Ilya Ulanov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Research Centre “Baikal Region” of Irkutsk State University, spoke about his project “Burial Complexes of the XI-XIV Centuries in Southeastern Transbaikal: Internal Chronology; Social and Cultural Features”. The project received a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. From mid-2026 till 2029, grant funding in the amount of 6 000 000 roubles will be allocated for the project annually.
According to the archaeologist, it is very interesting to study the burials of the ancient Mongols from the era of the formation and functioning of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and his successors. The region studied by the scientists is Southeastern Transbaikal. This area might be the homeland of Genghis Khan and undoubtedly belongs to the core from which the most powerful nomadic state in world history was formed.
On the one hand, in the 20th century, a large number of medieval burials from the Mongolian period were excavated in Southeastern Transbaikal, but on the other hand, many of them remain unpublished, and data on many of them have been lost.
Ilya Ulanov:
Our task is to collect all available data on these burials, including studying museum collections. Another necessary task is field research to expand the source base of the project. This is important in order to obtain new information about the funeral rite and the complex of artefacts of the ancient Mongols, which includes weapons, horse equipment, clothing items and household inventory. All this will allow us to better understand the Mongols of the XI-XIV centuries.
As the scientists emphasized, an unresolved problem for the region is the chronology of these burials. Usually, researchers combine them into a general array of ancient Mongolian burials. The task of Irkutsk researchers is to attempt to construct their internal chronology in order to link them to specific historical stages of ancient Mongolian history. Extensive radiocarbon dating is planned for this purpose.
