-
Rock Art and Archaeology:Investigating Ritual Landscape in the
Mongolian Altai
Field Report 2011
William W. Fitzhugh and Richard Kortum, EditorsMaegan Tracy,
Producer
Published in February 2012 by:
The Arctic Studies CenterNational Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian InstitutionWashington, D.C.
National Museum of MongoliaUlaanbaatar, Mongolia
National Museum of Mongolia
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Fig. 1: Study area highlighted in red on Mongolia map;
highlighted in black on detail map
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Khoton Project Field Report 2011
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Figure CaptionStudy area highlighted in red on Mongolia map;
highlighted in black on detail mapRichard Kortum, Theresa Markiw,
William Fitzhugh, Daniel Cole, Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan (Bayaraa),
Tserendagva (Tsedo), Jagalsaikhan Bataar (Jagaa), Ken Lymer, Dave
Edwards. Students: Tyler Wertsch, Andrew Hyder, Elissa Bullion,
Will Taylor, Luke Champouillon, James Mills, D. Rivers, Burentugs,
Shinsaran Dshinesaran (Shine), Enkhsaikhan (Enkh), Zayabaatar
(Zaya), Sandanjants (Sanda). Cooks: Bakhidkuli, Janat. Drivers:
Suldbaatar (Sulda), Kassim, Canat (Conti). Photo By Dave
EdwardsBase camp with Altai Mountains reflected in Khoton Nuur,
view SExcavating B1-1 khirigsuur, view STheresa, Elissa, and Andrew
excavating Biluut 1-1 Feature 2, view NWBiluut 1-1Mongolian
students mapping B1-1 khirigsuur mound Crew at work exposing B1-1
burial, view SEDave Edwards photographing B1-1 khirigsuurDave scans
burial B1-1 with metal detector, view SEDan Cole and Ken Lymer at
work-centralB1-2 mound, level 2 rocks exposed, view SB1-2
Paleolithic site, view SB1-2 mound 3 iron knife from level 3
rocksElissa and Andrew at B2-4 with storms over AltaiB2-4 skull in
situ, view ESum Center near Aral TolgoiN side of 3rd deer stone at
Aral Tolgoi with animal figure and chevron emblem B2-3 zebra animal
with hunterB2-3 child burial, view EStrange horned figure
B-4Rainbow on camp site. Peat Valley Site Biluut 3-3 surface
cleared, view NWBiluut 3-1 Feature 4B2-2, Pazyryk burial, view
NWB2-2 Pazyryk burial, photo by Dave EdwardsTheresa Markiw painting
B2-4 individualB2-3 (Pond Site) standing slab, view NExcavation of
B2-2 Pazyryk burial with storm coming in. Photo by Dave EdwardsB1-3
excavation with sheep and goats looking onLocal women selling wares
at Aral Tolgoi NaadamLuke wrestling at NaadamB2-2 Argali sheep gold
ornament from Pazyryk burialYoung horse racersB2-5 Stone Man site,
F1, view NWTsengel governors party with dig teamExcavating Pazyryk
grave featureRe-excavating looters pit at B2-6, view WBiluut team
at East Bay 3 deer stone, view NWEast Bay 3 view SNadaam
WeddingHospitality in hosts ger at Naadam weddingWhite Falcon, the
cooks daughter Packing up camp and taking down gers
12
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Part II
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Figure Caption2011 overview of project sites.2011 project
sites.B1-1 Feature 1 hearth, view NB1-1 Feature 2 hearth, view
SBiluut 1-1 khirigsuur, view SWBiluut 1-1 feature 2 map.Biluut 1-1
skeletal remains, view WBiluut 1-1 khirigsuur, deer stone with
three-slash face, (after removal from mound for photograph)Biluut
1-1 distributionBiluut 1-2 mound 3, view SEBiluut 1-2 charcoal
sample locationBiluut 1-2 mound 3 surface rocks cleanedBiluut 1-2
mound 3 mapProfile and map.Biluut 1-3, Pond Site, view NWB1-3 grave
feature, view NWB1-3 cobble hearth (Feature 1) view NB1-3 standing
stone with rocks cleaned, view NB1-3 Feature 2, charcoal sample #2,
profile viewB1-3 Pond site.Biluut 1-4 hillside siteBiluut 2-1
Surface Map.Biluut 2-1 upper burial pit, view NWBiluut 2-1 stone
coffin with collapsed cover slabs and sheep bones outside east
wall, view EHorse skeleton from Pazyryk burial, view S, photo by
Dave EdwardsRemains of log chamber beneath Pazyryk burial box
floor, view S, photo by Dave EdwardsBiluut 2-2 Pazyryk SiteBiluut
2-3 Map 1Biluut 2-3 burial slabs exposed, view W. photo by Dave
EdwardsBiluut 2-3 mound with surface rocks cleaned, view WBiluut
2-3 Map 2.Biluut 2-3 coffin beneath capstonesBiluut 2-3 child
burial Finds.Biluut 2-4 burial in flexed position, view S (trowel
points north), photo by Dave EdwardsBiluut 2-4 2nd level rocks,
view NBiluut 2-4 Maps 2 and 3.Excavation of Biluut 2-5, photo by
Dave EdwardsBiluut 2-5 stone man, view NWBiluut 2-5, 2nd level
rocks, view SEBiluut 2-5, pre-excavation, view SWBiluut 2-5 Stone
Man Site Map 1Biluut 2-5 Stone Man Site Map 2Biluut 2-5 Stone Man
Site Map 3, Feature 1Biluut 2-6 Hillside site Maps 1 & 2Biluut
3-1 mound with gathering storm overhead, view NWBiluut 3-1 stone
boxes and possible seats, view NBiluut 3-1 stone boxes, surface Map
1Biluut 3-2 Empty Grave SitePeat Valley Site Biluut 3-3 surface
cleared, view WBiluut 3-3, Peat Valley SiteCentral Hearth East
ProfileBiluut 3-3 microblade coreBiluut 3-3 hearth baseBiluut 3-3
Feature 4
454647484950515253545556575859606162636465666768697071727374757677787980818283848586878889909192939495969798
Part III
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Major rock art sites at BiluutRock art team on Biluut 3,
southern slopeJagaa and Champouillon trace a panelTserendagva and
Kortum examine a figurePetroglyph locations on Biluut 3Mounted
archer with elaborate headdress (Turkic Period)Ibex in early
nomadic style (Early Iron Age)Tamga (period uncertain)Small
Mongolian deer, less than 10cm (Late Bronze Age)Human figure with
bovids (Archaic (pre-Bronze) possibly Paleolithic)Cargo, or caravan
scene (Bronze Age)Birthing woman (Possible Neolithic)Unusual
anthropomorphic figure (date uncertain)Rare side-on view of a
chariot, driver, and horses (possible Early Iron age)
110111112113114115116117118119120121122123
99100101102103104105106107108109
Biluut 3-3 Feature 5Biluut 3-3 Test Pit 2 cultural level at old
ground surface B3-3 hearth, consolidated mass in SEB3-3 findsEast
Bay 1, hearth 7 completedEast Bay 3, view SEast Bay 3, hearth 1
completedEast Bay-1 Khirigsuurs, Hearth Circles MapEast Bay 3,
Khirigsuurs, Deer StonesEast Bay 3 deer stone upright, view NWEast
Bay 3 deer stone back in original position, view NW
Figure Caption
Part V
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126127128129
130
131
132133
Part VILocations of 2011 and 2012 study area in Mongolia
highlighted in Yellow.Recently dug and back-filled circular
khirigsuur mound. 2147m elevation; 597085.85, 5389527.61;
597084.79, 5389534.34; 597075.70, 5389534.26; 597075.26, 5389526.46
(UTM coordinates: E, N).Rock art on a boulder on the slope of
Broken Mountain at 2141m elevation; 600264.54, 5390947.23Four
visitors who came twice to check out my work Large standing stone
in a pasture over 1km north of Biluut 2 at 2115m elevation;
597605.07, 5392543.24.2011 Field mapping collection localities and
archaeological dig sites. Red dots indicate GPS collection sites,
yellow dots indicate Archaeological dig sites (some fall outside
image area). Contour interval is at 15m. Localities in relation to
aspect: North (red), East (yellow), S (cyan), W (blue). While most
archaeological sites trended to S and W, the aspect of the
petroglyphs were found to be more dependant on location of suitable
exposed rock sheen.A significant majority of the archaeological
features are found in relatively flat slope areas, whereas the
petroglyphs can be found on virtually any degree of slope. Green
indicates flat slope, continuous to red (very steep).Directional
stonework in the valley between B1 and B2 may align with the peak
on Biluut 2. (Shown in red).Alignment of the axes of a spoked
khirigsuur, as well as the alignment of several burial mounds in a
row may point to distant peaks. (Shown in yellow).
A house built for the Reindeer PeopleSh. Sodov, of Tuvan
ethnicity, and his wife Kh. Puntsagjav, of Darkhad ethnicityTs.
Sanji, of Tuvan ethnicity, and his wife Sh. Nansalma, of Darkhad
Mongol ethnicityL. Jajuurs Tuvan birth certificate, 1941L. Jajuur,
of Tuvan ethnicity, and his wife S. Yanjima, of Darkhad-Mongolian
ethnicityRemains of fish factory house on the mouth of the Khodorgo
River, photo taken in 2007
134135136137138139
Part VI
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Table of Contents
Map
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Appendix 1
Appendix II
Appendix III
Sites excavated in the 2011 Field Season
Introduction and OverviewWilliam W. Fitzhugh, Richard Kortum,
and Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan
Khoton Lake Project Field Journal 2011William W. Fitzhugh,
transcribed by Alyna Rasile
Field Notes and MapsPrepared by William Fitzhugh, Jamsranjav
Bayarsaikhan, and Maegan Tracy.
Report on the 2011 Khoton Lake Project (in Mongolian)Jamsranjav
Bayarsaikhan
Latest Rock Art Research at Khoton Lake, Summer 2011 Richard
Kortum
Khoton Project Cartographic DiaryDan Cole
Ethnographic Research: Interethnic Relationships among Tuvans
and Mongols. Darhad, Northern Mongolia (2009)Ts. Ayush
Radiocarbon Date ListWilliam Fitzhugh
GPS Data and Map
Site Reports
1-2
3-34
35-73
74-107
108-114
115-124
125-131
132-134
135-137
139-177
cover photo by Dave Edwards
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Fig. 2: 2011 Project Participants:Richard Kortum, Theresa
Markiw, William Fitzhugh, Daniel Cole, Jamsran-jav Bayarsaikhan
(Bayaraa), Tserendagva (Tsedo), Jagalsaikhan Bataar (Jagaa), Ken
Lymer, Dave Edwards. Students: Tyler Wertsch, Andrew Hyder, Elissa
Bullion, Will Taylor, Luke Champouillon, James Mills, D. Rivers,
Burentugs, Shinsaran Dshinesaran (Shine), Enkhsaikhan (Enkh),
Zayabaatar (Zaya), Sandanjants (Sanda). Cooks: Bakhidkuli, Janat.
Drivers: Suldbaatar (Sulda), Kassim, Canat (Conti). Photo by Dave
Ed-wards.
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Fieldwork at Khoton Lake was undertaken in 2011 as the first
year of the National Endowment for the Humanities Three-Year
Collaborative Research Grant: Rock Art and Archaeology:
Investigating Ritual Landscape in the Mongolian Altai. The overall
goal of the project is to inventory the archaeological and rock art
resources of the Biluut Hills petroglyph complex, including
surrounding territory of Lake Khoton; to establish links between
these disparate sets of data; and to explore the changing cultural
landscape patterns of this region from Paleolithic times to the
present, especially as revealed by ritual and ceremonialism. While
previous studies have investigated the rock art of Western Mongolia
and Inner Asia (e.g., Jacobson, et. al.) or the regions culture
historyespecially of the Russian Altailittle research has been done
to integrate or synthesize these two bodies of data into a unified
cultural reconstruction. The task is not an easy one, for without
organic preservation in archaeological sites, or contextual data
from rock art, the archaeological and petroglyphic records do not
easily mesh into one voice. Nevertheless, it is important to
attempt to assimilate finds from both in order to discover where
points of articulation can be found and to acknowledge where gaps
cannot be bridged.
The 2011 Khoton Lake Project conducted fieldwork on the northern
shores of Lake Khoton (Khoton Nuur) for six weeks from early June
to mid-July. We arrived at Khoton Lake on June 6th and departed on
July 12th. A team of 26 Americans and Mongolians combined efforts
at documenting rock art and locating and excavating archaeological
sites in the immediate vicinity of the three Biluut Hills and
around the drainage of Khuiten Gol, a modest swift-flowing stream
that drains one of the more fertile mountain steppe zones in the
Altai Mountains less than 10 km from the Chinese border. The Biluut
Hills contain an estimated 10,000 individual petroglyph images.
Surrounding grazing lands and fresh-water lake shores offer
excellent habitat for wild game and fish, as well as for domestic
animals, while valley connections permit communication with
outlying regions in all directions. The abundance of fresh water
augmented by frequent summer storms makes for relatively stable
pasturage, while large stands of Siberian Larch on the northern
flanks of the Altai Nuruu across the lake provide a plentiful
supply of timber for housing, heating, stock pens, and lighting.
2011 fieldwork concentrated on recording all of the rock art on
Biluut 3, and on excavating a sample of archaeological sites of
different types and suspected ages. In all, approximately 4,000
petroglyphic images were documented and more than 200
archaeological sites were mapped. Of these, 14 sites were excavated
and dated.
Results include detailed GIS databanks for all of the recorded
rock art images and archaeological sites. Biluut rock art spans
more than 8,000 years; a small number of images may date to the
late Paleolithic. It remains unclear, however, when the Altais Ice
Age glaciers retreated from the Khoton Lake basin, freeing it for
human and animal occupation. Given the fresh appearance of many
rock surfaces and well-developed glacial outwash topography, ice
retreat may have occurred as late as 10,000 years ago, thus
obviating any chance of earlier human settlement (or rock art).
However, by 6,000-8,000 years ago Archaic-style rock art images are
clearly attested, and thereafter large
PART I
Introduction and Overview
William W. Fitzhugh, Richard Kortum, and Jamsranjav
Bayarsaikhan
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quantities of images can be attributed to Neolithic, Early and
Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, Turkic, Medieval, and Ethnographic
periods based on a combination of stylistic, subject matter, and
patination features. Damage to rock art panels from modern graffiti
and vandalism also represents a significant component of this
record. While rock art panels frequently display palimpsests of
images from different periods, sometimes showing super-positioning
over earlier figures, nothing like the disastrous defacing by
modern graffiti artists seems to have occurred at earlier times. A
large number of special, rare, or otherwise highly significant
images were discovered in summer 2011 by the projects rock art
team.
Archaeological work resulted in a series of radiocarbon-dated
ritual sites of which human burials represents only one form of
ceremonialism. Ten of the 14 sites investigated in detail were
burials; all of these produced radiocarbon dates, which ranged from
4,000 BP to 800 BP, spanning the late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age to
the Genghis Khan period. Among the earliest were ritual sites with
rectangular structures and large boulder pavements with central pit
burials. One of these enigmatic rectangular structures (near the
mouth of Peat Valley) was constructed with internal trough-like
features. Late Bronze Age khirigsuurs are common, dating to ca.
3,000 BP; most have axial radials. Two that we excavated contained
Eurasian-style deer stones near the northern or eastern edges of
their central mounds. However, one extended human burial dating to
the khirigsuur period (ca. 3,000 BP) was found under a simple stone
mound without khirigsuur architecture. Pazyryk style chained
burials are also common. One that we excavated had been looted in
ancient times; but we nevertheless recovered several a fine pair of
gold foil argali sheep horse ornaments and Pazyryk-style pottery,
dated by C-14 to ca. 2,000 BP. This is rather late for Pazyryk
sites; indeed, this date places this site and its cultural material
squarely in the middle of the Xiongnu empire period, of which we
have found no sign in the Khoton Lake region. Several Turkic ritual
sites we excavated, including a carved stone man site, were found
to contain no human remains and seem to have involved ritual animal
sacrifice. Finally, a single flexed human burial dating to the
Medieval period was found beneath a small 2m-wide pavement. Several
of these sites demonstrated connections with rock art from the
surrounding hills. The iconic Mongolian deer image appears
frequently in the rock art as well as on deer stones, although not
on those in the immediate vicinity of Khoton Lake. Mountain goat
images which predominate in the rock art were also found on some
archaeological features, including the Pazyryk gold foil argali
heads.
Cartographic work provided a strong backbone for both the rock
art studies and archaeological research. Detailed GIS-based mapping
is providing the Khoton Lake project with a means of building
topographic relationships within and between petroglyphic and
archaeological data sets. This will allow us to identify patterns
in the landscape and thus to analyze multiple strands of rock art,
ritual, and settlement data.
One of the most surprising results was the consistent lack of
artifacts in any of these ritual sites that span a period of ca.
3,500 years from late Neolithic/early Bronze Age to Medieval times.
Another is the occurrence of multiple styles of burials during the
same time period. Perhaps this results from ritual variation within
a given cultural group; alternatively, it may signal fluctuating
cultural boundaries or cultural margins where external intrusions
occur in areas of long-standing ritual stability. Perhaps Pazyryk
culture persists longer here and resists Xiongnu incursion. Our
research thus far has raised many questions. We expect our research
in summer 2012 will help to answer some of these, and raise even
more.
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PART II
Project Field Journal 2011
William W. Fitzhugh(transcribed by Alayna Rasile)
Arctic Studies Center
Friday June 3rdUlaanbaatarTo museum at 10 AM. Hoped to see
Dembereldorj, international relations secretary for the National
Museum of Mongolia, but he was not available. We spent four days in
Ulaanbaatar, arriving late Monday night [May 30] and staying at
Zayas Hostel. On Tuesday we checked in at the museum and found that
Bayaraa was still in the field with Jean-Luc Houle in Khanuy
Valley. Richard and Tsedo arranged at the Office of Immigration to
have our stays extended beyond the 30-day limit. On Wednesday we
had a tour of the Choijin Lama Monastery guided by Theresa Markiws
former US Embassy colleague, Otgon, who translated the monastery
guides. Beautiful materials in these temples. The day before, we
spent several hours searching for a generator, eventually finding
one the right size, about 1,000 watts, made with Japanese parts and
assembled in Singapore. Wednesday night we went to the Tumen Ekh
performance in their small theater south of the square. Brilliant
performance of traditional singing, music and dance. Among the
performers was an amazing contortionist. I met briefly with Robin
Charpentier, local director of the ACMS office in UB, and did some
strategizing about getting a Mongolian program for the 2013
Folklife Festival. On Thursday we had lunch with Ambassador
Jonathan Addleton and his wife Fiona at their residence, and heard
his take on the political situation in Mongolia. His views were
open and refreshingly realistic. He may be able to help us with the
festival proposal. It turns out that Otgons brother Otgonbayar is
the Minister of Culture, so we may have some help through these
connections. However, he may have left his post by then since there
will have been a new presidential election.
Saturday June 4thUlaanbaatar to UlgiiLeft Zayas Hostel at 5 AM
in two vans and a car with luggage just fitting 17 of us in all,
and when we got to the plane it seemed like we nearly filled the
EZnis turboprop. We lifted off promptly at 7 AM. Beautiful weather,
which we had for the past five days in UB. Flying east from UB, we
could see quite a few farmed fields, some newly plowed and many
more than Id seen before. Some progress is being made on Mongolian
food production! A nice lunch was served on the flight, and we
arrived with all baggage accounted for. Even better, the van with
Tugsoo, the new Mongolia National Museum curator, and the driver
who came from UB with our heavy gear and freight, were waiting for
us at the airport. They had arrived this morning after driving
straight through in three days without any major problems. Their
chief freight is our digging gear, Paula DePriests generator, and
our new spare generator. We drove directly to Canats in four vans
and were welcomed at his Blue Wolf Travel Agency with a nice lunch.
I immediately realized we were in a new cultural areaKazakh and
Muslim, not Mongol and Buddhistby being presented with a fine salad
of tomatoes and cucumbers! This will be a big change from our past
Darkhad (North Mongolian) fare. We went together to the outdoor
market around noon to buy shovels, picks, screening material, nails
etc., and found it packed with people. The museum in town was
closed; its director had died during the past
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Khoton Project Field Report 2011
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year and no one has yet been appointed. We had hoped to arrange
some programs with them, but this is questionable now. Dave Edwards
scrounged for some wood to build a privy, but found only trash wood
and very expensive. We spent most of the afternoon napping and
lounging around, telling stories.
Dinner was at 7 PM and was a fish (tuna?)-flavored potato salad,
tasty buuz soup, and cut fruit for dessert. Canat had arranged for
a couple of musicians, a father and son, to play dobros:
two-stringed traditional Kazakh instruments. Both were excellent,
the father a statuesque, heroic figure in his beautiful costume and
hat, and his son, who was somewhat more reserved in appearance but
with a very engaging voice and personality. They sang in close
harmony and performed traditional songs from Kazakh, Russian, and
Mongol repertoires, referencing the joined history of their region.
But no Chinese songs, or for that matter, Uighur, the Mongolians
neighbors to the south, who are today much swamped by Han Chinese
expansion. I mentioned the 2013 SI Folklife Festival to him,
thinking the pair would be excellent candidates, and I purchased
their CD to show the Smithsonian Folklife staff who had hoped to
come to Mongolia this summer to research possible performers for
the Festival. I sent a few emailsthe last for several weeksbefore
turning in. We are staying in a set of gers (traditional
Mongol/Kazakh felt tents) behind Canats headquarters. These are
Kazakh-style gers with thin bent roof poles, making the roof about
a foot higher than the Mongol ger, and decorated with Kazakh wall
hangings. Outside the lattice frames they use a lining of
yarn-wrapped reeds woven together in a basket-like construction.
The yarn is wrapped around the individual reeds in multicolored
bands. About midnight the dogs started howling just like they did
the last time Richard and I slept out in Ulgii, and continued in
waves all night. One of the dogs had a particularly sonorous voice.
Luke added his notes to the chorus with a small dobro he bought
this afternoon at the market. Sounds like hell get pretty good
after a while.
Monday June 6thUlgii to Khoton NuurBayaraa filled me in on the
work being done on the Freer manuscript, which has been translated
but needs editing both for Mongolian and English. This project has
been Saruulbuyans and is in limbo for the time being because of his
health problems. At present the Mongolia National Museum has no
specific plan for an exhibition or publication. It took a while to
get out of Ulgii this morning because the UB van had some engine
trouble; the fuel pump purchased in the market yesterday had to be
replaced. Dave Edwards also needed to buy more wood to make some
dig screens. All this was accomplished by about 11:30 AM and we set
out in a caravan of five Russian vans, one of which was filled with
our food and two cooks. We have been told that Canat had delivered
two gers to our campsite and had them erected. Weather was
beautiful and we made fairly good time, arriving in Tsengel at 3 PM
for Fig. 3: Base camp with Altai Mountains reflected in Khoton
Nuur,
view S
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more gas and a sign-off on our archaeology permit by the local
administration. We had been able to get the park permit signed
yesterday (later on this turned out to be not quite
sufficient!).
The run to Tsengel took about three hours, counting many stops
for minor repairs on the vehicles. After Tsengel we stopped for
lunch along the Hovd River and then pushed on to the bridge, where
one of our vans lost a bolt from its drive shaft. All of the spare
parts from the nooks and crannies of the vehicles were dumped out
on the ground, but to no avail, so it had to return to Ulgii (in
fact, they managed to make some repairs and reached camp that
night). At that point all the vehicles got separated and a
free-for-all ensued. About 7 PM we reached the overlook above the
NE corner of Khoton Nuur and had a great view of the lake and
mountains to the south before winding our way through glacial
moraines and glacio-fluvial deposits hundreds of feet above the
lake, and then down along its north shore past the three-building
hamlet of Sirgal and its army base, where Richards van caught up
with us momentarily before falling behind again. We stopped to help
a local guy get his truck started, then forded the Khuiten Gol and
rounded the north side of Biluut 2. However, darkness fell, and we
got led astray by one of our vans which took us on a wild goose
chase west of Biluut until we prevailed, knowing exactly where we
would find camp south of Biluut 1. When we finally pulled in we
found two gers erected and all the other vans arrived, having taken
a direct route around the south side of the Biluut hills. We piled
into one of the gers and after a bowl of soup, hit the hay, our
bodies looking like 22 spokes of a wheel, feet towards the fire and
heads to the wall. Through the night we heard the roar of rivers
cascading down the mountains across the lake, accompanied by Dave
Edwards snores to anchor us at our new camp for the next six weeks.
When the storm that coincided with our arrival cleared we had a
near full moon to welcome us as well.
Wednesday June 8thAs it began to get light it also started
raining and sleeting, and the patter on the roof kept us cozy in
bed until the weather began to improve around 7 AM. First order of
business was getting our tents up. I soon found that Dave Edwards
had recommended a very fine backpacker tent consisting of a ground
cloth attached to a pyramidal mosquito net with a central pole, and
a shell fly that comes to the ground. I have my doubts it will hold
in a big storm, even with the heavy-duty pegs I supplied instead of
the small pencil-sized ones that came with the tent. I think Ill be
wishing I had my old North Face! (Turns out it was a fine, strong
tent that withstood some harsh storms.) Dave started work on the
privy, and others worked on a washing station that Dave, who had
volunteered to be our camp manager, had planned. Several of us went
to check in at the Army base, Camp Sirgal, where we met a young and
business-like Lt. Amandes who welcomed us and stamped our park
papers; so we are allowed to travel about, even on the south side
of the lake. We bought some boards at a new
ranger station under construction nearby. Its nice to see some
infrastructure being developed! On the way back we stopped at
several sites we were considering excavating, including the large
khirigsuur we dated in 2008 and three probable Pazyryk burial
complexes. Later in the day we climbed Biluut 1 and checked the
rock art on the lower faces, and visited a nice small but
beautifully preserved khirigsuur (Biluut 1-1), in which we found an
Eurasian-style deer stone with three slashes on the face and no
other markings. This khirigsuur is way up on a small plateau called
Biluut 1-C and looks out over Lake Khoton and the Altai Mountains
along the Chinese border. Fig. 4: Excavating B1-1 khirigsuur,
view
S
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We started work in the small khirigsuur at Biluut 1-1 with Will,
Andrew, Elissa and Bayaraas Mongolian students. Beautiful sunny
weather. The van could get us to the top of this plateau where the
site looks out over the lake. We set a grid and keyed in the two
hearth ovals, F1 (southern) and F2 (northern), which my team began
excavating while the Mongolians began trenching around the outside
of the fence. By noon we had cleared down to the top of the F2
hearth deposit and trenched the fence. The van broke down while
taking us to lunch, so I walked down, arriving the same time as the
repaired van. Lunch was horshurs (a deep-fried Mongolian specialty
consisting of onions and chopped lamb in a pastry envelope) and
shredded carrot saladboth excellent. After an hour of rest we went
back to work and got into some charcoal and burned bone fragments
in Feature 2very small amounts of bone and charcoal, unfortunately.
During the afternoon we finished the western half of the khirigsuur
and nearly completed the hearth.
Dinner was an excellent mutton and noodle soup. I was a bit in
recovery mode from a slightly strained back and opted not to make a
trip to visit the park ranger, who had insisted on seeing us.
Apparently we still need some kind of permit for the National Park
system, and when Tserendagva (Tsedo) drove down to town with
Richard they got an earful from a seemingly committed director of
the National Park. Luckily, on their way to see the park director,
Richard and Tsedo ran into Jagaa, who was on his way to our camp
from Ulgii. Jagaa turned his jeep around and was an enormous help
in breaking the ice with the director. It seems that Jagaa knows
just about everybody around here, and everybody likes and respects
him. In any case, we have to call UB and straighten this out
tomorrow morning. The evening was a bit warmer than last night, and
very still.
Wednesday June 8th A bit overcast early, but the morning later
became bright, with thunderstorms building by midday. We took a
huge crew to Biluut 1-1 including Dave Edwards and James Mills, who
did some video filming. It was a spectacular view from the hill
above the site, with floating ice in the lake and reverse
reflections of the mountains creating strange visual perspectives,
with the clean geometric shapes of the mound and its
cleanly-excavated borders. We finished F2, getting a bit more bone
and charcoal, enough at least to date. Bayaraa thinks some of the
small bone pieces are phalanges of sheep or goats as per an
observation by a zooarchaeologist who observed similar material on
a project with him in the Khanuy Valley last year. We opened up F1
just before lunch and nearly finished turfing the mound before
coming down for a lunch of lamb and peppers. Dave and Tyler have
completed work on the toilet, shower, and water purification
stations, so we are now a certified green operation. The only
remaining taskthe hard partis to get everyone to follow the
Fig. 5: Theresa, Elissa, and Andrew excavating Biluut 1-1
Feature 2, view NW
Deer Stone
Skin/Bark (?)
C14
Biluut 1-1 KhirigsuurN
Hearth Features
F1
F2
Mound
Cobble Fence
Fig. 6: Biluut 1-1
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rules, especially about hand-washing before meals and after
using the toilet.
The afternoon work was cut short by an oncoming thunderstorm
that forced us to retreat to camp but then did not materialize,
giving us a couple of hours of holiday which we used to set up
Paulas generator and catch up on battery charging and field notes.
We did manage to clear and map F1, the second hearth circle at
Biluut 1-1, and had just started finding charcoal when the storm
struck. So it looks like we will get a second dated hearth. And
today we also verified that B-1-1 has a cruciform structure, with
four radials aligned roughly N-S-E-W. Richards petroglyph crew has
been working at Biluut 2 the past couple of days, filling in some
missing data from previous surveys. They have also found a few
Paleolithic stone tools, one being a very nice large blade with
lateral retouch. During the morning we tried reaching the official
at the UB ministry of Interior by satellite phone to clear up the
problem of our park permit. After many failed attempts we
discovered his phonea cell phoneis turned off. I took the occasion
to call Lynne and found her at home watching a Netflix at 10 PM (we
have a 13-hour difference here in Bayan Ulgii). She had had a great
canoe trip on a northern VT lake with 12 others. Weather has been
fine and she has been riding her bicycle and tending her garden,
which is flourishing. Elaine Harp had called a few days ago, upset
after reading our report in the ASC Newsletterupset because it
arrived by mail on the anniversary of Elmers death and on her (or
his?) birthday. Too bad Lynne could come with us to Mongolia;
Theresa Markiw is here with Richard and is having a great time,
getting her fill of archaeology by helping us dig bits of charcoal
from F2 this morning.
Thursday June 9th A beautiful clear day and quite warm but dry.
After a breakfast of a kind of cream of wheat we split into our two
groups, with Dave Edwards and James Mills to do photo
documentation. After dinner last night I climbed about on Biluut 1E
(east end) looking at the rock art, finding several half-finished
Mongolian deer engravings and many interesting Bronze Age figures,
including a chariot drawn by two horses with a T-shaped harness.
Richard showed me one his team found this morning at Biluut 2an
extremely rare, if not wholly unique, side view. At the B-1-1
khirigsuur we quickly finished the F1 hearth ring and by lunch
completed cleaning the mounds. Lunch was a meat-filled dumpling
soup, after which I showered using one of Richards three neat black
solar bags rigged up by Dave behind a tarp barrier, so you could
wash using only a few quarts of sun-warmed water. We returned to
the site and spent the rest of the afternoon gridding and mapping
the mound. We also got Dave up on top of the van to photograph the
whole structure from high up. When hes home he will assemble them
all into a mosaic of the entire khirigsuur. While the Mongolian
students were mapping rocks we surveyed the hill above, finding
several circular hearth features and some possible ancient tools,
one looking like a Levallois core. Bayaraa had his students mapping
the mound rocks well into dinnertime, but they got it all done.
Fig. 7: Mongolian students mapping B1-1 khirigsuur mound
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After supper Jagaa, Bayaraa, Will and I went to Sirgal to see
about getting the permit or contract we need from the National Park
Director. We arrived about 8:30 and found him supervising the
construction of their new park building, which is coming along fast
and has interior paneling up.
He is an interesting characterKazakh and a brother-in-law to
Jagaa through his sister. He seemed pleased to hear we had got an
OK from the central park director, but still needs us to sign
contracts probably dealing with environmental protection. Just
before reaching Sirgal our van died and the driver found water in
the oil, so we left him to deal with it and got a ride back for 15K
tugriks of gas from the directors driver in a very fine jeep with a
radio good for 500 kilometers. The kids had bought some beer in the
little store and we sat around the fire shooting the breeze for a
while. The rest of the evening was warm and windless. The driver
thought wed have rain tomorrow. About 11 PM the van returned,
repaired, for the moment.
Friday June 10thThe predicted rain did not materialize, although
you could see plenty of it was falling to the east, even in Sirgal.
The reprieve and cool cloudy weather was perfect for the task at
handcleaning rocks from the mound. Fortunately, we had a large crew
available including some brutes like Tyler, Dave Edwards nephew,
who is also a great story-teller, like his uncle. We cleared half
the mound at the west side by lunch (rice noodles and lamb) and the
east half in the afternoon. Dave took lots of photos of the
rock-heaving and controlled shots of the mound deconstruction. The
American and Mongolian crews are merging very nicely and helping
each other. About 5 PM we struck bonepart of a human skulljust when
we thought we might have an empty grave. That brought us to a halt,
and having isolated the grave area, which seems to have no defined
burial box or slab cover, we proceeded excavating slowly. After
another round of photos we decided to call a halt as we would not
have time to finish before darkhere we were remembering the
lantern-light burial excavation Bayaraa and I had made at Tsagaan
near Tsengel a few years ago.
After dinner, I walked east along the shore and was surprised to
find our volleyball on the beach
Fig. 9: Crew at work exposing B1-1 burial, view SE
Fig. 8: Dave Edwards photographing B1-1 khirigsuur
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across from the cove, apparently having been blown off our camp
and out to sea by the midday wind. Lots of nice potential camp and
settlement areas along the shore, but I found no early
archaeological signs. Many of the crew were in bed when I got back
at 9:30 PM. Much heavy rock lifting! I picked up a couple more
paleo artifacts on the terraces above the shore and showed them to
Tserendagva. He shrugged, a doubtful maybe.
Saturday June 11thToday Dan Cole is supposed to arrive in Ulgii
and drive to Khoton Lake. The day began with beautiful weather and
the news that Tyler was sickwhether from the dried meat (lamb) in
our supper or the lake water is being debated. Several of us have
had stomach problems, including Theresa. My own situation is as in
all the other years: complete intestinal shut-down. Not
debilitating, but a huge nuisance. We worked on our guy in the
mound all morning and found the bones in very poor condition, even
the long bones. But we can tell he is about 182 cm tall and
oriented about 340 degrees, slightly to the north of the western
radial. Richards rock art group showed up to see how things were
going and Theresa walked up about 11:30 AM for a look. Dave got
some good overhead shots and I kept the bones moist so they would
not crack and spall. Meanwhile, I worked on excavating the
slab-lined foundation of the mounds outer border. It looks like a
pit was dug about 20-30cm deep and slabs laid out around the
perimeter, then a big fire was set, only around the perimeter, then
the burial was put down and the mound built. Quite a bit of ash was
present between the humus level and the subsoil. (Yesterday our van
caught on fire about 200m from the site in a mess of smoke, a
result of either an electrical fire or overheating, so we hiked up
the rest of the way).
The afternoon task was to extract the bones and finish work on
the slab perimeter, exposing the slabs attached to the eastern
radial. Plenty of ash was present under the slabs. While taking a
walk around the hillside during the afternoon, Bayaraa found a
small cobble with three slashes and a circular mark above it on the
surface a few hundred meters north of the site, just sitting on the
ground by itself. Remarkable. Apparently, Kubarov has published a
similar find from Gorni Altai. Such a casual creation (though not
casual given the time required to produce it!) gives new meaning to
the slashed faces on deer stones, perhaps suggesting an eternal sky
god or spirit rather than being a substitution symbol for a human
face, as we have thought it might mean on a
deer stone. We also have three slashes on our B-1-1 khirigsuur
deer stone! Perhaps there is some relation between the two. The
rest of the afternoon was dedicated to back-filling the excavation;
we
Fig. 10: Dave scans burial B1-1 with metal detector, view SE
Fig. 11: Dan Cole and Ken Lymer at work-central.
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succeeded in getting all the dirt back into the mound area and
tomorrow will do the rocks and sod. Dan Cole arrived at 8 PM in a
van filled with produce and other goodies that delighted the
cooksand us, as well, when a bottle of Pepsi appeared on the dinner
table. Lots of evening talk with Dan about our work, his trip
(amazingly uneventful) and news from the world (heat wave in DC
already!) I think we lost one of the four swan chicks (born in the
kettle pond near camp) last night, and today the goat herd was
swarming around the pond. Whether they, a fox, or some other
predator was the culprit is a mystery [correction: Will saw all
four swan chicks doing fine the next Sunday morning]. Bayaraa and
Tsedo say the 40 larch trees stacked up near the pond, with their
bark trimmed off, are probably contraband from the forest across
the lake; officially each purloined tree carries a fine of one
million tugriks, approx. $750so 40 million tugs or approx. $30,000
for the lot, if they get caught. Sunday June 12thWeve been here one
week now and have enjoyed excellent weather and great success with
the archaeology. The only problem has been health. Tyler is still
down and not improving, and this morning Ken Lymer turned up with
gastrointestinal distress. Dave checked with the cooks to make sure
they were washing in boiled water, but made little headway as they
do not think that that is the problem. Dan Cole had a good night
and climbed up the hill before breakfast. Black clouds over the
mountains at breakfast vanished by 9 AM, and we made our last trip
up to the khirigsuur to move the last of the rocks back in and
re-sod inside the fence. We got started on back-filling the rocks
at 8:30 and were done with the dirt by 11 AM. Great spirit among
the team, as usual! The site looked very fine when it was all done.
Lunch was beef and fried peppers and rice. Soon after, black clouds
rolled in and it rained all afternoon until 6 PM. I caught up on
documenting my photos and then napped till 6:00 when Richard,
Jagaa, and I took Dan for a tour of the surroundings by jeep. We
got back to camp at 7:30 PM for a dinner of noodle soup, and now
the boys are running off their nap energy playing soccer on the
terrace behind camp. Its turning out to be another nice evening.
Tomorrow we start on one of the Pazyryk burials.
Monday June 13thA grey cool morning with a breakfast of oatmeal
and raisins. Left at 8:30 AM for the Pazyryk mounds located between
Biluut-1 and 2. Coordinates: Biluut 1-2 (probably Turkic) 6/13/11.
GPS N48 39.330, E88 19.501, 2090m. We picked for excavation the
large mound in the middle of the set of five pavement mounds and
found all have been used recently for dumps and contained old
shoes, glass, ashes, and other junk, including the lower leg of a
cow. Cleaning the grass was slow work made interesting only by the
appearance of a young Kazakh boy named Berdbai who appeared on
horseback and watched from the sidelines before inching in, and in
time, with Bayaraas encouragement, took up as Bayaraas assistant,
excavating, carrying dirt, and offering some of the
Fig. 12: B1-2 mound, level 2 rocks exposed, view S
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11
intrepid students a ride on his horse. Later he galloped off and
returned with a bag of fresh fish caught in the stream nearby.
We returned to the site after lunch and while the students
finishing cleaning the pavement, I took Richards 2007 field
notebook and tried to match it to sites on the ground. Only problem
was that his Lat/Long were in seconds while my GPS is decimal
minutes. Nevertheless I was able to match most of his locations and
add cultural data to the descriptions. Bayaraa meanwhile went up
the B-2 north side hill and found some interesting burials we might
excavate. By 6 PM the site cleaning was done and we were ready to
map; but alas we had no nails or string, so well start in the
morning. So far, weve found small bones in grey ashy soil overlying
the upper cobblestone mound cap.
Dinner was mutton soup and fried fishgreylingsand very tasty. In
addition to the small fish Berdbai had given us there were some
two-three pounders that the herders brought later in the afternoon;
they come up the streams from the lake to spawn. Richard and Jagaa
have gone off to the hamlet at Sirgal for gas for the vans and
generator. The Mongolians gathered in the cook tent and sang old
Mongolian classics, beautiful to hear in the still night from my
tent where Ive been trying to sew up my trusty Millet pack and
drinking the Borgeo beer Dave gave me the other daya gift to him
from Canat who has been his friend and business partner for years
while Dave has run horse treks into the Altai Mountains with
American clients. Almost a full moon tonight. The swan chicks have
all gone to the lake, I imagine.
Tuesday June 14thAnother gorgeous day, allowing us nearly a full
day at the Turkic site, Biluut 1-2. Dave and James came along to
photograph the unveiling of the mound, making the van so crammed
that we almost tipped over on the steeply-sloped road leaving camp.
It didnt help having Tyler, who is six-foot-eight and must weigh
350 pounds, on the down side of the vehicle. The morning was mostly
just moving rock and cleaning fill; but we kept finding small
bones, including several horse canines. I wandered off for an hour
to look for materials eroding from an exposure along the north side
of Biluut 1. There were many signs of buried soil horizons, some
fire-cracked rock and charcoal, but no artifacts. However, in one
spot I began to find quite a bit of quartzite that appears to have
been broken by humans. Here I found what looks very much like a
Paleolithic cleaver and later showed it to Tserendagva. This time
he agreed. Seems like a workshop location, and I spotted what may
be a quartzite outcrop behind the big hillside boulder adjacent to
Biluut 1-2. Well look into this more in the next few days. However,
its difficult to see how we could have legitimate Paleolithic finds
when all this land seems to have been covered by glacial ice in the
late Pleistocene.
After lunch we returned to work below the rocks, where we
thought wed find the beginning of a burial pit. The soil was very
tough and gravelly, and varied from sterile to brown and ashy grey.
No pit outline could be discerned. Bayaraa began to suspect the
grave had been looted; but if so, they had gone to pains to restore
all the boulders. We even found a large charcoal deposit under one
of the rocks. Then we came upon a small iron knife of Iron Age
style, but in a stray situation without other burial materials
except scattered animal bones, mostly sheep or goat. Daves metal
detector
Fig. 13: B1-2 Paleolithic site, view S
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12
gave us hope of more metal deeper in the ground, so well see
what happens tomorrow. (It didnt pan out!) We quit the site a bit
early when a rainstorm threatened, giving me time for a shower.
Some kind of lentil or pea soup for dinner, and Jagaa and a few
others went to Sirgal for more gas to keep our generator going. The
lake has been miraculously still all day, making a perfect mirror
for the mountains. Bayaraa talked to some herders who came by the
dig and found out that most of those who summer here winter 150km
to the south. Our neighbor family living below Biluut 2 came past
our site in a huge truck with all their effects, heading for their
summer place across the plain NW of Biluut. So we may not see our
young assistant digger or get more fish, at least from them. They
use their Biluut place for fall and spring camps, making four moves
each year. Some of their people still use camels, but most have
trucks or rent them. Most families still own three or four camels.
One herder reported seeing a lynx in the forest on the north side
of Biluut-1 where Ken saw four deer a couple evenings ago.
Dan GIS-mapped the B1-1 khirigsuur today, finding (or so we
thought) that Richards GPS location was quite a bit in error; I
hope thats not the case for the B1/B2 valley we want to survey
tomorrow with Dan. [Correction: after consultation between Dan and
Richard, it turns out that Richards GPS was not far off the mark,
after all.]
Wednesday June 15thFine weather continues and hardly a breeze
stirring. After a breakfast of fried eggs, we worked at the Turkic
site all morning beginning with a squirrel hunt to find the little
guy who got caught out of his hole when we arrived and ran into our
stone pile. The boys gradually uncovered his hideout and he grew
increasingly upset, until Will offered a bit of a chocolate bar
which he took with gusto.
This morning was not very productive, as the burial bottomed out
with no signs of a body or any cultural deposits, all of which were
in the upper gray sod zone. We now think this is a Turkic ritual
site, since two of the nearby features have vertically-set slabs.
Our finds include horse canines, sheep or goat teeth and small
bones, a small knife blade, and some charcoal. The weather was so
warm that a few went swimming before lunch. Ken got sick last
night, so everyone is on alert for continuing food problems.
After lunch the crew backfilled the site while Richard, Tsedo,
Bayaraa, Jagaa and I reconnoitered the graves on the north side of
Biluut 2 and picked out several for excavation, hoping for
different
periods. By the time we returned, the restoration was complete
and we split into Mongolian and American teams. My group took the
small grave we designated Biluut 2-4 West and the Mongolians the
larger mound site above the giant horse figures, Biluut 2-1. We
spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and mapping ours, and
found that the feature has an oval arrangement of flat slabs
outlining a probable burial. The oval surrounds a circular feature,
and the area inside the oval is filled with small cobbles/large
pebbles, making for a nicely structured grave arrangement. All the
while, we were blasted by a strong warm wind blowing from China
through the Altai passes. We walked down to Bayaraas Fig. 14: B1-2
mound 3 iron knife from level 3
rocks
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site at 7 PM and found most of the juniper/cedar removed. This
site has very large rocks piled into a high mound. This should be
an excellent burial.
After another (good) soup supper I called Lynne and found her
busy and well. Portia is having trouble with her ankles, and the
doctors feel they cant do more operations on her now. Another warm
quiet night.
Thursday June 16thA fine morning but with more clouds, and by
noon a brisk wind came up from the SW with rainstorms over the
mountains. Fortunately, none have hit us yet. The overcrowded van
broke down again after leaving camp, so I went on foot and
intercepted Dan who was mapping the site (B1-3) SE of the small
lake. We walked on to Biluut 2-4 where we spent the morning working
down through a series of slabs until we reached a layer of grey
sand about 30cm below the surface. Just below that, we struck human
bone which turned out to be a small skull. Here we took a break for
lunch, visiting Bayaraas big chunky mound site on the way. He had
finished cleaning and found a piece of Bronze Age (?) pottery. Back
at camp we found a couple of hikers passing through on their trek
around Lake Khoton: an Italian and a Spaniard. For some reason they
were not very communicative.
We were delayed getting back to work by storms and rainfall
boiling over the mountains, but they passed in an hour as now seems
usuala sort of regular mid-afternoon event. We all returned to the
big mound site (Bayaraa calls it Biluut 2-1) to help Dave
photograph it in lieu of a torturous and time-consuming chore of
mapping squares full of rocks. That done, we left Tyler and Will to
help them clear the rocks while Andrew, Elissa and I continued the
delicate task of uncovering the B2-4 burial in its tiny slab-lined
crypt that Ken says sounds similar to Russian Andronovo burials.
One problem with that idea might be the small lump of material
found next to the knees of the buried body, flexed and lying on its
left side, that seems to have a small piece of iron embedded in it.
The excavation went slowly as the condition of the upper bones is
quite poor, but is getting better with depth. Dave stayed with us
and got lots of pictures of us digging. Andrew and Elissa are doing
a great job with the excavation, working at very tight
quarters.
Another brilliant sunset with prospects for a good day tomorrow.
Luke has discovered his Swiss Army knife missingthe second article
of his to go astray. More sightings of the deer on Biluut 1. As I
go to bed, it sounds like another Canat supply van just
arrived!
Friday June 17thThe day began well with a hot sun, but turned
cloudy by mid-morning. We began removing the Biluut 2-4 skeleton
feet-first and they came out pretty easily and relatively solid. We
arrived at the site just as an old herder, a huge blocky man from
the farm below who looked uncomfortably large on his small
Mongolian horse, had left the site. He soon returned, and Jagaa had
a conversation with him. By lunch we had removed all but the upper
body, finding no artifacts or physical peculiarities.
Fig. 15: Elissa and Andrew at B2-4 with storms over Altai
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14
At B2-1 Bayaraa continued to uncover the big mound above the
giant horse petroglyphs.
After lunch we returned, and by the time it started to rain we
had all the bones out and marked. I found iron particles in the
excavated dirt with a magnet, but they are also in the soil outside
the burial, so perhaps its just natural hematite. Andrew and Elissa
did a great job with the rest of the bones. Meanwhile, Bayaraa had
got down to the burial area in his site with only one layer of
rocks to go. By the end of the afternoon it was raining
steadilymaybe this is Jagaas rainy season2 PM to evening?
Bayaraa and Jagaa tried to catch fish today, but no luck. The
Canat jeep that arrived last night brought us work tables and
chairs, plus new food stocks. A good party was had on the occasion,
also celebrating the full moon!
Saturday June 18thYesterday, Bayaraa said the students were
getting restive, since they generally get one day a week off; so
Richard and I decided to call Saturday (today) a holiday. Most
people decided they wanted to go to Aral Tolgoi, a prominent hill
above the northwestern end of the lake which Esther Jacobson has
surveyed and recently succeeded in having declared a world heritage
site. The road was quite poor and snakes along the northern shore;
we passed quite a few ger camps along the way, some in situations
where one might find ancient stratified living sites. We decided to
come back later and check them out. We had to cross the Tsagaan
(white) River, full of glacier flour, across a rickety log bridge,
and then a second river draining from
the SW, a clear-water stream. The bridge over that one was
precariously narrow and had many loose poles in the roadway. One of
our vans nearly slipped off into the stream. Close by Aral Tolgoi
on its southern extreme is a military base; at a tiny store just to
the north we detoured to buy some beer and sodas. We were surprised
to find that the proprietors were the same folks who used to manage
the store in Sirgal, but had in the past week or so moved up here.
A gathering of elders was in process outside the store, and all
their horses were tied up nearby. A small wolf pup cautiously but
with curiosity scurried around in the fenced yard. At the southern
base of Aral Tolgoi we lunched on sandwiches and drinks. The rocks
here are in pretty poor condition; this hill contains relatively
few large polished panels of the kind that are so abundant at
Biluut. Most of the figures are badly deteriorated, but there
remain a small number of fine images. In addition to those on the
major locus at the top of the southern side of the hill, on the
second knob west of a small log-built guardhouse overlooking the
military base I found a few new images on an outcrop.
Fig. 17: Sum Center near Aral Tolgoi
Fig. 16: B2-4 skull in situ, view E
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There are quite a few stone structures on the hill, including a
khirigsuur with an unmarked deer stone in the NW side of the mound,
like the Biluut 1-1 khirigsuur we excavated. Perhaps most
interesting is a series of 25 or so small stone mounds that run in
a string aligned NNW-SSE across the crest of the central rock art
locus. Some have been disturbed, but many appear intact. Probably
they are not burials, but some kind of ritual observances (one
thing weve noticed is very few ovoosBuddhist stone mound shrinesin
this predominantly Kazakh region, probably due to the Islamic
rather that Buddhist tradition). On the plain south of Aral Tolgoi
are many Turkic structures and four deer stones, one very large,
one of slate that the Army may have erected from its fallen state
but not understanding the iconography, installed upside down. The
present north side has a necklace or belt, a large dagger, ibex, a
horse, and the body (without antlers) of a Mongolian deer. A good
example of a Sayan-Altai stone. I wonder what the top (now buried
in the ground) looks like. A smaller deer stone with circles is
near, and a third lies flat on the ground. A fourth is found to the
north near the base of Aral Tolgoi hill. GPS
Coordinates: N48 39.031, E88 19.709, 2097m. This stone has many
deer stone motifs, but placed and executed in atypical fashion.
There are no necklace pits, circles, or face slashes. The chevron
on the present north (broad) side is rendered oddly, with a broad
band at the top and five chevron stripes. Above this is a
house-like image with an inverted heart-shaped figure in the
center. A wavy bolt-like band encircles the stone above the house,
and above that is an indecipherable blob with two leg-like
extensions. The south side has two ibex. No face slashes, and the
chevron would normally be on the west, not north, side of the
stone.
We endured a bumpy ride back to our camp, but arrived after two
hours to a fine dinner of braised lamb. Earlier in the day the
drivers had gone off and returned with a sheep that was tied up
alongside our kitchen bleating plaintively, probably from
premonition of its fate. The kitchen team must have eaten the liver
and other organs, since we have not seen these delicacies. I began
to experience stomach cramps in the evening and retired early.
Sunday June 19th (Fathers Day)I felt spacey and un-energized all
morningthe more so because we had to backfill B1-4 and clean our
next site B1-3. This was done with Will, Andrew and Elissa, and not
the Mongolian students who were busy digging the deep burial pit in
Bayaraas site. Ours was pretty boring work and was only
half-finished by lunchtime. Bayaraas pit is now over a meter deep
and has at least another 50cm to reach a slab they found in a
sondage below where they are right now. Someone wanted this burial
to remain undisturbed!
Soon after lunch it began to rain. It continued all afternoon,
wiping out any chance of more work. I slept until 6 PM and felt
mostly recovered. At dinner we learned that one of the Mongolian
students, Enkh, had been suffering fever and headache since the
morningpossibly from being injured
Fig. 18: N side of 3rd deer stone at Aral Tolgoi with animal
figure and chevron emblem
Broad pecked groove
Ground level
GPS N48 39.631 E88 19.709, 2097m
Chevron Figure
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during the wrestling contests a couple of days ago. Bayaraa and
Tsedo accompanied him in Jagaas jeep to a small clinic in the high
terraces north of Biluut where some medical people serve the local
herders. Since it is Fathers Day, Dan treated anyone who wanted to
call home to a free sat-phone call, courtesy of the SI ADP office.
This was greatly appreciated.
Monday June 20thIt rained most of the night but cleared a bit in
the morning, so both teams got to work, except the rock art folks
who need dry rock surfaces for photography and, especially, for
making transparencies (tracings on clear
plastic sheeting). The high site Biluut 2-3 was cleared of
vegetation by 11 AM and Dave came up from Bayaraas dig to
photograph the rocks, which we then tossed out unceremoniously. On
the way to lunch we visited Bayaraas B2-1 burial which he had
uncovered to the top of a splendid slab-lined grave box with a
thick slate cover slab. The latter was broken in two and the
western end had fallen inside the coffin box; the eastern slab is
still intact. Outside the stone coffin to the north were sheep or
goat offerings, and inside a human had been laid out head to the
north with more food offerings. The grave pit was easily identified
by the loose gravelly sand, and many large rocks had been put into
the grave over the west end of the coffin. A Mongolian guide with a
German tourist couple showed up as we ended the mornings work.
Thunderstorms brewed again after lunch. Happily, Enkh is better
today after his massage treatment at the clinic last night.
The Bridge Abutment Site: GPS 41 N48 44.259, E88 08.756, elev.
2097m. At first we thought this was a Pazyryk site alongside the
Khuiten Gol, a hundred meters upstream from the lower ford
crossing, but later found out it was merely an old bridge
foundation. This embarrassing revelation served as the basis of
innumerable jokes (mostly on Bayaraa, and on Jagaa, who had
discovered the site) for the remainder of the season!
Downstream from the pingo peat bog, south of the fenced pasture
in the mouth of Peat Valley, is a square khirigsuur with three
hearth circles, each with 10 stones. A heavy stone boulder fence,
with corner uprights, is located south of the mouth of the bog
ravine. GPS 42 N48 39.096, E88 22.057, 2124m elev.
Another khirigsuur is located alongside the peat bog stream,
below the bog and above the fenced pasture, with large mound stones
and small cobbles: GPS 44 48 39.289, E88 21.585, elev: 2124m.
Large khirigsuur north of the peat bog, with no fence and six
hearth rings with 10 or 12 rocks each: GPS 48 N48 39.714, E88
21.366.
After lunch it rained, but let up, and the crews set out for our
two sites. I went off with the rock art team to Biluut 4 (a.k.a.
Spring House Bluffs) to the east of Biluut 3 and Peat Valley, where
Richard
Fig. 19: B2-3 zebra animal with hunter
Fig. 20: B2-3 child burial, view E
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had found a strange human figure with horns, no arms, two legs,
and a large phallus. Richard calls the figure Pogo man. Its up near
the summit of the hill behind a herders place, now vacated for the
season. From that nice vantage point we spied several khirigsuurs
on the valley between Biluut 3 and Biluut 4. I call this Peat
Valley because the small stream there has created a huge peat field
underlain with ice and full of cracks and pingo-like features that
should produce some deep stratigraphic sections for peat sampling
for pollen and dating. One of the mounds (not a khirigsuur, because
it lacks a squared or circular fence and satellite mounds) near a
small fenced paddock has a rectangular structure attached to its
west side and a circle feature to the east of the mound. We should
dig it. Another site we noticed is a possible Pazyryk mound eroding
into the stream [see above], and a third, at the north end of Peat
Valley is a large mound with six circular hearths, but no apparent
fence.
We all arrived back at camp at the same time, wet from rain, and
warmed up in the kitchen/dining ger. During the afternoon, at
Biluut 2-1, Bayaraa had come down on a second, deeper slab grave
cover, this one not smashed or opened, or so we hope. My team had
cleared down to some flat cover slabs that we also hope have not
been moved.
After dinner, Tsedo gave an excellent lecture on Mongolian rock
art. Among revelations were the absence of mask images at Biluut,
which are quite common in South Gobi and Inner Mongolia. (NOTE:
Anati wrote about South Gobi Neolithic masks.) After that, Richard
and I talked about why rock art seems to be so conservative in
terms of style, at least until about 2,000 years ago, or later, and
whether this results from tools, a difficult medium, religious
tradition, or constant public view. I suggested he try the metal
detector around large rock art complexes to hunt for broken or lost
tools. Still rainy, damp and cold tonight.
Tuesday June 21stIt was bright and sunny for about an hour this
morning, then black clouds rolled in from the west. We sat in the
vans for an hour until it let up and then had three hours of
digging, pedestaling the big slabs in the center of our mound. By
lunch we were ready to photograph and remove them. Meanwhile,
Bayaraa worked around the outsides of the burial box, finding some
sheep or goat bones at the NE corner. The bones recovered yesterday
were scattered around the outside and are probably dog. There is a
large deer image (or horse?) with vertical stripes down its body,
with a warrior on horseback, armed with a lance, and accompanied by
dogs on the granite conglomerate outcrop above our site, Biluut
2-3. Kassim, our driver, is a very helpful and cheerful fellow, but
today he almost caused our van to flip over going up the steeply
inclined part of the road from camp when he took his eyes off the
road for just a second to rescue his cassette tape collection which
was falling off the dashboard. He got back on track just in time to
avoid ramming into a boulder that would have thrown us over.
A nice rectangular stone slab box appeared in our site just
under some large slabs. We were anticipating a fine undisturbed
grave, but when we got into it later in the day we found it is a
very shallow grave, which, except for the skull and Fig. 21:
Strange horned figure B-4
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long bones, is poorly preserved. Well know more in the morning.
Bayaraas dig progressed slowly. The students managed to wrestle the
huge boulder out of the grave circle so it does not collapse the
pit walls on the diggers below. What they found around the outside
of the stone box was the bones of three sheep or goats, mostly
disarticulated, suggesting a funeral feast. They still have to
remove the lower stone slab to see what may lie beneath. All this
material was lying uncovered in the stone coffin, just as it had
been left, but without meat on the bones!
Yesterday five UNDP vehicles stopped at Bayaraas dig. Turns out
they were park officials and checked Bayaraas papers. A-OK on that
score. Apparently the United Nations provides Mongolia with some of
its used vehicles. The purpose of their excursion was not
clearperhaps just a summer junketbut its certain that plans are
being made for tourist development here; and the rock art is a
major attraction.
Tonight we returned to find an Italian tourist group camped on
the other side of our peninsula. The crew is doing well and is
mostly healthy nowonly the weather is not cooperating. Its less
than a week now until Ken, Theresa and Tyler leave for home.
Theresa has done some sketches in ink and watercolor of the B1-1
khirigsuur we dug, and of the toothless old gentleman from our last
excavation (B2-1). Dan Cole has made considerable progress mapping
the rock art and burial sites in the area, and amazingly, the vans
have not been breaking down recently. They are great rain shelters
at our digs.
Wednesday June 22ndMost of us had a miserable night. About 9:30
AM a black cloud bank moved in from the west, and in short time we
were hunkered in out tents being pelted by lashing wind and
torrential rain. Most of us felt certain our tents would carry
away, but miraculously all held and only a few of the Mongol tents
got wet inside. Dans tent skirts shook loose from two pegs and he
had to venture out to fix them. The roar of the lashing rain on the
fabric next to my head was so deafening I had to muffle it by
ducking my head inside my bag. The storm lasted about two hours and
was followed by a tamer one about 4 AM. Kudos to the manufacturer
for a great waterproof fabric!
The morning arrived clear and cold, but dry, so we got lots of
work done, finishing the excavation of a pre-adolescent from B2-3.
His or her joints had not fused and baby teeth were just being
replaced. The new molars show no wear at all. No artifacts present
once again. Bayaraa found many more sheep bones outside the
northeast corner of the stone coffin, totaling six mostly
disarticulated. But some limbs and intact skulls were present us
well. The Italian tour group that camped near us last night visited
Bayaraas dig. They turned out to have two archaeologists and a
paleontologist in the
party. Theyre touring many places in Mongolia and just came from
Aral Tolgoi.
During the afternoon we back-filled Biluut 2-3 and Richard, Dan
and I visited the sites that Richard and Jerry Nave (with RK in
2007) and now Dan had recorded, so we could all have our data
coordinated. This turned out to be very useful as it will help us
clean up the master database and map. Most of the team hung out
with Bayaraa who had lifted the final cornerstone from his B2-1
grave and found a man lying on his left side, flexed
Fig. 22: Rainbow on camp site.
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loosely, facing east, but with his body aligned to north, the
orientation of the coffin. No dirt had entered this space, and so
all his bones were in full view. Only his hand and pelvis had been
badly crushed when the covering slab had broken and fallen inside
the box. Some remains of fabric were found around his spine which
should give us some good analyses and a date.
It was very cold all day, and windy, so the crew took a good
beating. Only in the evening did a bit of warmth creep in with the
sun. Ken gave a talk on Kazakhstan rock art after dinner. The
Mongolian deer there lack bird heads mostly, and the Saka period
rock art shows few Scythian-style figures. Jagaa noted that many
Kazakh place names are Mongolian; but that does not greatly please
Kazakhs today. There also was an 18th-century Mongolian invasion by
the Djungarianswestern Mongols from Inner Mongoliabut they were
eventually defeated with the help of the Chinese.
Thursday June 23rdOnce again for an hour around breakfast we had
a bright clear sky, but by 8 AM gray clouds descended and it poured
here and showered in the mountains until 1 PM. We worked on notes
in the office ger while most of the crew slept or played cards.
Another sheep had shown up tied to the cooks tent this a.m. and
later was dispatched, without much attention this time. It did not
even interrupt the card game taking place in the cooks tent. All
the organ meat got presented to the Mongolian table at dinner; next
time Ill make a pitch for including the rest of us in these
delicacies.
After lunch the US team went off to try our luck at the unusual
structure we found alongside a mound in Peat Valley between B3 and
B4. Its rectangular and about 7x8 m in dimension, has walls three
stones thick, a doorway, and four internal dividers making several
stall-like enclosures. No artifacts yet and a small test deeper did
not show any signs; but it is an intriguing architectural structure
nonetheless.
We all finally got rained out about 6 PM and returned home to a
great dinner of mashed potatoes, carrots, and lamb. Watermelon for
desert! Vastly different from Amras cooking in Khovsgol! We had
quite a sensation today when two deer appeared at the base of
Biluut in plain sight; after some minutes they climbed over the
ridge near the B1-1 khirigsuur and out of view. One was a large
buck but without antlers this time of year. In the morning I gave
Ken some slides for my part of our joint presentation at the
Lincoln England Deer Conference. Called Lynne this evening. A-OK.
Rainy and cool in VT also this summer.
After dinner we strategized a bit to see how we might find more
artifacts. So far were doing well on burials and human remains, but
a single potsherd is the only artifact recovered. We are thinking
of a survey of the south shore of the lake and a concentration
there next year: it gets more rain, more snow, lies longer in
shadow, and has far richer pastures! Perhaps well find a frozen
tomb.
Friday June 24thA nice morning, and it remained pleasant through
lunch. Bayaraa went off searching for a new site to dig, and we
returned to our Peat Valley palace with Dave and Tyler as
reinforcements. Will and I worked all morning Fig. 23: Peat Valley
Site Biluut 3-3 surface
cleared, view NW
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at the central hearth, which turned out to be full of bone and
charcoal. All the bone was calcined; it seemed to be of small
mammal, perhaps marmot, and maybe some birds. Probably more than a
single fire as there was a lot of bone and the deposit was quite
thick. Dave and James surveyed the area with the metal detector and
found two lumps of sprue a few inches below the surface, one of
iron and the other may be bronze. So maybe there is some casting or
metal smelting going on in the vicinity. Andrew found a small
Neolithic microcore on the surface of his square and a couple of
flakes showed up nearby. Bayaraas team showed up at 11 AM and
checked out our site and the valley. We had a series of
mishaps getting back across the river, stalling in the current
in front of a bunch of amused herders. When the motor refused to
start, we got the van out by propelling it by means of the engine
crank.
We continued after lunch in unusually fine weather. We found a
few more flint flakes and I finished the hearth and made a profile.
Meanwhile, Bayaraa started working on the riverside Pazyryk mound.
He had nearly completed cleaning the surface when some local
herders came by asking what he was doing. Excavating a
2500-year-old Pazyryk burial, he told them. Well good luck, they
said. The army built this as a bridge foundation! In mid-afternoon
I got a holler from Richard up on top of Biluut 3800 feet above
mewanting me to come up and see some exciting rock art and a
curious hilltop stone structure hed found. The structure turned out
to be a circular ring of rocks, mostly fallen, that probably had
been a hunting lookout or blind as it had a commanding view of the
valley all around.
Saturday June 25thThis was a fine day for weather and digging
and we finally got in two full sessions with no interruptions. Dan
came along to survey, but forgot his GPS and so borrowed mine. When
he arrived back at the van for the ride home he discovered he had
lost the walkie-talkie Dave loaned him, so he backtracked his
routetwicewhile we were at lunch, to no avail. It had somehow
slipped off his belt. We finished clearing the entire rectangular
structure, photographed it, and excavated one of the four internal
dividers which turned out to be a trough-like feature bounded by
slabs of shale slanting in from both lateral sides. Several chert
flakes were found in the features fill, giving some evidence to the
idea that the whole structure may be Neolithic or Early Bronze Age
[this was later confirmed
with a radiocarbon date of cal. BC 2130 to 1900 (cal. BP 4080 to
3850). Well do more tomorrow.
Lots of baths and clothes washing today, thanks to the warm
weather. We had a group of small white-winged songbirds about the
site most of the day. Richards team came by at the end of the day
and were quite impressed with our structure. Jagaa thinks our
hearth bones are either marmot or rabbit. I walked up to the point
north of our camp peninsula but had to turn back when I discovered
the wild horse herd was there. We had much discussion about the
mean stallion that defends this
Fig. 25: B2-2, Pazyryk burial, view NW
Fig. 24: Biluut 3-1 Feature 4
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herd by charging anyone who approaches. Elissa, who is an
accomplished rider, nearly got run down when she got too close,
barely escaping by running full-tilt into camp. I did not want to
have a similar encounter far from camp.
Sunday June 26thThis was a pretty nice day all around, with
sunny weather until evening. Elissa, Andrew and I returned to the
Peat Valley structure and spent most of the day cleaning up the
excavation and testing another trough (Feature 5), but found
nothing in it. During the morning, Dan and I surveyed the west Peat
Valley terrace, recording ten structures, the most interesting
being two rectangular tent rings overlooking the pond to the south,
each with an oval grave-like feature in its north end. The large
boulder pavements we saw seem like cultural features but I cant
think what they would be for. Maybe theyre natural. On the way
back, on the north side of the river we stopped at a small herders
cabin in a hollow, now vacated until fall, and found two large
square khirigsuurs nearby, one with four huge hearth rings.
We returned to the Peat Valley site in the afternoon and decided
to excavate another test pit (#2) north of Feature 2 trough.
Several flakes, fire-cracked rock and a core preparation flake
appeared. Meanwhile, Bayaraas group made progress removing huge
numbers of stones from their Pazyryk grave (B2-2).
At dinner Luke made a surprising appearance in his skimpy
wrestling outfit as a goodbye stunt for tomorrows departing crew.
This was a big hit. Rain in the evening, when Dan gave a talk on
his GIS work at the SI and a short summary of the Biluut GIS data
from previous years. Monday June 27thRain showers early, but they
cleared off before returning again in the evening. We now (8:30 PM)
have a beautiful full arcing double rainbow. The departees Theresa,
Tyler, and Kenwere packed and ready and left soon after breakfast.
Theresa had given us a stunning gallery show of the watercolors she
painted over the last three weeks. They were gorgeous and included
many landscapes, a scene of our camp, old Harry the toothless skull
from Biluut 2-1, a horse skull, and our B1-1 khirigsuur. I made a
photo record of most of them; some should be useful for our
publications.
When I woke up I found a note of thanks from Tyler under my tent
flap. It was a very appreciative note and very appreciated by me.
Hes going back to do some teaching. All three made excellent
contributions to the project. Ken for his knowledge of Central
Asian archaeology and rock art; and Tyler for his entertaining
stories and knowledge of just about everything. I called Canat this
evening and found all arrived in Ulgii safely.
After the departure, Will and I returned to finish the PV TP2,
backfill the site, and sample the peat bog. We found the bog has
subsided more than three feet in recent years due to loss of Fig.
27: Theresa Markiw painting B2-4
individual
Fig. 26: B2-2 Pazyryk burial, photo by Dave Edwards
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underlying ice, leaving large caverns in the slumping peat where
lenses of ice could be seen. We took five samples in one exposure,
hoping for some useful result from its analysis, perhaps by an ETSU
student. Richard was recording petroglyphs on the slopes of B3
above.
After a mutton soup (hated by Andrew) we returned to the Pazyryk
site, finding a rectangular boulder-filled pit beneath its mound.
This morning they found a whetstone in the upper part of the pit,
which is an indication the site was looted. Andrew, Elissa, and I
started clearing a small mound (Biluut 3-20; GPS N48 39.137 E88
21.642; elev. 2118m.) across the stream near the large rectangular
structure Richard had us look at a couple years ago.
Now the evening crew is busy at cards. The rain stopped and the
sun emerged long enough for a rainbow. It promises to be a quiet
night. I finished my Peat Valley notes and Dan caught up with his
survey notes. Richard found a birthing woman image on the northern
end of the eastern escarpment of B3: a female with arms and legs
spread, breasts to each side, and a baby(?) emerging from her
vagina. It reminded me of the Kodiak Island birthing charm
excavated by Dick Jordan and my son Ben years ago. According to
Esther Jacboson-Tepfer, such figures as Richard found date from the
Neolithic period. Richard and Tsedo consider this a major find.
Tuesday June 28thFair weather again this morning until 12:30
when a mass of dark clouds and rain drove us back to camp. We
finished B3-20 mapping and threw out the center mound rocks. Will
made a nice map while the rest of us took a walk up toward the
canyon. Lots of small-scale irrigation ditching has been going on
here in what looks like the best pasture around Biluut because of
the way the stream can be spread out in the basin. Many old ger
campsites are around this area. Afterwards I had a talk with Jagaa
about camels. Each family may own one or two, and related or close
families pool their camels into a herd and take turns using the
herd for transport. Today this is needed less because of access to
trucks, so camels are kept mostly for the value of their hair,
meat, and hides (its a bit ignominious, but one of their most
important uses of the hide is for the thin strips used as
fastenings to attach ger lattice slats together!). Nevertheless,
the camel population is dropping and many herders no longer own
any.
The sun came out after lunch and we returned to our site. After
removing the pavement rocks and clearing the loose rubble we found
two small rectangular slab boxes side-by-side in the middle of the
ring. Both had their long axes oriented N-S and were about 50cm
long and 30cm wide, the eastern box having a single cover and the
western, a series of small cover slabs. Both boxes were empty and
had lots of mouse bedding inside; recently these have been
veritable mouse houses. Nothing else was in them except plant fiber
and a few seeds or nut shells. The boxes are too small for human
infants, whose bones would have been preserved, so some other
ritual or organic material may have been provided originally.
Another mystery! Well dig deeper and see whether anything else
shows up. At the Pazyryk site (B2-2) Bayaraa meanwhile had come
down on logs from a burial chamber that seems to have been
disturbed. Tomorrow, they should find grave remains. The Fig. 28:
B2-3 (Pond Site) standing slab, view
N
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afternoon remained cool. Richards crew keeps finding more
interesting rock art on B3 above the peat bog.
Wednesday June 29thOur spell of good weather continues. Last
night Canat (Conti), one of our drivers, returned from Ulgii with
suppliesmuch appreciated as the portions of mutton in our soup and
noodles/peppers/potatoes, are getting smaller. We returned to B3-20
to clean up the excavation and excavate around and under the stone
boxes, finding nothing. Dan and I surveyed the western lower slopes
of B3 to the Khuiten Gol (Canyon River) recording about 30 sites,
some of the most interesting in a pocket terrace SE of the gorge.
There is a fall/spring herder place there under the shadow of
Broken Rock Mountain, deserted for the summer like most of those
log dwellings. While investigating that terrace a couple of young
herder kids left their horses on the other side of the river, waded
across, and came up to see what we were up to. The gorge is quite
spectacular, cut deeply into rock on the west side and moraine on
the east, with its sides filled with ancient larch trees and its
broad bottom a vast field of water-tumbled boulders from small in
size to huge. We returned to back-fill B3-20 and then were off to
lunch.
In the afternoon we visited Bayaraas Pazyryk dig, and found them
excavating a horses head that had been left undisturbed by looters
who seemed to have displaced the tomb chamber logs. They had found
an iron horse bit and small remains of a decayed, decorative wood
carving from the harness. Elissa, Andrew, Dan and I then surveyed
up the west bank of the river, recording about 20 sites/features
including several good excavation prospects. On one of the high
terraces we found a partially built modern stone barn structure
with three of its four sides complete. It is being constructed
almost entirely of stones taken from Turkic and khirigsuur features
from this locale. In addition to several large standing stones in
box enclosures, there were mounds and other features, all heavily
damaged by modern cannibalization.
Since tomorrow has been declared a (project) holiday, the
evening turned into a night of revelry with much singing and antics
by the younger members while the rest of us tried to sleep. Earlier
in the evening the shore was lined with our teams fishermen; but
only Bayaraa caught any fishtwo small ones. He claimed that a big
one got away with his only hook! If not already recorded here, weve
been wondering about reforestation since there Fig. 30: B1-3
excavation with sheep and goats look-
ing on
Fig. 29: Excavation of B2-2 Pazyryk burial with storm com-ing
in. Photo by Dave Edwards
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are no young trees along the shore or river banksonly in the
gorge and high north hillsides. Are sheep eating the young sprouts?
Soon there will be no trees in these lowland areas, as many of the
present ones are over 100 years old. Perhaps this is a process that
has been going on for hundreds, or thousands, of years, leading to
the formation of this part of the steppe. The problem is not a lack
of seeds, because these trees are producing huge numbers of cones.
But we never see any seedlings under them.
Thursday June 30thA gorgeous morning, and a very slow camp
awakening from the partying last night. Most of the team wanted to
spend their day off taking showers, washing clothes, and sleeping
or fishing. Dan and I made a six-hour hike west along the shore to
check for sites, especially shore-side settlements. We made good
progress, encountered a few herders who always were friendly and
curious, and recorded some sites. We checked around the inlet and
the outcrops of pure white clay near the east end but found no
shore-side camps. All the dark soil showing was from eroding peat
deposits. The local herders we met there were off on horseback with
their fishing rods fitted with modern spinning gear. We found only
six sites the whole day: a circular khirigsuur, a Pazyryk mound,
and a few other features. The lack of a broad pasture along the
shore probably kept the population down. There are a number of
small ponds and bogs. We had to walk halfway back to camp before we
were picked up by one of the vans; by that time my legs were pretty
nearly shot, after having walked about 12-15 miles, a record for me
for many years. But at least no damage was done to my arthritic
right hip and Im fine today. Just as we were picked up, a series of
thunderstorms set in. They kept up well into the night with amazing
acoustics. The claps echoed back and forth from the southern
mountain face and the Biluut hills. I tried calling Lynne but could
not keep a connection, but I did manage to leave a birthday
greeting for son Joshua on his message board in London.
Friday July 1stThis morning we were at the edge of storms to the
west and clear weather to the east. The weather improved after we
arrived at the Turkic site (B1-2) by the pond at the eastern base
of B1. We decided to work here because the complex has a
rectangular slab and cobble border, a large standing stone, and a
looted burial. It should make for an interesting dig, especially if
we can find some datable material and can link these features in a
single complex. Bayaraa continued to excavate his horse skeleton
and has uncovered a set of logs running lengthwise that might be
the undisturbed top of a burial crypt.
Luke makes progress on his dobro and has been composing a ballad
he calls Bayaraa. We barely got back to work when it started
raining again, but still got three hours in and nearly completed
excavating the walls of our rectangular structure. No artifacts,
bones, or charcoal, but good architectural detail from the slab
settings. Because we are located above the pond, we got serenaded
by the swans and sheldrakes that drop in periodically.
Fig. 31: Local women selling wares at Aral Tolgoi Naadam
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Bayaraa gave a talk this evening on the Xiongnu excavations hes
done with Byran Miller. I left a message for Lynne and spoke with
Lauren, who says all is fine in the office. The weather in DC is
cool. One of the cooks and her driver-husband have a daughter here
in camp; her name is (in English translation) White Falcon. Shes
six years old and quite delightful. The food continues to be
spectacular. We even had fresh peaches today!
Saturday July 2ndOvercast all day with small showers off and on.
We worked at the Overcast all day with small showers off and on. We
worked at the T