The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-06-15
important Archaeological Finds
Made in Kharakhoto, An
cient Ruined Capital.

Washington. d. C.-Dispatches from
Moscow tell Of important archaeolog-
ical finds among "Russia's buried
tombs" In the ancient ruined capital
Of Mongolia, Kharakhoto.
The claim to the region by Russia
and the apparent fact that 1t is at
least sufficiently under Russian con-
troll to make scientific work possible
by Russian archaeologists is interest
Ing because the site of Kharakhoto Is
little more than stones throw from
Peking In a region long under Chinese
dominance.
A bulletin from the Washington I'd.
c. headquarters the National
Geographic society tells Of the Mon
gols and their land.
"Kharakhoto was the seat of Mongol
power during very early period of
their history which hitherto has been
practically unknown.
"What these world-conquering peo-
pie may have been and done in the
dim past has been obscured, in fact, by
their strange boiling over in the
Thirteenth century when Genghiz
Khan with his cruel, invlncible, hard
fighting rough-riders from their half
barren plains, suddenly became the
scourge of East and. West alike, and
came much closer to conquering the
world than even Alexander had done.
"Kublai Khan, one Of GenghiZ'
early successors, who made Peking
the Chinese capital and sat there on
the Dragon throne, probably ruled over
a greater territory than any man had
done before or has done since. But
once out of the saddle-where they
were more expert and more at home
even than Cossack or American Indian
the Mongols lost their power and
after century their tremendous en-
pire was only a memory. So dramatic
was this sudden rise and fall Of the
Mongols that II and the somewhat
drab period since have gone for Mon
gol history, and there has been little
interest in what preceded their brief
excursion into world dominion. Rec
ords, If they can be dug from Kharak-
hoto, therefore, will fill out period
OF history now practically blank.
Chinese Wall Built to Block Moneos.
zone hint of the importance that
the Mongols may have attained at an
early date Is the worlds most exten-
sive work of man, the great wall Of
China; for 1t was in an effort to keep
their Mongol neighbors out that the
Chinese began that tremendous ram
part In 219 Il. G.. The ruins of Khar-
akhoto are barely 80 miles outside the
great wall and not more than 25O
miles from Peking.
.'The political pendulum has made
frequent swings In Mongolia in late
years. 1t had been recognized as a
province of China for many years
when, in 1912, imperial Russia OBJ
tanned treaty recognizing its autono-
my and granting concessions to Rus
sia. When the Russian empire col
lapsed, China Cancelled the treaty of
1912 and reassumed unrestricted con-
troll. Later an anti-Bolshevik force
took possession of the capital, Urga,
ence of Mongolia as a nominal empire.
The Bolshevists then gained control
and turned the empire into q 'repub-
lic.'
'The Mongols Of today are of the
same strain as their far-conquving
predecessors and many of them live
the same carefree nomadic life on the
plains But among the people as
whole there has been tremendous
change in habits and outlook on life.
Buddhism-or rather its degenerate
phase, Lamaism-has wrought the
change; and furnishes, one of the most
striking instances known of the power
of religion to, make over people.
The particular aspect Of Lamaism
that has deeply affected the Mongols
Is the growth Of monasteries. Some