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January 17, 2018

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Closer to understanding Xiongnu enigma

THE ruins of an ancient tripartite-city, known as Sanlian City, in midwest Mongolia’s Khermental City, demonstrates that the Xiongnu tribe used to perform religious ceremonies and hold alliance meetings there.

The Xiongnu was a nomadic tribe that made its first appearance in northern Eurasia in the third century BC, migrating westward in the second century before vanishing a few centuries later.

The new findings are a result of the joint excavation by Chinese and Mongolian archeologists since 2014.

Over the years, the enigma around the Xiongnu has drawn attention from historians across the world. Being a rare Hun city model, the tripartite-city, adjacent to the Tamir River in the south and the Orhon River in the east, comprises three sub-cities all built in the same structure and rectangular shape.

Archeologists believe that the city existed in a period between the third century BC to the first century, but cannot precisely confirm when they first appeared and disappeared.

They started excavating the central pedestal in the central city in 2017, finding that there might once have existed grids of large columns or cloisters built for ritual ceremonies. The red-sand pedestal is 35.8 meters in length and 2.75 meters above the ground. Yet, its rooftop structure is unclear. It is connected with smaller southern pedestals via several long paths.

“It substantially differs from contemporaneous Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) pedestals in forms and structures,” said Song Guodong, executive head of the Chinese side of the joint excavation team.

But archeologists have not found heating facilities, ashes or any other life remains in the city, and thus can almost exclude the possibility that it was a place for day-to-day residence and work.

Written historical books in ancient China recorded that the Xiongnu used to build religious sites along the basin of the Orhon River for their religious conventions.

Located in the same river basin, the tripartite-city, the largest and best preserved site of the Xiongnu in Mongolia, is believed to show ritual features similar to historical records.

The cooperation between the archeologists of the two countries has shed new light on the studies of nomadic cultures, said Wang Wei, director of the Archaeology Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

More archeological teams from China are scheduled to go to the ruins this year and work with their Mongolian counterparts.




 

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