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Karakorum
(Mongolian: Хархорин [Xarxorin])
Situated in O'vo'rxangai aimag, Xarxorin sum. Part of the Orxon Valley Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site. The Karakorum ruins are located on the west bank of the Orxon River, approximately 360 km west of Ulaanbaatar.
History of Karakorum
Karakorum was founded by Chingis Xaan in 1220 to serve as the capital of the Mongol Empire, its construction being completed in 1235 during the reign of his successor O'gedei Xaan. In its prime Karakorum served not only as the administrative centre of the Mongolian Empire, but also as a major trade and cultural link between East and West. The city declined in importance following the establishment of a new Mongolian capital in Beijing by Xubilai Xaan in 1271, coinciding with the founding of the Yuan dynasty; yet during Xubilai's reign Temu'r (who bore the title O'lziit Xaan) occupied Karakorum as a military commander and minister. A century later Karakorum was substantially destroyed by Min dynasty soldiers, who invaded sometime in 1379 or 1380. Excavations of the city ruins have indicated that the royal palace was likely burned down at the time of the Min invasion, but it is not clear how completely the city was demolished. Although there is no mention of Karakorum in known historical records of the following 87 years, it is quite possible that the city was never fully abandoned; in any event, Batmo'nx Xaan returned the Mongolian seat of government to Karakorum in 1467 [1]. Evidently retaining its political significance, the city was taken by the Oirads and subsequently retaken by Altan Xan of the Tu'med in 1552. Forty years later Abtai Sain Xan erected his palace-yurt on the site of Karakorum, next to which, in 1586, he had Erdene Zuu Monastery constructed, using as construction materials stones recovered from the ruined buildings of the former imperial capital. Thereafter the importance of the site was primarily as a religious centre, although a military base was also established nearby in the early 18th century. Today very little remains of the former grand city, other than heaps of gravel indicating the outlines of former buildings and streets, and four granite turtles marking the corners of the ruin.
Karakorum in the 13th century was home to more than ten thousand people, including royalty, noblemen, ministers, military leaders, craftsmen, traders, clergy, and foreign guests, in addition to nomads inhabiting compounds of gers. The remarkable size and diversity of the city’s population is reflected by the fact that there were, according to the count of William de Rubruck, "twelve idol temples of different nations, two mahummeries [mosques] in which is cried the law of Machomet, and one church of Christians in the extreme end of the city". In addition to possessing significant resident populations of Chinese, Alans, Ruthenians, Georgians, Hermenians and other non-Mongol peoples, Karakorum was also host to a stream of foreign emissaries and traders, receiving official delegations from as far away as India, Arabia, Armenia and Rome, as well as merchants from China, Persia, and other countries along the Silk Route.
Description of the City and its Ruins
The city was surrounded by a double earthen wall, which measured between one and two metres in height, and extended for 1450 metres from north to south, 1130 metres along its northern perimeter, and 600 metres along its southern end. Located at each of the four city gates was a market for a specific type of goods, principally servicing the nomadic population of the surrounding region – horses at the north gate, grain at the east gate, oxen and carts at the south gate, and sheep and goats at the west gate. Topographical maps of the Karakorum ruins demonstrate that the city was laid out with streets running north-south and east-west from the city centre, with a greater concentration of settlement towards the eastern gate. The buildings inside the city walls were grouped into two main districts, consisting of a Muslim commercial district surrounding the Xaan’s palace at the south-western corner of the city, and a second district occupied by Chinese artisans. The distribution throughout the ruin of pottery fragments dating from different periods indicates a gradual and increasingly disorderly expansion of the city, beginning in the area of the Xaan’s palace. A large pit used for mixing plaster used in building construction was also discovered. According to Kiselev, most brick and clay-walled buildings at Karakorum were covered with clay mixed with chalk [2].
The most magnificent feature of Karakorum was undoubtedly the Xaan’s palace, known as Tu'men Amgalan ("Ten Thousand [Infinite] Tranquillity") in Mongolian, or as Wan-An in Chinese. This palace was used primarily for the purpose of holding royal celebrations, the Xaan himself living in other quarters for most of the year; William of Rubruck observed that major feasts were held here twice annually, in spring and in summer, the latter feast being attended by all nobles from near and from afar. The main palace building was square in form, measuring 250 metres on each side (said to be equivalent to the distance of an arrow’s flight), and was laid out with its main entrance facing south, having an elevated platform for the Xaan at the north. The centre of this palace was occupied by the famous "silver tree" fountain (see below), while guests would sit on either side of two rows of pillars, the men to the west and the women to the east. The Xaan, seated alongside one of his women, would meanwhile be attended by a cup-bearer positioned in front of his platform.
In the court in front of this palace there appears to have been a garden irrigated by means of small canals, and four smaller buildings were situated at the south-western, south-eastern and north-eastern corners of the palace. A 23-metre road paved with granite slabs led up to the palace, which was entered by way of a staircase measuring two metres in height. The gates in the wall surrounding the palace complex incorporated decorative arches, the canopies of which were covered with green ceramic tiles and were ornamented with the figures of various animals. The palace buildings were constructed using bricks of various sizes and shapes, with floors of green ceramic tiles and roofs of green and red tiles. All buildings were decorated with various sculptures, painted figures, and carvings.
Excavations in the early 1980s revealed six marble stones presumed to be the supports for the front wall of O'gedei Xaan's palace [3]. The front section of the palace appears to have had wooden support pillars and a roof with green decorated, enamelled tiles, and a brick floor [4]. Objects excavated from the ruins of O'gedei Xaan's palace include building ornaments, pottery fragments, cast-iron cart axle [bearings] and shafts, and pottery and ceramics [5].
Historical Descriptions
Artist's rendition of the silver tree at Karakorum, as described by William of Rubruck
A number of historical documents make mention of one of the architectural wonders of Karakorum–the famous "silver tree" fountain designed by French artisan Guillaume Boucher for the Great Xaan, and located within the court of his royal palace. In the words of William of Rubruck:
At the entrance to this palace, seeing it would have been unseemly to put skins of milk and other drinks there, Master William of Paris has made for him a large silver tree, at the foot of which are four silver lions each having a pipe and all belching forth white mares” milk. Inside the trunk four pipes lead up to the top of the tree and the ends of the pipes are bent downwards and over each of them is a gilded serpent, the tail of which twines round the trunk of the tree. One of these pipes pours out wine, another caracosmos [ airag ], that is the refined milk of mares, another boal, which is a honey drink, and another rice mead, which is called terracina. Each of these has its silver basin ready to receive it at the foot of the tree between the other four pipes. At the very top he fashioned an angel holding a trumpet; underneath the tree he made a crypt in which a man can be secreted, and a pipe goes up to the angel through the middle of the heart of the tree. At first he had made bellows but they did not give enough wind. Outside the palace there is a chamber in which the drinks are stored, and servants stand there ready to pour them out when they hear the angel sounding the trumpet. The tree has branches, leaves and fruit of silver. And so when the drinks are getting low the chief butler calls out to the angel to sound his trumpet. Then, hearing this, the man who is hidden in the crypt blows the pipe going up to the angel with all his strength, and the angel, placing the trumpet to his mouth, sounds it very loudly. When the servants in the chamber hear this each one of them pours out his drink into its proper pipe, and the pipes pour them out from above and below into the basins prepared for this, and then the cup-bearers draw the drinks and carry them round the palace to the men and women.
The palaces of the Xaan’s relatives, princes, nobles and military leaders were built in the vicinity of the Tu'men Amgalan palace. In the yard to the rear of the main Palace there is a small building thought to have been O'gedei’s recreation palace. Outside the northern wall there is a collection of tumuli, with square bases measuring 20 metres on a side and rounded upper parts. The presence of tiles and roof-tiles scattered throughout the areas suggests that each tumulus was formerly enclosed within a building. Recent excavations of O'gedei Xaan's Tu'men Amgalan Palace led to the discovery of four round ovens used for the baking of roof-tiles, bricks and ornamental construction materials, an extremely rare and valuable discovery contributing to the study of Central Asian cities. Excavations in the vicinity of the artisans’ district showed the existence of many layers of artefacts, demonstrating that the location served as a production site for many centuries, as well as traces of heating channels which run under the floors of the houses, a cobbled street, traces of an iron smithy and site of casting of precious metals, some products made at those sites, a great number of coins, the seal of the Minister of Finance of 1372, and various other objects.
Approximately 350 metres to the north of the walled city, there is a 50x50 metre earthen mound. It has been surmised that this may be the ruin of the Xian-yuan temple, a grand five-story temple constructed by Mo'nx Xaan in 1256, which is recorded as having measured 300 chi (approximately 95 metres) in height and having been surrounded by lamas’ houses [6].
Archaeological Artefacts from the Ruins
Although archaeological investigations of the Karakorum ruins have been carried out periodically since the 1890s, the vast majority of the site has remained unexplored. Nevertheless, great quantities of artefacts have been unearthed, including tile fragments, bricks, iron weapons, pottery and farming tools. Among the more common artefacts are pottery and porcelain originating from centres of production throughout China, and copper coins. Of particular interest is a pharaoh's mask, presumably offered for sale or as a gift to the Xaan by a foreign visitor, testifying to the far-reaching international connections of Karakorum as capital of the Mongol Empire.
Study of Karakorum by Scholars
The ruins of Karakorum were first studied by the Russian scholars Yadrintsev, Pozdneyev, Radlov and Kotvich, as well as by the Austrian scholar Leder [7]. These early studies confirmed that the ruins located to the north of the great Xalx Buddhist Erdene Zuu Monastery were indeed those of Karakorum, and led to the production of the first maps of the ruins, as well as identifying a number of stone relics located within the walls of Erdene Zuu Monastery as connected with the history of the ancient Mongolian capital. The first archaeological excavations conducted at Karakorum were performed by the Russian scholar Bukinich, employed by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, who produced a more detailed map of the ruins, and excavated more than 100 trenches, from which a great number of artefacts were collected. Yet the presence among the unearthed artefacts of a great number of objects related to the period of the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia, i.e., the time of the existence of Erdene Zuu monastery, led Bukinich to the false conclusion that the ruins were unrelated to the period of the Mongolian Empire, but were instead the remnants of a more recent religious site.
The 1948-1949 Mongolian-Soviet expedition led by Kiselev and Perlee performed excavations over a wide area, studied and defined the discovered artefacts in fine detail, comparing them to documentary sources from the period in which Karakorum existed, thus producing the most active and comprehensive study of the ancient Mongolian capital from that time [8]. The archaeological team excavated the ruins of the "Tu'men Amgalan" palace established by O'gedei Xaan, the commercial and artisanal district located in the centre of the city, and the western city gate, as well as excavating a cross-section of a north part of the earthen wall surrounding the city. The research demonstrated that the archaeological stratum showing the intense growth of an urban lifestyle in the ancient Mongolian capital was extremely deep, and found a great quantity of artefacts attesting to the considerable development of metal and pottery production. This study made a valuable contribution to the study of Mongolian history by enriching its stock of physical evidence, and was an important preparatory phase in the writing of the one-volume official History of Mongolia published at that time [9].
Between 1976 and 1986 a team of archaeologists, directed by N. Ser-Odzhav of the Historical Institute of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, completed an independent map of the ruins and studied graves and funerary monuments from a variety of locations within the city, among which they discovered a significant muslim graveyard outside the city walls, to the northwest [10]. This discovery was not only important to the explanation of the ethnic composition of the population of the former city of Karakorum, their customs, religion and lifestyle, but also served to verify the documentary evidence left by foreign emissaries to Karakorum in the 13th century.
A Mongolian-Japanese project organized by UNESCO produced a revised topographical map of the ruins and constructed a protective fence around the site in 1995-1997 [11].
Since 1999 a joint Mongolian-German team of archaeologists has been conducting work at the ruins, under the auspices of the Presidents of Mongolia and the Federative Republic of Germany. This team has made use of the most up-to-date technologies to produce topographic measurements and geomagnetic probes, as well as dating artefacts, in addition to applying a new method of cross-section excavation.
Notes
[1] Moreover Bilegt Xaan (Ayushridar) returned to Karakorum and reigned there fore nine years (27: 227)
[2] С. В. Киселев. "Строительный материал Кара-Корума." Древнемонгольские города. М. 1965, стр. 318.
[3] Н. Сэр-Оджав. 1981-82 онд явуулсан Хар Хорумын экспедицийн тайлан. Хар-Хорум, Хар Хул Хааны балгасыг малтсан тайлан. Шинжлэх Ухааны Академи, Түүхийн Хүрээлэн, Археологи-Этнографийн тасаг. УБ, 1983.
[4] Н. Сэр-Оджав. Хар-Хорум хотыг малтан шинжлэх хээрийн шинжилгээний ангийн 1984 оны тайлан.
[5] Н. Сэр-Оджав. Хар-Хорум хотыг малтан шинжлэх хээрийн шинжилгээний ангийн 1985 оны тайлан.
[6] Yuanchao shi, 192-193
[7] А. М. Позднеев, Города северной Монголии, Спб, 1880.
[8] Х. Пэрлээ. Монгол ард улсын эрт дундад үеийн хот суурингийн товчоон. УБ, 1961.
[9] С. М. Киселев, Древние Монгольские города, М., 1966.
[10] Н. Сэр-Оджав, Д Баяр, 1979-1980 оны Хар Хорумын шинжилгээний ангийн тайлан, ТХГБС. Д. Түмэн, Палеоантропологический материал молнгольского времени из Хар Хорина. Археологийн судлал, T. XI, f.8, 1986, 85-89.
[11] The Ancient City of Kharakhorum, UNESCO, 1997.