Search to Find Tomb of Genghis Khan Picks up Pace

Before Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, died, he made it clear that he did not want to be found. So far, this wish has remained fulfilled as nearly 800 years after the death of one of the most powerful conquerors in history, the location of his tomb still remains elusive. Many people have tried to locate his final resting places without success, but now it seems, researchers are closer than ever to finding his tomb, as a large-scale crowdfunded project has identified dozens of archaeological sites in the region where he is thought to have been buried.

In 1227, Genghis Khan, the man who united the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and conquered much of Central Asia and China, was dead. The circumstances of his death, however, are still a mystery. According to the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, for instance, Genghis Khan was wounded in the knee by an arrow whilst besieging a certain castle called Caaju, and subsequently died of the infected wound. The Galician-Volhynian Chronicle also records that he was killed in battle during his final campaign against the Western Xia. On the other hand, the Secret History of the Mongols, written shortly after Genghis Khan’s death, claims that the Great Khan fell off his horse whilst hunting, and died of the injury he sustained. Perhaps the most colourful account can be found in later Mongol chronicles. According to these accounts, Genghis Khan’s death is connected to a Western Xia princess who was taken as war booty. One source suggests that the great conqueror was stabbed to death by the princess with a hidden dagger. This truth of this version, which no doubt portrays Genghis Khan as meeting an inglorious death, is doubted, and some have even suggested that it was invented by the Oirats, a rival of the Mongols.