Xiongnu Elite Tomb Complexes in the Mongolian Altai

Results of the Mongol-American Hovd Archaeology Project, 2007

Bryan K. Miller, University of Pennsylvania, USAJamsranjav Bayarsaikhan, National Museum of Mongolian History, Mongolia

Tseveendorj Egiimaa, National Museum of Mongolian History, MongoliaChristine Lee, Arizona State University, USA

The Altai mountains have servedas an area of intensive traffic andinteraction within Central Asia,and the critical passes throughthese mountains were certainlyareas of contention over whichvarying tribes and politiesthroughout history and prehistoryfought to gain control. Due to theunique nature of this section ofMongolia’s western frontier, theMongol-American Hovd Archae-ology Project was established toexplore the remains of earlypolities within this area and worktoward an understanding of howthey both controlled and exploitedthe region. While the vast majorityof archaeological sites attributedto the Xiongnu empire (3rd centuryBCE – 2nd century CE) lie within

central Mongolia and the southernBaikal area, remains of cemeteriesin the Altai evidence the expansionof this nomadic conquest state intothe key peripheral region whichgave them access to the oasisstates and trade routes of the SilkRoads. Monumental tombs of theXiongnu elite have beendocumented numerous times atseveral sites in the core area ofXiongnu sites throughout Mongoliaand South Siberia (Rudenko 1969;Konovalov 1976; Navaan 1999;Mission 2003; Miller et al. 2006;Miniaev and Sakharovskaia 2006,2007), but the existence of asimilar royal cemetery at Tahiltin-hotgor signifies a strong imperialpresence within the Altai. Insummer of 2007, the Mongol-

American Hovd ArchaeologyProject began excavations at thissite in order to explore imperialmonuments at the periphery andfurther clarify the dynamiccharacter of these elitecemeteries.

Tahiltin-hotgor cemetery islocated in Manhan sum of Hovdaimag and was first discoveredand documented through trialexcavations of two small graves in1961 (Volkov and Dorjsuren1963). Further excavations wereconducted in 1987-1990 (Navaan1999) on two mounded rampedtombs, and in September of 2006the cemetery was mapped inpreparation for further exca-vations. The cemetery stretches

Fig. 1. Tahiltin-hotgor cemetery (excavated tombs noted). Inset map indicates location in western Mongolia.Unless otherwise noted, all images are copyright © 2008 Hovd Archaeology Project.

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east to west between two smallmountains and sits at the mouthof one of the major mountainpasses through the Altai to theDjungar Basin of Xinjiang,northwest China [Fig. 1]. Threetomb complexes were in-vestigated in 2007 with the aimof understanding not only themounded tombs, which havereceived most of the attention ofprevious excavations, but also theaccompanying features of the eliteinterments. We define a tombcomplex as a collection of featuresassociated with the interment ofa single deceased that togetherare arranged as one group. In thecase of the Xiongnu elite tombcomplexes, three main featureshave been thus far documented,all of which are found at Tahiltin-hotgor.

The first feature, and the mostprominent, is the square rampedtomb mound. This earthen moundis oriented approximately north-south and is held together bystone walls. A ramp or “funerarypath” (Mission 2003) leading upto the top of the mound extendsout from the southern wall. Thetomb mounds often have stonelines that run north-south andeast-west across the surface, themost recurring instance being anorth-south line running throughthe center of the ramp and themound. Beneath these tombmounds and under numerouslayers of stone, earth, and/orwood, lies a burial chamber witha decorated wooden coffin inside.As mentioned before, thesemonumental tombs have receivedgreat attention thus far, but recentstudies have begun to drawattention to the featuressurrounding the main tomb andthe details of the pit and moundabove the chamber the chamber.Small graves adjacent to the

larger tombs have been excavatedat several of the elite cemeteriesin Mongolia and Buriatia, andrecent studies have begun toaddress them directly as aparticular phenomenon (Miniaevand Sakharovskaia 2002; Miller etal. 2006). These satellite burialsaverage about three per tombcomplex and are usually arrangedin a north-south line to the east,west, or both sides of the maintomb. A few instances ofsignificantly large lines ofaccompanying burials exist at GolMod 2 cemetery in Arhangai (Milleret al. 2006) and confirm the arc-shape of these arrangements ofburials which flank the tombmounds. The satellite burials bearsurface demarcations of stonerings, and the deceased areinterred in wooden coffinsbetween one to two metersbeneath. These resemblestandard Xiongnu burials (Torbat2004). The third feature of tombcomplexes – stone lines – wasdiscovered recently at Gol Mod 2cemetery (Allard et al. 2002) andsubsequently at Tahiltin-hotgor in2006. Parallel east-west lines of

stone pairs are arranged north ofsome of the tomb mounds at bothcemeteries. These lines wereexcavated for the first time in 2007at Tahiltin-hotgor.

Square ramped tombs1

The two square tombs excavatedin 1987-1990 (Navaan 1999) arelocated in the middle of thecemetery, and each were assigneda number during the 2006 survey.A comparison of the drawings andmeasurements in the originalreport with the tomb remainsvisible now at the cemeteryshowed great inaccuracies, butthe general descriptions appearmore or less correct. The firsttomb (THL-83) was completelyexcavated to expose the entiregrave pit and the area beneath theramp. At the bottom of the pit wasa log chamber, inside of which hadbeen placed a wood plank coffinwith golden flower decoration [Fig.2]. The grave furnishings and theremaining grave goods, includinga large pot in the log chamber andpieces of a chariot atop thechamber, appear to indicatemortuary tradition similar to that

Fig. 2. Tomb 83. After Navaan 1999.

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documented in royal Xiongnutombs of central Mongolia. Thesecond tomb excavated (THL-82)contained an unlooted doublenested coffin with the completeremains of a woman, thus earningit the name “the Princess Tomb”[Fig. 3]. The excavations cored asingle pit into the center of thistomb to access the chamber; sono excavations were done toreveal the entire structure of thisgrave. A bronze spouted pot andtwo bronze sticks2 found in the

tomb are now ondisplay at theNational Museum inMongolia, thoughthe jewelry found byher head and on herwaist do not residein locatable col-lections.

Tomb 64

In order to docu-ment properly thestructure of thesquare tombs at this

particular site andcompare them tosites in centralMongolia, we choseone large tomb, THL-64, and its associatedfeatures [Figs. 4, 5].The stone cross lineswithin the tomb

structure and the “door” closingoff the ramp closely resembledthose in elite tombs elsewhere.Near the ground level and in thecenter of the mound, at the exactplace where the two lines cross,was found a dense deposit of burntearth and charcoal. The stones atthis intersection do not appeardisturbed, and it is likely that thisdeposit relates to the originalinterment ceremony and not theoccurrence of looting. Unlike mostother tombs, the ramp onlydescends to the first step ledge of

the pit, 1.6 m below the surfaceand 4.4 m above the bottom ofthe chamber. Therefore the ramplikely did not serve as a practicalmeans for rolling the coffin into itsfinal resting place, but rather tookon more of a ritually symbolicfunction related to “funerarypaths.” The outer chamber at the

Fig. 3. Tomb 82. After Navaan 1999.

Fig. 4. Tomb 64 complex

Fig. 5. Tomb 64.

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bottom was surrounded by stonesand built from notched,interlocking logs. Inside the logstructure lay a wood plank coffinnested in the southeast corner ofthe chamber, much like the innercoffin of Tomb 83 which had beennested in the southwest corner. Alattice and flower iron decorationcovered the outside of the coffin,and scant remnants of silk confirmthat the coffin would have beenwrapped entirely before the iron

decoration was mounted [Fig. 6].The wood of the coffin was fittedtogether with bow-tie shapedtenons across the planks andmortise holes with plugs inside theedges of the wood planks [Fig. 7].

A thin gold circle and thin goldcrescent were found lying next toeach other, and from theimpressed marks and small rustedpin holes on both of these, theyappear to have been previouslymounted on a flat surface – verylikely the surface of the coffin lid[Fig. 8] which was tossed asideduring looting. This circle andcrescent pair echo other such pairsfound in numerous Xiongnu graves(Mission 2003; Torbat 2004) and

are equated withXiongnu rituals ofthe sun and moon.“And the chanyu[emperor] at dawnleaves camp andmakes obeisance tothe sun’s beginning,and at dusk makesobeisance to themoon” (Shiji 1959,110: 2892).

Remains of foodcontainment andserving were placedinside the log cham-ber just north of thecoffin which held thedeceased: an iron

ladle, a painted red wooden tray,a pair of chopsticks, cattlevertebrae and a sheep/goat legbone, and a large handmade grainstorage pot [Fig. 9]. Severalturquoise tear-shaped insets, fivegreen stone insets carved in the

shape of scallop shells, and a bonependant which probably adornedthe deceased were found tossedout of the coffin from looting [Fig.10, facing page]. Lastly, to thenorth of the log chamber is asemicircular niche cut into the wall

Fig. 6. Lattice and quadrefoil iron coffin decoration.

Fig. 7. Coffin tenon construction.

Fig. 8. Gold sun and moon.

Fig. 9. Iron ladleand bone chop-sticks.

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of the tomb pit where the skulls,cervical vertebrae and legs of onehorse and three horned-sheep/goats were deposited. Two sheepribs were found above the logchamber, one of which has a deepcut mark from the process ofeating the meat on it.

While only the skull, half apelvis and several other bones ofthe deceased were found from thislooted tomb, this represents agreater yield than most royalXiongnu tombs and thus allows usto gain more knowledge about thetomb occupant than usual. Thedeceased was a woman 35-40years old and has evidence on thepelvis bone indicating she gavebirth at least once. The low toothwear for her age probably relatedto access to better processedfood, and the gracile marks ofmuscle attachments show that shedid not do much manual labor.Nevertheless, wear on the lowerspine may indicate continuedhorseback riding, a pattern foundin many of the individuals

excavated here as well as othergraves in Mongolia. Though thistomb was looted, enough remainsthat we may confidently say it isequitable in both structure andburial goods to the larger eliteXiongnu tombs in central Mongoliaand southern Siberia.

Satellite burials

Dorjsuren describes each of thetwo small burials he excavated atTahiltin-hotgor in 1961 as lyingdirectly to the east of squaretombs (Volkov and Dorjsuren1963). From this we may deducethat they were probably satelliteburials. Both graves were markedwith some stones on the surface,maximum 3 m diameter scatter,and about 1.3 m below the surfacelay stone cysts with humanremains. No wooden coffins werefound. In both graves the bodieslay stretched with the headoriented north. In one case thetorso and head were greatlydisturbed and only the legsarticulated, but in the other theleft arm lay stretched to the side,the right arm apparently bent atthe elbow and lying across thechest, and the legs were slightly

bent. The lack ofwooden coffins andbending at the kneessets these burialsapart from thestandard Xiongnuburial of fullystretched supinebodies inside awooden coffin (Torbat2004).

Satellites of Tomb 64

The two satell iteburials excavated tothe east of tomb 64 at

Tahiltin-hotgor [Fig. 11] were verysimilar to those excavated byDorjsuren, and thus quite differentfrom the standard Xiongnu grave.Both individuals were interred instone cysts, not wooden coffins,and both were laid with their legsslightly bent. The secondnoteworthy variance fromstandard Xiongnu graves is thesurface demarcation. Instead ofthe typical thick stone circleovertop the burial pit, these, andall the other satellite gravesexcavated in 2007 were markedby a small stone cluster (which attimes had been scattered) directlyover and approximately the samesize as the burial pit. Unlootedsatellite burials, such as THL-64-2, have allowed us to view theoriginal clustered position of thesurface stone demarcations. Bothof the individuals buried next toTomb 64 were oriented just westof north, as was the main tomb ofcomplex 64. The accompanyingdeceased were teenagers, andTHL-64-2 was possibly a female.If this is true, then it would be thefirst confirmed discovery of afemale in a satellite burial of eliteXiongnu tomb complexes. One of

Fig. 10. Turquoise inlay, scallop-shapedgreen stone, and bone pendant.

Fig. 11. Satellite gravesTHL-64-1 & -2.

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the main reasons for choosing anentire tomb complex to excavatewas to see the relationshipbetween those in the satellitegraves and the deceased in themain tomb. In this case, theteenagers are oriented to almostexactly the same degree as thecentral barrow, and the traits seenin the human remains show themto also be very closely related toother Xiongnu peoples inMongolia, and thus closelyaffiliated to the woman in the maintomb who also appears closelyaffiliated to other remains withinthe group attributed to theXiongnu (Lee 2007).

Satellites of Tomb 82

Next we chose the twoaccompanying graves on eitherside of tomb 82, previouslyexcavated by Navaan (1999), sothat we could finish the fullinvestigation of this tomb complex[Fig. 12]. Again, both of theaccompanying graves have thesame orientation as the maintomb. Both burials were marked

on the surface withscattered stones,disturbed from theiroriginal position, andthe deceased wereinterred about ameter below thesurface in small pitswith neither woodcoffin nor stone cyst.The deceased inburial THL-82-1 wasfound lying stretched,his body oriented justwest of north, withboth arms at his side,but face down. Thisman had robustmuscle attachmentsfor his lower arms, hands, thighs,and right foot and is the mostmuscular individual at Takhiltin-hotgor, meaning he performedmore labor than the otherindividuals. On either side of thebody, probably in their originalposition, were found bone beltclasps with small holes [Fig. 13].In burial THL-82-2, a small bonepin was found beneath the skull

which had beentossed aside, andthus may have beena hairpin. A sheep/goat astragulus wasalso found to the leftof the waist. Thisman, like the first,also had robustmuscle attachmentson the lower arms,lower legs, and rightfoot. Both of the menburied in thesesatellite burials wereAsian, and thesecond burial hadenough of the skull toshow that he wasclosely affiliated toother Xiongnu. Thewoman buried in the

main tomb (THL-82) excavated byNavaan in 1990 also shows a closebiological affinity to the Xiongnugroup. Again, the individuals in thesatell ite burials are closelyaffiliated to the main individual,and all of them related to theXiongnu biological group (Lee2007).

Satellites of Tomb 25

Lastly, we opened the three burialsflanking the east side of tomb THL-25, even though the main tombwas not excavated, in orderfurther to understand the natureof accompanying burials in thisperipheral royal cemetery [Fig. 14,facing page]. None of these burialsshowed any significant evidenceof disturbance of the surfacedemarcation, and all three hadtight clusters of stones onlyslightly larger than the grave pit.The burials were arranged moreor less in a north-south arc line,though the third grave (THL-25-3), when the exact positions of theburial pits and bodies wereviewed, did not appear to be inline with the previous two graves.Burial THL-25-1 contained thebody of a child about 8 years oldFig. 12. Satellite graves THL-82-1 & -2.

Fig. 13. Bone belt pieces from THL-82-1.

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oriented slightly east ofnorth and laid supineand stretched, withonly the legs slightlybent. The deceased inburial THL-25-2 was ina stretched supineposition, and orientedalmost exactly north.He was 30-35 yearsold, and had robustmuscular attachments.The condition of histeeth is consistent witha nomadic diet high inmeat, and low inc a r b o h y d r a t e s .Additional detail aboutTHL-25-2 is in thearticle below byJessieca Jones andVeronica Joseph. Whilethe surface stones of burial THL-25-3 appeared not to bedisturbed, many of the deceased’sbones, including the skull cap,were found amongst the stones inthe pit. The rest of the bones werelaid at the bottom of the pit,articulated in a stretched supineposition. The man in this gravewas 40-45 years old. A few ironplatelets were found with smallholes in the corners which mayrelate to their use as armor pieces.The child can be determined asAsian and related to the Xiongnu,while the two adult men, alsoAsian, appear more closely relatedto individuals in Manchuria orSiberia.

The recurrence of robustmuscle attachments on the meninterred in the satellite burialsseems to indicate intense labor.These muscle markers may alsorelate to certain kinds of damageand arthritis that recurs in almostall the individuals. The patterns oftrauma, especially the severetrauma seen in THL-64-1, come

from extreme impact and mostlikely relate to injuries incurredfrom falling off or being thrownfrom a horse. The arthritic patternin these individuals also speaks torepeated horseback riding. Thecombined pattern of arthritis,musculature, and trauma seen inthe individuals here is consistentwith prolonged horseback riding.

Stone lines

One or two stone lines were foundto the north of eight square tombs,the exception being seven parallellines north of Tomb 25. The linesare at least fifteen meters awayfrom the tomb mounds and only afew meters apart from each other.They are often oriented slightly offof an east-west axis so that theyare parallel to the north wall of thetomb mound, which in most casesis oriented west of north. The lineof stone pairs north of tomb 64 isaligned so that the axis of thestone line which cuts north-souththrough the center of the squaremound and southern ramp thenruns directly through the middle

of the northern line,directly between thecenter two pairs. Thetwo stone lines to thenorth of tomb 82 werealso excavated, and theramp of tomb 82 wascleared so as to test therelationship betweenthe stone lines and theaxis of the centraltomb. The centralnorth-south axis oftomb 82, measuredaccording to the centerof the tomb ramp, alsoruns directly throughthe middle of the twoparallel stone lines tothe north. In bothcases, the stone lineswere clearly aligned in

sync with the greater mortuarycomplexes. The results ofexcavation between the stonepairs have begun to shed light ontheir function and use patterns.

The stone pairs in each line lieapproximately two meters apart,though their original positionseems to have been altered insome cases, probably due tostones falling or being knockedover. Between some of the stonepairs, and at times beneath fallenstones, lie deposits of burnt,crushed animal bone. The bonefragments are high fired, resultingin completely black or white boneswith a thin blue/black layer inside.There is also black ash and/orcharcoal deposited with the burntbones, but there is no evidence ofburnt earth between the stones,or burning against the closely setstones. In some cases the burntbones are found with no ash at all.This suggests that the activity ofburning the animal bones was notdone between the stones. Theburning was probably done in adifferent place, after which the

Fig. 14. Satellite graves THL-25-1, -2, -3.

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offerings were put between thestones. The two easternmoststone pairs of the line in complex64 contain such deposits, but noneof the other four pairs do. In thetomb 82 complex, the first,southernmost line contains burntanimal bones between or beneathevery pair of stones, while onlytwo pairs of stones in the secondline contain such deposits. As thestone pairs seem to “fill up” inorder from nearest stone lineoutward, this may indicate apattern of use over time ratherthan only at the time of intermentof the deceased in the main grave.

This custom of burning animalbones in a place outside of the finaldeposition area and then settingthe remains between stones, findsan exact parallel in Bronze Agekhirigsuur complexes (Allard andErdenebaatar 2005, pp. 3-5) andsheds light on the rituals of theXiongnu which may connect withsuch earlier practices. In theseBronze Age complexes deposits ofhigh-fired crushed animal boneswere placed along with the ashfrom the fires inside small rings ofsingle stones. These stone ringswere aligned in concentric rowsaround an array of stone moundscontaining horse heads, whichwere arranged in rows around astone fence that enclosed a largecentral stone mound. Just like theseparation between centralmound, horse head mounds andstone circles of the khirigsuurs,there is separation in the Xiongnuelite tomb complexes betweenanimals placed above thechamber, to the north of the coffinand inside the chamber, and theburnt animal remains in theexterior stone lines.

Brief discussion

The arrangement and componentsof tomb complexes at Tahiltin-

hotgor, as well as the contents ofthe main tombs, closely resembleelite Xiongnu cemeteries foundelsewhere. The elite graves hereare undoubtedly associated withthe elite imperial culture of theXiongnu polity and thus may beconsidered within the limits of theempire. Analysis of humanremains in these graves seems tocorroborate this association to theXiongnu nomadic polity. Thepresence of Xiongnu peoples inthese elite tomb complexescorrelates easily to the spread ofthe Xiongnu state into this westernfrontier seen also in the materialculture. The possible presence ofpeople from Manchuria, seen inTHL-25-2 and -3, suggests a greatdegree of mobility of differentpeople within the empire and wideconnections across the variedregions under Xiongnu control.Despite the consistencies inmortuary remains for the elite,evidence arises in the satelliteburials of differentiation fromstandard Xiongnu customs.Interments in stone cysts such asTHL-64-1 and THL-64-2 areseldom found in other Xiongnucemeteries, and the flexed legs ofthese two graves and THL-25-1deviate from the prevailing customof fully stretched supine burials inXiongnu graves (Torbat 2004).The most significant difference isthe surface demarcations. Thesmall tight cluster of stones overthe grave pit differs greatly fromthe tradition of stone rings. It isnot clear what these variationsindicate, but it may relate to eitherlocal variations of the Altai orperhaps a social group not yetdelineated within the greatercorpus of Xiongnu remains.

Further excavations of Xiongnugraves outside this monumentalelite cemetery will be conductedin the upcoming 2008 field season.

By investigating burial grounds inthe open valleys and in the highmountain passes we aim furtherto contextualize the burial groundat Tahiltin-hotgor of the imperialXiongnu elite in the peripheralregion of the Altai mountains.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks are to be given forwork by the stupendous Mongolianstudents (and crew) from Hovdand Ulaanbaatar and by thevolunteers (and Daniel Waugh)who came on the SilkroadFoundation 2007 expedition. L.Nyam-Suren was of greatassistance both outside of and inthe field, and Ts. Odbaatar helpedimmensely in the preparations forthe pilot year of the HovdArchaeology Project. Last but notleast, two additional scholars mustbe thanked for their contributionsand dedication to the project:Prokopy B. Konovalov, for bringinghis vast knowledge to the furtherexcavations of Xiongnu remains,and Judy Logan for blessing theproject with her paramount skillsin materials conservation. Supportwas provided by the SilkroadFoundation and a dissertationresearch grant from the HenryLuce Foundation and AmericanCouncil of Learned Societies.

About the AuthorsBryan K. Miller is a Ph.D.Candidate in the East AsianLanguages and Civilizations Dept.of University of Pennsylvania. Hereceived his M.A. in Archaeologyfrom the Cotsen Institute ofArchaeology at UCLA in 2000,after which he began research inTaiwan and Mongolia andmanaged the Xiongnu excavationsportion of the Khanuy ValleyProject. His present researchconcerns historical and archae-ological investigations of early

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empires in East Asia, namely theQin and Han of China and Xiongnuof Mongolia. E-mail: <millerbk@sas.upenn.edu>.

Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan iscurator of Bronze and Iron Agecollections at the National Museumof Mongolian History. He receivedhis M.A. in archaeology fromMongolian Educational Universityin 2005, and is presently pursuinga Ph.D. at the National Universityof Mongolia. He is also the chiefMongolian archaeologist for theSmithsonian “Deer Stone” Projectworking in northern Mongolia. Hispresent research concerns BronzeAge ritual monuments and burialsof Mongolia. E-mail:< b a y a r s a i k h a n @nationalmuseum.mn>.

Tseveendorj Egiimaa is amember of the staff of thearchaeology division of theNational Museum of MongolianHistory and a curator of Xiongnumaterials. She received her M.A.in archaeology from MongolianEducational University in 1999.She is presently also anarchaeologist for the Mongol-Russian expedition at the Xiongnuwalled site of Tereljiin.

Christine Lee earned herDoctoral degree in physicalanthropology from Arizona StateUniversity in 2007, researchingthe biological affinities of Neolithicthrough Modern period popu-lations from China and Mongoliausing cranial and dental non-metric evidence. She will be takinga post-doctoral position at theCenter for Frontier Archae-ologyat Ji l in University in China,beginning in autumn 2008.

References

Allard and Erdenebaatar 2005

Francis Allard and DiimaajavErdenebaatar. “Khirigsuurs, ritual

and mobility in the Bronze Age ofMongolia.” Antiquity 79 (2005): 1-18.

André and Yeruul-Erdene 2004

Guilhem André and Ch. Yeruul-Erdene. “Negen Hurel ShiidemniiTyhai (Gol modni hunnu bulshnihereglegdehuuneer).” ArheologiinSudlal (Ulaanbaatar) 22 (2004):110-117.

Di Cosmo 2002

Nicola Di Cosmo. Ancient Chinaand Its Enemies: The Rise ofNomadic Power in East Asia.Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2002.

Erdélyi et al. 2000

István Erdélyi et al. ArchaeologicalExpeditions in Mongolia.Budapest: Mundus HungarianUniversity Pr., 2000.

Konovalov 1976

Prokopii B. Konovalov. Khunnu vZabaikal’e. Ulan-Ude: Buriatskoeknizhnoe izd-vo., 1976.

Lee 2007

Christine Lee. “The BiologicalAffinities of Neolithic ThroughModern Period Populations fromChina and Mongolia: The Cranialand Dental Non-metric TraitEvidence.” Unpublished Ph.D.Dissertation, Arizona StateUniversity, 2007.

Miller et al. 2006

Bryan K. Miller, Francis Allard,Diimaajav Erdenebaatar, andChristine Lee. “A Xiongnu TombComplex: Excavations at Gol Mod2 cemetery, Mongolia (2002-05).”Mongolian Journal of Anthro-pology, Archaeology and Eth-nology (Ulaanbaatar) 2/2 (2006):1-21.

Miniaev and Sakharovskaia 2002

Sergei Miniaev and LidiiaSakharovskaia. “Soprovoditel’nye

zakhoroneniia ‘tsarskogo’kompleksa no.7 v mogil’nikeTsaram.” Arkheologicheskie vesti9 (2002): 86-118; in English as:“Sacrifice burials of the royalcomplex no. 7 at the Tsaraamcemetery” <http://xiongnu.atspace.com/Sacrif.htm>.

Miniaev and Sakharovskaia 2006

Sergei S. Miniaev and Lidiia M.Sakharovskaia. “Investigation of aXiongnu Royal Complex in theTsaraam Valley.” The Silk Road 4/1 (2006): 47-51.

Miniaev and Sakharovskaia 2007

Sergei S. Miniaev and Lidiia M.Sakharovskaia. “Investigation of aXiongnu Royal Complex in theTsaraam Valley. Part 2. TheInventory of Barrow No. 7 and theChronology of the Site.” The SilkRoad 5/1 (2007): 44-56.

Mission 2003

Mission archéologique française enMongolie. Mongolie: le premierempire des steppes. Arles: Actessud, 2003.

Navaan 1999

D. Navaan. Hunnugiin uv soyol:arheologiin sudalgaany material.Ulaanbaatar, 1999.

Rudenko 1969

Sergei I. Rudenko. Die Kultur derHsiung-nu und die Hugelgräbervon Noin Ula. Bonn: Habelt, 1969.

Shiji 1959

Sima Qian. Shiji. Beijing, 1959.

Torbat 2004

Ts. Torbat. Hunnugiin jiriin irgediinbulsh. Ulaanbaatar, 2004.

Volkov and Dorjsuren 1963

V.V. Volkov and Ts. Dorjsuren.“Hovd aimagiin Manhan suminnutagt ertiin sudlalin maltagahaiguul hiisen tuhai.” ArheologiinSudlal 2 (1963): 51-68.

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Yeruul-Erdene 2004

Ch. Yeruul-Erdene. “Gol ModniHunnu bulshni sudalgaani zarim urdun.” Arheologiin Sudlal (Ulaan-baatar) 22 (2004): 76-109.

Notes1. A detailed description of asquare tomb and its componentsis given in Miniaev andSakharovskaia 2006, 2007.

2. A comparison of these bronzesticks with others found in Xiongnuroyal tombs exhibits intriguingsimilarities, though their exactfunction is still under debate(André and Yeruul-Erdene 2004).

Carved stone erected after our exca-vations marking the completion of thereconstructed Tomb 64.

Excavation of a XiongnuSatellite BurialJessieca JonesLudwig-Maximilians-Universität, MunichVeronica JosephBoston University, USA

During the 2007 field season, theHovd Archaeology Projectexcavated several burials at theTahiltin-hotgor cemetery in Hovdaimag, Mongolia, at the foot of theAltai Mountains. A full report of theTahiltin-hotgor excavation isincluded in this issue of The SilkRoad (Miller et al. 2008).1

An earlier survey of the site inSeptember 2006 indicted thatthere are 132 graves which makeup the many complexes in thiscemetery (Miller 2006). Thenumber of satellite burials rangesfrom one to five per burial complexat Tahiltin-hotgor. The purpose ofthis report is to describe theexcavation of one of these satelliteburials and the artifacts foundwithin it. Burial THL-25-2 is one of thethree satellite burialsassociated with theunexcavated tombcomplex THL-25[Fig. 1]. The threesatellite burials, ofwhich THL-25-2 wasthe middle one, wereoriented in a gen-erally north-southline to the east of thelarge, square-ramped tombmound. We havechosen to report onburial THL-25-2 be-cause the skeletalremains were com-

pletely undisturbed and wellpreserved and thus the artifactscould be viewed in their originalcontext.

Grave excavation

After the vegetation, consisting ofscrubby desert bushes, sur-rounding the cluster of stones wasremoved, the loose sandysediment surrounding the stoneswas cleared to define the extentof the feature. When the surfacewas completely visible, arectangular grid was createdaround the stone cluster usingstring and iron pegs. This grid wastied to a reference datum point atthe large square tomb (THL-25)in order to allow us to record thelocation of the burial features in

Fig. 1. Drawing of THL-25 grave complex. All imagesare copyright © 2008 Hovd Archaeology Project.

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