News and forthcoming events
DZUUN KHUREE EXPEDiTION 2019 BASE CAMP location
Classic mongolian well watered steppe landscape surrounded by mountains and rivers.
BAD AND GOOD NEWS – SHORT UPDATE ON THE 2019 FIELD TRIP
On the 5th of September no sooner had we checked in on our flights, all in good heart and expectations, we got terrible news from UB, announcing to immediately ‘CANCEL CANCEL’ the trip do not come.
THE REASON? PERMITS HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED!!!!
Needless to say cancellation at such a late stage was out of the question and so the team resolved to continue our trip in the hope, in some way, of salvaging the situation on arrival, by appealing for help to contacts we had made on our previous visits. Subject to more details on future updates, once in UB we received fantastic help from the Director of The Institute of History and Archaeology, Professors at the National University of Mongolia, members of The Arts Council and the Governor of Khenti Aimag. In the face of adversity we were allowed to carry out some very important rescue work and surveys, especially as on arrival at Zuun Khuree we noted considerable increase in unauthorised excavations and robbing pits, by unknown persons searching for valuable artefacts.
THE GOOD NEWS
At a personal level, this trip was for me one of, if not the most relevant since initiating the project. This from the point of view of meeting and establishing contacts with very knowledgeable and able people who were kind enough to share their knowledge with me, discovering that my long held theories had local complimentary support and not least resolution of some enduring historical puzzles.
09/10/201
GREAT NEWS FROM MONGOLIA AND THE U S
Permits and Funding for 2019 Secured
Thanks to the efforts and hardwork of Professor Mark Horton and Erdene Myagmar the team has received confirmation that permits and funding for the 2019 expedition have been secured. Planning for the event has begun with discussions scheduled to take place with supporting teams over the next two weeks. This will be the most ambitious expedition to date and there is great excitement at the prospect of investigating and recording what may prove to be one of the most important historical and sacred site in north east Mongolia
Planning is underway for this summer season expedition. A Gher base camp will be set up on the Dzuun Khuree site, which will service multi disciplinary teams over a 3 to 4 week period. The primary task this year will concentrate on archaeological investigation of the site’s historical context, smaller teams will conduct remote exploration of the local geography associated with 12th century Mongol History. This year’s season will be the most ambitious to date and sorting out the infrastructure and logistics to service the excavation and survey parties with attendant film crews will be an interesting challenge.
ONGOING RESEARCH AND FIELD WORK CONTINUES IN 2019 ON
Dzuun khuree
&
kublay khan's memorial temple site
SUMMER SEASON 2019- PERMIT GRANTED BY MINISTRY
The Residual Snow Covered Footprint of Dzuun Khuree
Zuun Khuree Temple was destroyed in 1937 following the implementation in Mongolia of the Stalin great purge policy. With destruction the site location fell into obscurity, remembered with nostalgia but by (now) a few elders that still live locally. The V2 team has been researching this site since 2013. It is responsible for the publication of two papers on its historical context and surface archaeological remains. The research suggests the site has a long standing sacred status which may well predate its current earliest known occupation date of 1615. It is known that Kammala, Kublay Khan’s eldest son, in the early 13th century built a memorial temple in the upper Herlen basin to commemorate and safeguard the sacred burial sites of his ancestors and this site may have previously also been occupied by that temple.
MEASURED AND AERIAL SURVEY of TEMPLE SITE
Following the site’s rediscovery by the V2 team in 2013, a survey and recording expedition was undertaken in 2015. With the aid of UAV’s GPR and good old fashioned methods of measuring tapes, staffs and theodolites the team was successful in plotting the site’s visible and invisible remains. Of particular note are the 30 or so stupas defining the boundary of the site the many terracotta plaques found in their vicinity and the Lone Tree Shrine on the periphery of the site.
Dzuun khuree site today
The Temple superstructures and priesthood Aimags were totally destroyed by the soviets in 1937. Over time the site has reverted to grassland Steppe with no obvious remains visible above ground.
the lone tree shrine
The lone tree on the steppe is a significant shamanistic symbol. Ancient traditions of the central Asian plateau continue, to the present day, based on the belief that mountains and trees alike, are the means by which the spirits connect between the sky god ‘Tengri‘ and the underworld.
Similarly the ‘Bodhi’ tree is also a potent symbol of Buddhism. It is beneath the Bodhi Tree where Siddartha achieved enlightenment and became Buddha. Traditionally a symbolic ‘totem’ tree is planted or erected, at or near the entrance of the main temple, reminding worshippers of the ‘enlightenment’ event, as can be seen at the Gandan temple site in the capital, Ulanbataar.
Uniquely we have learnt of no Buddhist site in Mongolia which displays or has the history of a live local tree or of a symbolic tree serving such a purpose, which is located remotely from or on the periphery of a temple site.
VOTIVE PLAQUES FOUND AT ZUUN KHUREE
NB: all artifacts here displayed by kind courtesy of the National University of Mongolia.
FUNDING STATUS
Limited funding has already been secured for the this year’s expedition. Additional funding to cover our costs this year depends on securing the field work permits from the appropriate Mongolia Ministry.
Suggestions and recommendations to access funding sources or generate funds would be very welcome.
2019 TASKS - Exploration Survey mappinG AND DIGGINg
Third party expressions of interest to join us to work in small teams on horseback or 4wd to explore the expanse of the Forbidden Steppe, recording significant archaeological, geographical and historical features suitable for future investigations, will be considered.
Grasslands forests and mountain Terrain
Daily tasks and events gallery
Sadly in between the interesting objective tasks there are mundane things that have to be covered logistics of getting from A to B, communication and keeping technology going, provisions setting up and keeping camp up to scratch and the morning and evening oblutions are not easy either!
