A Xiongnu cemetery found in Mongolia

The Xiongnu settlements of Egiin Gol, Mongolia

“…The Xiongnu settlements and cemeteries of Egiin Gol were integrated into a regional system of hierarchy and political organisation. The macro-regional hierarchy of cemeteries from the huge elite sites of Noyon Uul (Trever 1932;Polosmak et al 2007) or Gol Mod 2 (Allard et al 2002) in the Khangai Mountains to the small grave locales of Egiin Gol form a distinctive nested hierarchy. This clear vertical sequence appears to intersect with the Xiongnu settlement system at larger settlement and special use sites, which contain reflections of the non-local connections clearly seen in many graves.…”

“…To date, the vast majority of archaeological work on the Xiongnu period has been the excavation of burial sites, and it is mortuary data that provide evidence of the scale and complexity of the Xiongnu polity as well as establishing their place in history as pastoral nomads (Kozlov 1927;Trever 1932;Voskresenskii & Tikhonov 1932;Erdélyi et al 1967;Tian & Li 1980;Martynova 1988;Minyaev 1990;Wu 1990;Ishjamts 1994;Davydova 1996;Murail et al 2000;Allard et al 2002). Based on geographical and chronological placement and descriptive features, a 'Xiongnu' material culture, though somewhat variable, can be found distributed across Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, and southern Siberia (Trever 1932;Dorjsuren 1961;Perlee 1961;Rudenko 1962;Davydova 1968Davydova , 1995Wu 1990).…”

Prehistoric Mongolian Archaeology in the Early 21st Century: Developments in the Steppe and Beyond

“…This type of tomb had been known since the first excavations at Noyon Uul early in the 20th century (Khodukin 1926;Trever 1932), but no major excavations had followed those (see Konovalov 2008 for excavations in Siberia). Beginning in the first years of this century, expeditions returned to Noyon Uul (Polosmak et al 2008a(Polosmak et al , 2009, Gol Mod (André and Desroches 2002;Yeruul-Erdene 2014), Gol Mod II (Allard et al 2002;Erdenebaatar et al 2011;Miller et al 2006), Duurlig Nars (Eregzen and Aldarmunkh 2015; Yun and Chang 2011), and Takhiltyn Khotgor (Miller et al 2008). The locations of these complexes are mostly in the central Mongolian highlands, the Selenge drainage, and at the eastern face of the Altai in western Mongolia and define the core regions of the Xiongnu polity.…”

Khirigsuurs, ritual and mobility in the Bronze Age of Mongolia

“…The project aims to better understand the circumstances that surrounded the emergence and development of mobile herding as a way of life in central Mongolia, an objective that it is realising through excavations, surveys, the identification of campsites, as well as an ethnographic study (Allard et al forthcoming). The project is also excavating Golmod-2, a recently discovered Xiongnu (third century BC to second century AD) cemetery (Allard 2002). Slab burials, deer stones and khirigsuurs are all found in large numbers within the project's 330km 2 research area.…”