project sponsor. Thereafter the

project affiliated with the National Museum of Mongolian

History and the Institute of Archaeology and has been associated with researchers from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences

and the Mongolian National University. Field projects and

educational activities have been generously supported by the

Trust for Mutual Understanding, the National Geographic

Society, Smithsonian, and various private sponsors. Our work

has also been assisted by the American Center for Mongolian

Studies, whose Ulaanbaatar office provided logistic and

organizational assistance and helped organize conferences,

educational programs, and publications.

Mongolia: ‘Crossroads’ of Inner Asia?

When Mongolia opened its doors to the West in 1991,

ending decades of 20th century domination by the Soviet Union

(following centuries of subjugation by China), almost nothing

was known outside China and the USSR about a region that

once was the seat of the largest pre-modern empire the world

has ever known. Located at the eastern end of the great Eurasian

grassland steppe stretching from Manchuria to Hungary and

from the Gobi Desert to the Siberian taiga forests, Mongolia

lies at the crossroads of Inner Asia. Although not a center of

early plant domestication, the domestication of horse, cattle,

yaks, and camels in the steppes of central Asia may have had

Mongolian involvement, and it has been proposed that reindeer

were first domesticated in the southern Sayan Mountains of

northern Mongolia and South Siberia. It also seems likely that

early Mongolian peoples contributed to the spread if not the

development of horse-based nomadic warfare technology and

battle tactics. Furthermore, Mongolia’s history includes the

development of early states and empires whose origins in

nomadic societies do not square with existing theories of state

and empire evolution, raising interesting questions about the

potential of nomadic societies for higher levels of socio-political

organization.

Mongolia’s central location in Inner Asia also called for

studies investigating historical links between it and neighboring

East Asian cultures and civilizations. What was Mongolia’s role

in the origins and development of Neolithic and Bronze/Iron

Age cultures and art in China to the south, and in Siberia to the

north? What influences and links existed to the east with Korea

and Manchuria? And, concerning my particular interest in the

origins of ancient Eskimo cultures of Alaska and the Bering Sea,

what influences or contacts might be discovered to the northeast? The earliest and most artistic Eskimo cultures such as

Ipiutak, Okvik, and Old Bering Sea have display highly

developed animal-style art, and their shamanistic and masking

traditions closely parallel those of Siberian, Chinese, and East

Asian Bronze Age and later cultures. In particular, the ornate

Scythian animal-style art of ca. 500 B.C. and its Siberian

relatives and the art of Shang and Chou China seemed the most

likely to have influenced North Pacific cultures.

Having previously searched along the coast of the Russian

Arctic for proto-Eskimo cultures and art without success, I

became intrigued with the possibility that Mongolia’s Bronze

Age deer stone art with its kinetic sense of motion, its transformed deer-bird images, and its use of animal art for decorating

artifacts and human bodies (tattoos), providing protection from

harmful spirits, might hold clues for solving the long-standing

problem of the origins and relationships of early Eskimo art.

However, there were many other interesting problems

to explore in northern Mongolia as well. Previous archaeological research in Mongolia has emphasized the importance

of southern (Chinese) influence throughout its history, and

the role of the Silk Road in Mongolia’s trade and cultural

connections to the east and west. In contrast, there is very

little knowledge of Mongolia’s northern connections to

Siberia and northeast Asia, despite the fact that the Mongolian physical type is genetically linked to Korean, Northeast

Asian, and Eskimo peoples. We also hoped to test the theory

that reindeer domestication began among the early reindeer

hunting peoples of northern Mongolia and southern Siberia,

among people who may have been ancestors of modern

Tsaatan (Dukha) reindeer herders living today in the mountains around the Darkhat Valley.

As we began our deer stone investigations, J.

Bayarsaikhan and I were joined by Smithsonian and MongoDeerstones were repurposed in “square burials” by a later culture
ASC Newsletter 10

lian colleagues who took up other topics, including ethnography

and shamanism among the Tsaatan reindeer people (Paula

DePriest, Marilyn Walker, Ayush); botanical studies of

reindeer herding and impacts of climate change and herding

pressure on local reindeer forage (Paula DePriest;

Tsendeekhuu); studies of Bronze Age ceremonial and ritual

practices, landscape ritual, and demography (Bruno Frohlich);

relationships between nomadic cultures and the rise and decline

of urban centers and empires and the role of agriculture (Dan

Rogers); and settlement pattern studies and studies of Chinese

influence on the development of Mongolian cultures and

empires (Bill Honeychurch). And finally, working with

political scientists and computer modelers from George Mason

University in Virgina, we began to explore political complexity

and the rise and fall of Inner Asian cultures using Mongolian

archaeological data as the core for our theoretical modeling

studies. Each of these projects is briefly described below.

Exhibits and Training Programs

In 2002 Paula Sabloff of the University of Pennsylvania

Museum produced an exhibition, Modern Mongolia, that was

seen at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

in 2003. This exhibit was the first ethnographic exhibition to be

presented outside Mongolia for decades and explored changes in

Mongolian society, politics, and history over a 100-year period

from feudal, Soviet, and post-Soviet times. To provide time

depth and appreciation for the early achievements of

Mongolia’s ancient past, the Smithsonian installation of this

exhibit included a full-size replica of a deer stone from the

famous Ushkin Uver site near Muron, the capitol of Hovsgol

Province. The cast was made by Carolyn Thome of the

Smithsonian Exhibits Central facility, assisted by Paul

Rhymer, now of NMNH Exhibits, and several Mongolian

museum staff. The replica – almost indistinguishable from the

original – was made from a latex rubber mold cast in the field

and fabricated in the lab with epoxy and ‘blenderized’ multicolored plastic foam that faithfully replicated the monument’s

crystalline granite surface. The replica used for the exhibit was

retained for the NMNH collections, and a duplicate was given

to the National Museum of Mongolian History for use as a

centerpiece in its main exhibit hall. Since then it has traveled as

a prized object in other Mongolian traveling exhibitions.

Each June when we return to Mongolia we organize

conferences and educational activities and publicize the results

of our research. Smithsonian and Mongolian team members

present the results of their research, and in recent years the

conference has broadened to provide papers on related topics.

The proceedings of the 2004 and 2005 conferences have now

been published in a monograph entitled The Deer Stone Project:

Anthropological Studies in Mongolia, 2002-2004, edited by

William Fitzhugh, J. Bayarsaikhan, and Peter K. Marsh,

published jointly by the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center

and the National Museum of Mongolian History (2005). This

volume is available for sale in Mongolia and through the Arctic

Studies Center. Annual reports of our work are available of the

ASC website (mnh.si.edu/arctic/mongolia) and a number of

reports are available in a variety of publications and journals.

We also hold a series of annual research and museum

study workshops annually in Ulaanbaatar. Bruno Frohlich has

demonstrated use of high-tech GPS (geographical position

system) equipment in mapping and documenting excavations

and sites; Rae Beaubien and Vicky Karas (MCI) presented on

the use of laser-scanning equipment to record deer stones and

other archaeological surfaces and monuments; David Hunt and

Natalie Firnhaber (NMNH) provided instruction on museum

storage and conservation techniques; and Carolyn Thome and

Paul Rhymer gave hands-on instruction on casting, replica

production, and exhibit mounting procedures. Following these

workshops, they remained in Ulaanbaatar for several days

visiting museums and archives and advising their staff on how

to apply new materials and skills in their day-to-day collections

and conservation work. As a result the Deer Stone Project has

contributed to the exchange of information on museum studies

and has facilitated establishment of professional communication

networks.

Mongolia’s Enigmatic Deer Stones

On my first visit to the Hovsgol region in 2001 I was

astonished to find scores of beautifully carved stone monuments standing vertically in isolated groups in the grassy

steppes of northern Mongolia. Most had rectangular crosssections and angled tops and were covered with ranks of

engravings representations of the great Asian elk or maral,

whose huge rack of antlers was shown flowing like waves along

the back of what seemed like a flying stag. The odd thing about

these deer figures was their highly stylized form, having peaked

withers, coils of antler, folded legs, and a peculiar long narrow

snout with a bulbous end, looking like a spoonbill’s bill. These

figures deviated little among hundreds of deer stones. While

deer figures dominate the central part of the stone’s composition, its top was often engraved with a necklace-like series of

dots or pits, circles and hoops resembling Bronze Age-style

earrings, and rarely a human face. Bracketing the deer and

encircling the base, the stones almost invariably show a crosshatched band clearly depicting a man’s belt with its assortment

of tools and weapons including knives, axes, and other implements that are so

detailed that

researchers have

been able to date

them stylistically to

ca. 500 B.C.

None of these

deer stones, of which

several hundred are

known from northern

and western

Mongolia and

neighboring Russia

and Kazakhstan, had

been excavated or

dated by modern

methods. Because

artifacts or burials

were never found

with them, the deer

stones had been left

to stand as mysterious monuments to a

Bronze Age past that Engraved deerstone
ASC Newsletter 11

lay unexplained and unknowable. Many thought they dated as

late as 2000 years ago, and various interpretations of their art

had been advanced by scholars. And even though they were

frequently found near large stone burial mounds, many saw

them as chronologically and functionally distinct from the

Bronze Age stone burial mound tradition.

Four years of excavation and study have radically altered

these views. Although we have not been able to conclusively

prove the function of the stones or the meaning of its deer

stone images and other motifs, excavations at deer stone sites

throughout the Hovsgol region have provided consistent

answers to the structure of deer stone sites, the rituals that

accompanied their dedication, their relationship with burial

mounds, and their accurate chronological age. A few results are

noted below:

(1) Structure: Deer stones are found singly and in small

groups, in which case they are often arranged in north-south

alignments. Individual deer stones are often found surrounded

by a ring of circular stone features, each containing a single

east- or southeast-facing

horse head, usually

accompanied by the neck

vertebrae and one or more

hoofs. Few artifacts are

found near the deer stones

or the horse remains, which

appear to be the remains of

an animal sacrificed and

eaten as part of the ritual

related to the erection of

the stone. Small circular

stone features lying beyond

the ring of horse head

burials contain cremated

remains of sheep, goats,

large ungulates, possibly

including horses as well.

(2) Ritual Practice:

Despite the similarity of

their deer images, the

representation of belts,

shields, weapons, and other motifs varies from stone to stone,

with no two being identical. This suggests that the stones may

be portraits of specific individuals whose tools and implements

would be recognizable to their fellows. The placement of horse

heads and feasting hearths around individual deer stones

suggests that deer stones commemorate important individuals –

perhaps warriors or chiefs who died whose bodies lie elsewhere

but are memoralized in their homelands in stone, by horses

sacrificed by relatives and followers, and by complex feasting

and ceremonial ritual. The presence of hard rock pecking stones

in the vicinity of the deer stones but outside the horse burials

suggests that engravings were made or refreshed on location.

3. Deer Stones and Burial Mounds: Mapping and

excavation of deer stone and burial mound sites reveals many

common features common to both. Horse head burials are also

found around the east and southeast stone fences of burial

mounds, and further out, beyond the horse burials, small oval or

circular rings containing cremated or burned food bone remains

are found. While deer stones do not contain human burials, the

stone mounds almost always do, making these two types of

structures complimentary in many respects. While one does not

always find deer stones associated with burial mounds, sites

with large numbers of deer stones are usually associated with

mounds. And it seems certain that both are part of a single

ritual system, belonging to a single cultural group and time

period.

4. Dating the Deer Stones: Radiocarbon dating of horse

teeth found in the sacrificial features associated with deer

stones has resulted in a consistent series of dates ca. 2800-3300

radiocarbon years ago. Presumably many of the burial mounds

will have similar ages. These dates are 400-500 years earlier

than those previously determined by stylistic features of deer

stone tool images. The latter dates resulted from typological

research in the Altai region of Russia, west of Mongolia, and

were coeval with the dates on Scythian burial mounds whose

tattooed human bodies and elaborate grave goods covered with

animal-style art have been

preserved by permafrost.

Such remains have not

been found in Mongolian

sites, and the reason may

be because these sites –

and their deer stones –

date several hundred years

earlier.

Although we have

not yet reached final

conclusions about deer

stone dates, function, and

relationships, our work

suggests that deer stone

art and Scythian animal

style art are related and

that the art of Mongolian

deer stones represents an

earlier developmental

stage of classic Scythian

art. Lacking perishable

remains, we can only speculate about what other art produced

by deer stone people might have looked like. But the form of

deer stone images, its animal transformation nature, and its

early age places it is a good position to have been part of a

prototype horizon of spiritual art spread among the peoples of

northeast Asia that might have stimulated the developments

seen so gloriously in the early ivory Eskimo art of the Bering

Sea.

Mongolia’s Ritual Landscapes

Deer stones are the lesser part of the Bronze Age landscape one encounters while traveling across the steppes of

northern Mongolia. Even more striking are the thousands of

conical boulder mounds that rise above the grassy plains,

mimicking equally numerous piles of eroding bedrock that may

have been the original inspiration for these gateways to the

gods. One cannot pause before these crumbling extrusions of

earthly crust without imagining that they, and the hills and

Exacavations in 2006
ASC Newsletter 12

mountains that emerge from the surrounding contoured steppe,

served as models for the heaps of boulders people constructed

over the span of about one thousand years to honor the

deceased and help them pass from this world into the afterlife.

Few other locations on earth demonstrate so dramatically the

ritual passion of a people constructing a life for the dead. Only

among Egypt’s pyramids does one come close to experiencing

the duality of ancient and modern life.

Smithsonian investigations of Mongolia’s burial mounds

(known as kherigsuurs) have taken several approaches. During

the past five years Bruno Frohlich has applied sophisticated

global positioning systems (GPS) to pin-point the location of

thousands of mounds he and his Mongolian colleagues have

discovered while conducting surveys in Hovsgol Province.

Most were found in clusters, and the largest mounds were

located in the best herding pastures near lake shores and river

courses, suggesting the presence of high-ranking elites.

More surprising was the fact that in areas where

kherigsuur mounds were often associated with prominent hills,

and in these locations they extended up the slopes to the

hillcrest. Although smaller than the mounds on the plains, these

upland mounds appears to crowd their way to the top as

though seeking special benefit from proximity to the dwelling

place of spirits.

Scholars have speculated upon the purpose of kherigsuur

for decades. Unquestionably, some were burials, since they

contain human remains in shallow sub-mound chambers. But

many have no obvious human remains, and few have been found

to yield the elaborate caches of artifacts that accompany

Scythian burials. Still, Frohlich’s excavations have revealed

human burials at the center of most mounds, and this seems to

be the pattern throughout the Mongolian Bronze Age.

One of the most intriguing problems relates to architectural design. Among all the kherigsuur mounds dating to this

period, those found in northern Mongolia occur in two forms.

Around the central mound one always finds a border made of

rocks placed side-by-side in the form of either a circle or a

square. These alternative fence forms seem to divide the sacred

ground inside from the secular ground beyond the fence. Here,

outside the fence, are found smaller cobble mounds of one to

two meters in diameter which contain the remains of sacrificed

horses – typically the east-facing head of a horse accompanied

by its neck vertebrae and one or more hoofs. Beyond the horse

mounds one may find small oval or round boulder rings

Detail of a deerstone

containing the remains of cremated sheep, goats, and larger

animals – apparently the remains of a ritual meal.

The ceremonies that accompanied the burial of individuals

in the central mounds must have taken place with highly

structured rituals. One imagines a priestly interrment with

ceremonies taking place inside the fence, while outside, horses

were slaughtered, eaten, and their remains buried in the smaller

individual mounds. Small mounds may have no external horse

burials or feasting circles; but some of the largest have as many

as 1700 horse burials. Clearly, here is good evidence for social

and political hierarchies in Bronze Age Mongolia!

We have not yet been able to resolve the significance of

the round vs. square fence shapes. Some have suggested that

they designate male or female gender of the deceased, and this is

supported by a near 50:50 split in occurrence of the two forms.

But other explanations are possible, and the only way to

resolve the matter is by digging enough mounds and analyzing

the human remains and artifacts they contain. At the moment

we are years away from being able to settle this question.

Another contentious issue is dating. Some scholars have

maintained that Mongolia’s cobblestone kherigsuur have a long

history, beginning in the Bronze Age and persisting into the late

Iron Age or later. Because most of the mounds were excavated

during the Soviet period, before radiocarbon dating became

available, few have been dated. And those that have been

excavated contain few diagnostic artifacts. Although this

question remains unsettled, the recent discovery that deer

stones and kherigsuur have a common construction syntax, with

identical forms of horse burial and feasting features, suggests a

shorter chronology linked to the that of the deer stones. At the

moment we seem to be seeing ages of 2600-3200 years ago for

the deer stone-kherigsuur complex than earlier estimates of ca.

3000-1500 years ago. Given these new datings it has become

apparent that we need to extend our research into the western

provinces of Mongolia where deer stones and kherigsuur take

on different forms that I believe may be later in age and are

more directly ancestral to later Scythian cultures.

3D SCANNING MONGOLIA’S ANCIENT DEER STONES

By Rae Beaubien and Basiliki Vicky Karas (MCI)

In June 2006, three MCI conservators – Rae Beaubien,

Vicky Karas and Leslie Weber – traveled to northern

Mongolia as part of the joint Mongolian-Smithsonian Deer

Stone Project (DSP). They brought with them an exciting new

addition to their conservator’s toolkit: together with the

scalpels, brushes, and adhesives of their profession, the

conservators packed along a structured light 3D scanning

system to document some of Mongolia’s magnificently carved

ancient deer stones. 3D scanning has been part of the DSP since

2005, when Beaubien and Karas, along with model maker

Carolyn Thome, from the Smithsonian’s Office of Exhibits

Central (OEC), first pilot tested this technology at several deer

stone sites in the Darkhat region, using a 3D laser scanner.

Laser and structured light scanning are two cutting

edge technologies being used by archaeologists, conservators,

and museum specialists to collect valuable information about an

object’s surface without having to touch or move the object.

The ability to accurately record three dimensional data using a

non-contact approach is very new to the field of heritage
ASC Newsletter 13

Khan. This cast is currently being used here in the NMNH’s

family festival, Chinggis Khaan: 800 years of Mongolian

statehood.

Traditional molding and casting can be extremely

successful and accurate in documenting an artifact’s topographic

and dimensional details. The application and removal of mold

materials, however, pose a serious risk to sensitive object

surfaces, such as those of weathered deer stones. As an

alternative, 3D computer technology provided a way to carryout a virtual molding process at a much more rapid rate and

without fear of harming the stones’ surfaces. In 2005, the

conservation team used a Polhemus FastScan Cobra 3D laser

scanner to document 12 deer stones at sites in Northern

Mongolia. The laser light used in this type of scanning system

is of extremely low energy and frequency, and harmless to

humans and stones. As it was slowly swept above the deer

stone surface, the

hand-held scanner

would emit a single

laser line, used by the

camera and computer

components to

triangulate the details

of the surface in 3D

space. In 2006,a

Breuckmann GmbH

TriTos structured

light scanner was

used to scan 14 deer

stones and several

stone fragments at

Ushkiin Uver. The

MCI conservators

also completed a full

scan of the tallest

known deer stone

(ca.4m) at the site of

Ulaan Tolgoi. The

structured light

scanner projects a

pattern of white light across an object’s surface. The deformation of the pattern is recorded and processed by the camera and

computer components to locate details of the object’s surface in

3D space.

The advantage of 3D imaging is that it produces a

highly accurate, high resolution archival record. These digital

records can then be manipulated on a computer monitor for use

in research, conservation, documentation, education, or

exhibition on a global scale. They can also be used to produce a

physical 3D record: the data can also be transmitted to

specialized machines to be milled or “printed” in positive or

negative forms.

3D Scanning Under Shade and Starlight

3D scanning in the field poses many challenges to

conservators. Both the laser and structured light scanning

systems are sensitive to light. In order to collect good data

shade shelters needed to be built over every stone scanned. For

daylight scanning, the conservators, assisted by their Mongolian drivers, devised shelters using about 70 meters of canvas

and long wooden poles borrowed from neighboring animal

Laser scanning a deer stone at night

conservation and of particular value in the case of at-risk

artifacts. Mongolia’s deer stones are considered to be at-risk

because of the extreme environmental conditions that have

affected them for thousands of years. The degradation caused

by yearly freeze-thaw cycles is clearly visible in the spalling

(splitting or chipping) of the stones’ surfaces. Wind and water

erode them. Harmful lichens physically and chemically decay

the stones, while animals wear away at them with rubbing.

Human degradation ranges from graffiti to looting. In extreme

cases the natural bedding planes (formational weaknesses) in

the stones cause entire sections to shear off.

Despite this continuing degradation, the elaborate

images of deer and decorative accessories carved almost three

thousand years ago can still be seen on almost every deer stone.

These stones provide rare evidence of an ancient nomadic

peoples living on the Mongolian steppes and are now considered to be among the

most important

archaeological

treasures of Central

Asia.

 The unique

cultural status of

Mongolia’s deer

stones makes efforts

to understand and

preserve these

national icons a high

priority. Their atrisk status drives the

documentation

program being

carried out by MCI

conservators. The

3D digital data

collected by laser

and structured light

systems are now

being used to

complement

traditional documentation methods, such as high quality

photography, condition notes, and drawings.

Recording all Three Dimensions

Producing a 3D record has long been of interest to the

DSP, but until the MCI conservators began using 3D scanning

technology, only more traditional methods were an option. In

2002, a small team headed by experienced model makers from

the Smithsonian’s Office of Exhibits Central [OEC] produced

the DSP’s first physical 3D record. Model makers used a direct

molding and casting technique to replicate one deer stone,

famous for its rare depiction of a human face, its beautiful

carving, and its great height (#14 at Ushkiin Uver). In this case

the stone was deemed strong enough to physically withstand

this technique. It took two days to produce a mold of this

stone. The mold was then brought back to the United States,

and two casts were made. One was given to the National

Museum of Mongolian History, in Ulaanbaatar, for permanent

display. The other is now in the collection of the Smithsonian’s

National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and was used in

their 2002 exhibition Modern Mongolia-Reclaiming Genghis
ASC Newsletter 14

corrals. In 2006, collapsible ger (yurt) walls were added to the

shelter construction, allowing for increased mobility around the

stone and added structural support. Once a stone was scanned

the shelters were dismantled and moved to the next stone. Both

scanning systems are portable and light-weight and are easily

powered by a small Honda generator. However, only the

structured light scanner will operate in cold nighttime temperatures. Because of this, the structured light scanner offered a

great advantage over the laser scanner as it allowed the conservators to work through the night, eliminating the need to

construct shade shelters and therefore expediting the scanning

process. By the end of the 2006 field season, conservators were

using shade shelters for daylight scanning until about 11pm, at

which time they packed up the canvas, poles and ger walls and

continued scanning under the night sky until 5am.

Using the Data

The successful results from both DSP field seasons are

encouraging for the continued use of 3D imaging in heritage

conservation applications. For Mongolia’s enigmatic deer

stones this technology provided a safe, non-contact approach

for recording in accurate detail the rare cultural evidence of

Mongolia’s ancient nomads. MCI conservators are now

beginning the next phase of the scanning program which

involves data processing. This phase will create digital graphic

files that can be studied, exhibited, physically replicated and

archived. Over time these records can play a pivotal role in

monitoring changes in the stones and can become integral in the

development of strategic plans for conservation and preservation.

Shading deerstones with ger walls at Ulaan Tolgoi to avoid direct

sunlight during the scanning process

A SPECIAL THANKS TO

OUR SPONSORS

The Embassy of Mongolia

Chinggis Khan Foundation

Mongol-American Cultural

Association

The American Center for Mongolian

Studies

The Mongolia Society, Inc.

The National Geographic Society

Edward and Elizabeth Nef

Edward T. and Josephine Vinson Story Honorary Consul to Mongolia

Sanj Altan

Saichunga and Lopsang Khiyod

Jin Meng

Mure Te and Naran Bao

Denys J. Voaden

Smithsonian Institution

For more information on the research and activities of the

Arctic Studies Center, please see our website at:

www.mnh.si.edu/arctic or contact us at:

The Arctic Studies Center, Natural History Museum,

Smithsonian Institution, MRC 112

Washington, DC 20013-7012