18_BCAA_Mongolei_Ramseyer_Pousaz_Törbat_231-240.pdf

THE XIONGNU SETTLEMENT OF BOROO GOL, SELENGE AIMAG, MONGOLIA

Denis Ramseyer, Nicole Pousaz and Tsagaan Törbat

Introduction

Until now, archaeologists have based their studies of the Xiongnu essentially upon grave fi nds and some rare written sources. We want to present in this paper a new aspect of the research: the fi rst settlement ever excavated in Mongolia.

Since 2003 our Swiss-Mongolian project has undertaken research at the site of Boroo Gol, in the aimag of Selenge, known since the 1960s and investigated for the fi rst time in 1990 by D. Tseveendorzh and I. Erdélyi. They recognized an “open-air settlement without fortifi cation” (Erdélyi 1994, 553)1.

The real stimulus of the fi rst intervention at Boroo in 1990 was given by the excavations of the Ivolga fortress on Russian territory, near Lake Baikal. This site is situated near the Mon-golian border, near the backwater of the Selenge River, on the bank of the Ivolga River, and

1 In this paper we will not talk about the quadrilate-ral earthworks, peculiar structures attributed to the Xiongnu times. We presume that those structures could be attributed to some Xiongnu settlements,

but up to now even preliminary excavations have not begun. Kh. Perlee, who was the fi rst to mention them in an unpublished article, believed that these earth-works have been used as the “castles” of chiefs.

Fig. 1. The settlement of Boroo Gol (view from the east side) behind the river. At the centre the camp of the Swiss-Mongolian mission in 2005.

Denis Ramseyer, Nicole Pousaz and Tsagaan Törbat232

had been investigated from the 1940s to the 1970s. Another similar site was found in the same area and excavated at Dureny, in the valley of the Chikoi River.

The settlement is situated along the Boroo Gol (Fig.  1). On its eastern side, there is a steep slope going down to the bed of the river. On the other three sides, we observe a small natural embankment. The promontory exca-vated is relatively fl at, with small elevations and depressions (Pousaz / Ramseyer 2005).

Some potsherds and animal bones had al-ready appeared in a few spots at breaks of banks of the river and on the promontory. Ar-chaeological remains had been revealed and damaged in some other spots by industrial gold mining during the 20th century (Fig. 2). Today, indigenous gold-washers continue to destroy the archaeological level, digging holes between the river and the promontory to fi nd gold ore (Fig.  3). Indeed, the rock-grinding mills and other large machinery left by gold-diggers made the excavations rather diffi cult (Ramseyer 2004; Pousaz / Ramseyer 2006).

Following the indented line of the river-side, we opened several sectors on the highest part of the settlement. The archaeological level is situated between 5 and 40 cm below the surface (Fig. 4). An area of 1,000 square metres has been excavated between 2005 and 2007 (Pousaz et al.)2.

2 This made up nearly 10% of the extent of the settle-ment.

Fig. 3. Indigenous gold-washers at work along the Boroo Gol.

Fig. 4. Boroo Gol. View of the excavation in 2006.

Fig. 2. Boroo Gol. Holes in the promontory made by gold-diggers. An important part of the site

has been destroyed since the 1950’s.

The Xiongnu Settlement of Boroo Gol 233

Structures

The dwellings

Our excavations have revealed six dwellings, more or less well preserved. Some, studied in de-tail, present evident characteristics and their internal organisation follows a peculiar model.

Each construction is partly buried, with a fl oor situated about one meter below the surface (Fig. 5). The area of each house was about 25 square meters (Pousaz / Ramseyer 2007). The rounded corners of the shallow buried houses indicate that the buildings had a sub-rectangular ground plan.

Fig. 5. Boroo Gol. A half-buried house No. 3 (locus 33) with its surrounding structures.

Fig. 6. Boroo Gol. The rectangular structure of house No. 2 (locus 20) with a furnace, a heating system made in stone

and pottery along the western walls.

Denis Ramseyer, Nicole Pousaz and Tsagaan Törbat234

The orientation of the buildings is constant. The corners are oriented at the four cardinal points (Fig. 6) with the entrance probably on the south-eastern side.

Each dwelling contained a heating construction. In the north corner was the fi replace, a kind of furnace built of slabs of stone and sometimes of big fragments of pottery, with their mouth directed towards the south corner of the dwelling place (Fig. 7).

From the fi replace, smoke pipes were conducted along the western walls, following an L-form. Those pipes served as heating tubes. Slabs of regular form and big sherds of pottery stood on their edges, the gaps between them were fi lled up with small stones (Fig. 8). On the eastern side, there are often charcoals, ashes and burnt clay on the soil, possibly indicting a peculiar activity using another fi replace.

In the fl oor of the dwelling places, along the walls, in the middle and on both sides of the entrance, postholes were discovered (Fig. 9): some of them probably supported the roof, the others correspond to possible internal installations. The great number of the postholes indi-cates that the houses have been repaired several times. We can assume that several generations had been living at Boroo.

Fig. 7. Boroo Gol. Detail of the fi replace of house No. 3.

Fig. 8. Boroo Gol. Detail of the heating system of house No. 3: west corner.

The Xiongnu Settlement of Boroo Gol 235

Fig. 9. Boroo Gol. Postholes analysed in the fl oor of house No. 3.

Fig. 10. Boroo Gol. Millstone and grinder in the front of the fi replace (house No. 4, locus 105).

Denis Ramseyer, Nicole Pousaz and Tsagaan Törbat236

In one dwelling, we were able to observe an access ramp leading down from the south-eastern wall. The same architectural concept is evident in the rich graves of the same period (for example Noyon Uul or Gol Mod) (Mongolie 2003). On the fl oor of the dwellings, remains of economic and everyday life objects (pottery, animal bones, items made of bone and stone, ornaments, etc.) have been collected. In house No. 4, a small millstone and a grinder beside with other artefacts were found in front of the fi replace (Fig. 10).

Other structures

More than 100 different structures have been studied on the site. Except for some half-buried dwellings, we have found postholes and several fi replaces, pits, and silos. The density of those structures is particularly high (Fig. 11).

A great part of the pits have a circular or an oblong form with rounded off corners. The largest dimensions are 1.0 by 1.5 m, with a maximal depth of 1 m. The profi les of the pit walls are mostly regular. They are sloping and join the bottom under rounded off angles. These structures were probably roomy storage places for supplies: they could store food products (Fig. 13). In a fi nal stage they were used as dumps: they contain burnt stones and burnt clay, charcoals, potsherds, and bones (Fig. 12).

Some small postholes have been interpreted as light architectural structures tied up for stor-age of food or for some craft works.

Fig. 11. Boroo Gol. Some pits observed in sector 1.

Fig. 13. Boroo Gol. Two pits with their typical silo form.

Fig. 12. Boroo Gol. A silo pit used as dumping ground.

The Xiongnu Settlement of Boroo Gol 237

Archaeological Material

Pottery

Meanwhile for a study of the whole ceramic, we can note that almost all pots are decorated. The most favourite decorative elements are black band-like glazing, either with vertical or horizontal bands, parallel lines or wavy lines (Fig. 14a). There are also relief bands, vertical or slightly oblique lines of waves, double, and even triple, frequently enclosed between two paral-lel horizontal lines.

Several fragments of some milk strainers have also been found. So, the most widely spread pots seem obviously to represent the necessary equipment of each dwelling.

Among the craft activity of Boroo was probably pottery manufacture, even if we did not fi nd furnaces. There are however some deformed earthenware vessels (Fig. 14b), which indicate a local production. The fi ring of pottery reached a high temperature; most of the sherds found were either of dark black or light grey colour. There were some less burnt pieces too, with looser structure of red-brown colour. Almost all the pots were turned on a potter’s wheel.

Fig. 14. Boroo Gol. Archaeological fi nds. a Ceramic with ornaments; b deformed earthenware vessel; c–d two schist engraved belt plaques; e carved sheep shoulder-blade. a ca. 1:4; b–e 1:2.

Denis Ramseyer, Nicole Pousaz and Tsagaan Törbat238

The shape and decoration of the vessels, both storage and cooking, are identical to those found in the graves of the Xiongnu, excavated in several parts of the Mongolian territory. A fi rst analysis of the ceramic done on two potsherds of Boroo and on one piece of Noyon Uul show that the pottery of these two sites is related (Törbat et al. 2005).

Stone and bone

Some stone smoothing tools and small quartzite hammerstones were found in the dwellings. Some pieces of stone rings and schist carved belt plaques can be compared to objects of Ivolga and Dureny (Fig. 14c–d). Tools made of bones and antlers are present on the site: those arte-facts are usually part of weaponry (arrowhead, extremity of bow), or items of everyday life, sometimes ornaments3.

We found several carved shoulder-blades of sheep, generally thought to be instruments for fi nishing the pot before the kilning (Fig. 14e), but in fact were used for smoothing leather.

The osteological material discovered is abundant. Preliminary studies of H. Martin4 indicate that most of these remnants belong to caprinae (goat and sheep) and bovidae. Bones of horse and of dog have been identifi ed too.

Metal

Although the use of iron is common at this time, we found very few artefacts. No remains of any iron smelting furnace or slag were detected, therefore, there is no local manufacture of metallurgy attested at Boroo Gol. The artefacts made of bronze are rare: one arrowhead and small decoration elements.

Dating the Settlement

On the basis of the archaeological material, the stratigraphy and the study of the structures, we can assume that the initial and fi nal dates lie within two centuries maximum, from the end of the 2nd century to the beginning of the 1st century BC. The study of the abundant pottery found on the site will soon precise the chronology.

However, two radiocarbon dates have been obtained from charcoals found in the houses 2 and 3. These data indicate 80–250 AD for house 2 while house 3 should have been used be-tween 320–200 BC5. These amazing results should be confi rmed by new analysis in order to be correctly understood.

3 The types of some items have analogies in the bone products of nowadays nomad people. The prepara-tion of arrowheads of bone with split setting is con-tinued by the local tradition. The bone carving craft is an aboriginal craftsmanship.

4 Archaeozoologist INRAP, Toulouse (France).5 Ua-34323, BG 2006, locus 20: 1835 ± 30 BP; Ua-

34324, BG 2006, locus 33: 2255 ± 30 BP.

The Xiongnu Settlement of Boroo Gol 239

Conclusion

What are the reasons for the appearance of settlements among the Xiongnu nomads? Was ag-riculture the basis of the existence for such settlements?

Though agriculture is poor in the country, some ancient Chinese chronicles testify the ex-istence of that activity with the Xiongnu (Hayashi 1984). Besides mentioning the cultivation of grains, they give information neither about the techniques of agriculture, nor about the agricultural implements.

Some archaeologists think that the Xiongnu strived to overcome the narrow economic ba-sis of nomad economy by the organisation of a series of permanent settlements whose main branches of economy were agriculture and handicraft. The study of the data of the Boroo Gol excavation should add some new information to these questions.

The excavations of the Ivolga fortress in Russia have rendered valuable materials associated with agriculture: farming implements such as ploughshares, shovel ends, hoes, sickles, stone mills, as well as grains of cereals have been found. A few millstones have been discovered in Boroo.

Was gold searching the main activity at Boroo 2000 years ago? The inhabitants of the settle-ment were perhaps engaged in collecting gold in the bed of the Boroo Gol. This was made possible by the gold mine near Boroo Gol and in the mountains near Noyon Uul, probably already known by the time of the Xiongnu.

We have no evidence to assume the existence of a particular group of craftsmen.We have no specifi c buildings belonging to a chief or some rich people, different from other

dwellings. We reckon that the houses we have excavated were probably used for handicraft activity. Were these activities combined with tillage of the land and animal breeding?

The existence of such settlements refl ects the peculiar distribution of work between the no-mad and the settled part of the society, but this does not mean that the nomad Xiongnu became sedentary. We do not know if the village of Boroo Gol was a permanent or a seasonal occupa-tion. The one-sided developed nomad economy was perhaps completed by the economy of a settled part of the society.

As the example of Ivolga (Davydova 1995), Boroo could have performed such a role, supply-ing the nomads with the products of agricultural and craftsman’s products: it was perhaps a kind of “trading centre” to which the nomad Xiongnu travelled.

Because of its geographical situation, this site occupied a strategic position, along a trading axe, leading to Lake Baikal (Miniaev 2000).

In the close neighbourhood of the settlement, “beyond the eastern side of the north-east road”, I. Erdélyi mentions in his publication the presence of a stony kurgan cemetery with about six graves (Erdélyi 1994). According to the outer features of the structures, these fl at graves belong to the Xiongnu period and might be in relation with the late inhabitants of Boroo Gol. It could be interesting to explore those graves and compare the fi nds with those of the settlement, as it was carried out for the Ivolga complex in Russia. Indeed, a comparison between the Russian settlements and the Boroo discovery on the territory of Mongolia might add new insights to these questions.

Is there a connection between the imperial graves of Noyon Uul (Rudenko 1969) discovered less than 25 km from the Boroo Gol settlement and Boroo? There are a lot of interesting ques-tions for gaining a better understanding of the Xiongnu civilisation.

Denis Ramseyer, Nicole Pousaz and Tsagaan Törbat240

The discovery of economic structures completes the material relating to the graves. It helps to shed more light on the way of life of the Xiongnu population (Lebedynski 2003).

The study of settlements is important for us as it helps us to gain an accurate view of the an-cient nomad societies and, to go further, to understand the relationship between nomads with settled agrarian people, such as the Chinese in the South, or people living near Lake Baikal in the North, and to know the economic and administrative aspects of the Xiongnu.

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