The burial place of Genghis Khan is one of the great mysteries of the medieval world. The Secret History of the Mongols records that the body of the great khan was brought back to Mongolia after his death in 1227 and buried at an undisclosed site in the Khentii Mountains, near the sacred mountain Burkhan Khaldun. The exact location has never been confirmed by excavation, and the Mongols have traditionally refused to disclose it. According to long-standing tradition, anyone who disturbs the tomb will be cursed, and the Mongols have maintained the prohibition against entering the area around the suspected site for centuries.
The secrecy of the burial is one of the most distinctive features of the Mongol imperial tradition, and it is the main reason why the location of the tomb has not been identified. The burial procession took an apparently random route, and according to one persistent account in later Persian and Chinese sources, the attendants and escorts who knew the route were killed, and the funeral animals were slaughtered, so that no one could reveal it. The deliberate destruction of the people who might have known the location has made it effectively impossible to identify the tomb with certainty.
The Tradition of Secret Burial
The tradition of secret burial was a long-standing tradition of the steppe peoples. The burial sites of the great steppe rulers were traditionally concealed, and the burial processions were accompanied by elaborate rituals designed to confuse anyone who might try to follow the route. The most famous of these rituals was the killing of everyone who had any knowledge of the route, including the attendants, the soldiers, and even the animals that had been used in the procession.
The tradition of secret burial was based on a number of considerations. The first was the protection of the tomb from desecration. The Mongols believed that the spirit of the khan would continue to protect the people as long as the tomb remained undisturbed, and they took elaborate precautions to ensure that the tomb would not be disturbed. The second was the protection of the location from enemies. The Mongols believed that the location of the tomb could be used by enemies to harm the people, and they took elaborate precautions to ensure that the location would not be revealed.
The Suspected Sites
The Secret History of the Mongols gives no name for the burial place. The site is generally assumed to be in the Khentii Mountains, in the northeastern part of Mongolia. The most widely accepted identification is the Burkhan Khaldun, a sacred mountain in the Khentii range that is also associated with the birthplace of Genghis Khan and with the sacred geography of the Borjigin clan. The Burkhan Khaldun is now part of the Burkhan Khaldun Mountain Protected Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 2015.
The identification of the burial site with the Burkhan Khaldun area is based on a combination of the geographical features of the region, the traditional accounts of the burial procession in Persian and Chinese sources, and the continued devotion of the Mongols to the mountain. The identification is the most widely accepted, but it is not proved, and other candidates have been proposed. The question is likely to remain a subject of scholarly debate until a confirmed excavation is permitted, which the modern Mongolian state has so far refused to authorize.
The Archaeological Status
No excavation of a confirmed Genghis Khan tomb has been carried out, and the Mongolian state prohibits archaeological work in the protected Burkhan Khaldun area. A number of expeditions in the 1990s and 2000s proposed sites in the general Khentii area, but none has been confirmed as a royal burial of the Mongol period. The most famous candidate, the so-called “Hunting Palace” site on the Onon (often cited in popular accounts), has been examined by Japanese–Mongolian teams since 2001 and has produced only early-modern surface material. The question of where Genghis Khan is buried is, on the current evidence, open.
The Modern Respect for the Site
The modern respect for the burial site of Genghis Khan is a major feature of the cultural and political life of Mongolia. The Mongols have traditionally refused to disclose the location of the tomb, and the prohibition against entering the area around the tomb has been maintained for centuries. The respect for the tomb is also a major feature of the modern Mongolian state, which has promoted the site as a major cultural and historical landmark.
The modern respect for the site is also a major feature of the international community. The UNESCO World Heritage designation of the Burkhan Khaldun Mountain Protected Area in 2015 was a major step in the international recognition of the site, and it has helped to promote the site as a major cultural and historical landmark. The designation has also helped to promote the protection of the site, and it has helped to raise awareness of the importance of the Mongol imperial tradition.
The Significance of the Burial Site
The burial site of Genghis Khan is significant for the Mongols, who regard the suspected area around Burkhan Khaldun as one of the most sacred landscapes in the country. The site’s significance is also historical: the burial of Genghis Khan in 1227 was the founding ritual of the Mongol imperial tradition, and the pattern of secret royal burials that followed in the Borjigin line shaped the political imagination of the khanates for centuries. The site’s significance in the modern world is as a symbol of Mongolian national identity and a tourist destination; the modern state has used the Burkhan Khaldun area as the centrepiece of a wider narrative of national heritage since the 1990s.
Sources
- Igor de Rachewiltz, ed. and trans., The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century (2 vols., Brill, 2004–2013).
- John Man, Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Legacy (London, 2004).
- Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (New York, 2004).