Xar Buxyn Balgas

This ancient fortified city ruin is located on the bank of the Xar Bux River, in Dashinchilen sum of Bulgan aimag (N 45°52.249, E 103°53.051; elevation 1015 metres). The ruin in fact contains two distinct historical strata.

This town was established and inhabited by soldiers at the time of the Xitan Liao state – which existed in north-eastern Asia from the 10th to the beginning of the 12th centuries. Xar Bux Balgas has a square layout, whose surrounding earthen wall measures 660 x 660 x 670 x 660 metres, being slightly longer along its southern end. This earthen wall has a thickness of 25-30 metres at its base and 3-4 metres at its top surface, and was surrounded by a moat with stone wall. The earthen wall had a gate on each of its sides, each of which was surrounded by a square protective earthen wall. The protective walls surrounding the gates measure 25 x 25 metres.

There are also traces of two large streets, connecting the four gates. On each of the four sides of the town there were many tall watchtowers. There are traces of many former buildings within the ruin. In addition, there are the traces of a smaller settlement to the north of the fortified area, surrounded by a low earthen wall. There are many indications that Xitan soldiers lived both within the town and in its surrounding area, constructed buildings and planted grains and vegetables – including canals and ditches, millstones, pestles, and fragments of stone vessels.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the Mongols occupied this town and constructed a significant number of new stone buildings, which appear to have served as temples or churches. Based on the size and area of these buildings, it would appear that they likely accommodated a large number of lamas, and could be considered among the largest temples in Mongolia at that time.

Xar Bux Balgas was first discovered in the 1870s by Russian scholar A. Paderin,1 and has subsequently been visited by many archaeologists.2 Excavations of one stupa at the site, conducted in 1970 under the direction of X. Perlee, led to the important discovery of a collection of birchbark manuscripts. Excavations of one section of a stone building in the centre of the ruin were also conducted in 2002-2003, under the leadership of A.Ochir, uncovering further birchbark manuscript fragments, terra-cotta and brass icons, copper cups, clay tsats (stupa-shaped ritual objects), iron locks, pottery fragments, a bell and other artifacts, the majority of which can be dated to the 15th to 17th centuries. 3

Notes

1. А. Падерин. "О Каракоруме и других развалинах близ Орхона”. Известия Русского Географического Общества. T. I. Вып. 10. СПб.: 1873. [A. Paderin. “Concerning Karakorum and other ruins near the Orkhon". Bulletin of the Russian Geographical Office. Vol. I, f. 10. Saint-Petersburg: 1873.]
2. Сборник трудов Орхонской экспедиции. Санкт-Петербург: 1892 (T. I). [Report of the activities of the Orkhon Expedition. Saint-Petersburg: 1892 (vol. I).] // Ядринцев Н.М. “Предварительные отчет о поезпке с археологической и этнографической целью в Северную Монголию и Вершины Орхона. ИВСОРГО. Т. ХХ. No.4. // Klements 1895. Х. Пэрлээ. Монгол Ард Улсын эрт, дундад үеийн хот, суурины товчоо. УБ: 1961. [X. Perlee. Overview of towns and settlements in the Mongolian People’s Republic from the ancient and middle ages. Ulaanbaatar: 1961.] // Perlee 1974.
3. А. Очир, А. Энхтөр, Л. Эрдэнэболд. Хар бух балгас ба Туул голын сав дахь Хятаны хот, суурингууд. УБ: 2005. [A. Ochir, A. Enkhto'r, L. Erdenebold. Khar Bukh Balgas and the Kitan-era towns and settlements of the Tuul river watershed. Ulaanbaatar: 2005.]

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