The ruins of Genghis Khan's palace have been excavated in eastern Mongolia, a Japanese archaeologist said yesterday, estimating the conqueror's grave is near the site.
A joint Japanese and Mongolian research team has unearthed some 600,000m2 of the remains of the palace complex some 250km south-east of Ulan Bator.
PHOTO: AP/THE JAPAN-MONGOLIA JOINT RESEARCH TEAM, HO
Cornerstones and holes for pillars were found in what is thought to be a mausoleum near the centre of the remains believed built in the 13th century, when the savage warrior unified local tribes and founded the Mongol Empire.
Other unearthed articles include earrings and bronze accessories as well as incense burners with dragon designs often considered the symbol of an emperor.
The research team, which began their project in 2001, has also found the ashes and bones of horses and cows believed to have been used for a memorial service for the Mongol leader.
"We concluded it was his mausoleum because historical documents are saying such a memorial service was held to mark his death," said Noriyuki Shiraishi, assistant professor at Niigata University and head of the Japanese side of the 30-member team.
"According to various documents related to Genghis Khan, his grave is supposed to be located within a radius of 12 kilometers from the mausoleum," he said.
"We believe that with this finding, we have taken a step closer to locating his grave," he added.
The burial site of Genghis Khan remains unknown. He was believed to have been buried in an unmarked spot in the Mongolian Plateau.
While the team will continue their dig in the second phase of the project that will end in 2007, it will wait for permission from the Mongolian government to expand the project to find the grave.
Most historians agree that Genghis Khan died in 1227 while fighting in the region of Xixia, on the edge of the autonomous Chinese regions of Ningxia and Inner Mongolia.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
RSS