A Study of Xiongnu tombs in Mongolia

In Mongolia and Transbaikal, after the twentieth century, many tombs of Xiongnu were discovered and consequently the remains and materials from such tombs provided rich and new information on Xiongnu culture, which were not recorded in documents at all. The tombs of Xiongnu can be classified into two types; large tumulis for elite tombs and small tombs of lower classes. During these 100 years, about seven thousand Xiongnu tombs were discovered not only from Mongolia, Republic of Buryatia, Russia which were the ancient Xiongnu territory andbut also from South Baikal(Transbaikal), Altai mountains and Inner Mongolia of China, Xinjiang, Gansu, Chinghai area. Among them, four thousand tombs were discovered in Mongolia; seven elite tombs cemetery are located in Mongolia such as Noyon uul, Gol mod, Gol mod-II, Duurlig nars, Bor bulgiin am, Takhiltyn khotgor, Selbiin am. Three elite tombs cemetery, Ilimovaya padi, Tsaram, Orgoiton were discovered in South Baikal, Republic of Buryatia, Russia; while one elite tombs cemetery, Bai Dag-II, was discovered in Tuva Republic. Small size tombs were included to the elite tombs in above mentioned eleven cemetery. The elite tombs are one fifteenth of more than seven thousand Xiongnu tombs ever found. In terms of distribution, about 96% of elite tombs are located in Mongolia and less than 4% are located in Russia, all of which were found from the border between Russia and Mongolia. This suggests that current Mongolia area would have been the center of Xiongnu. Xiongnu’s elite tombs found or excavated in Mongolia, South Baikal and Tuva area share more or less similar characteristics in terms of outer features exposed over ground and underground structures. All of them have square shaped lower mound and a tomb passage located on the southern wall with stone structures surrounding the rim of mound and tomb passages. On the ground of a tomb pit with a deep underground structure, a large size wooden chamber was situated; inside, a lavishly decorated wooden coffin was installed and artifacts were buried following certain rules. This paper will examine the distribution, structural characteristics and excavated materials from the Xiongnu’s elite tombs.