Tumulus

 archaeological site, Medieval / Middle Ages, barrow/tumulus/burial mound

The irregularly-shaped tumulus atop Burkhan Khaldun has been identified by French archaeologist Pierre-Henri Giscard as the burial mound of Chinggis Khan and several of his successors. The archaeological investigation consisted of non-intrusive geological study of the site, which was confirmed as a man made structure and was also discovered to be the focus of an ancestor cult, which is apparently responsible for the restoration of a low oval wall around the tumulus, as well as circular cultic enclosures (ovoos) at its summit and at its base, and of six tamgas on the surface of the mound, two of them identified with those found on the coinage of the Mongol great khans Guyuk and Mongke, both grandsons of Chinggis Khan (whose tamga is unknown, but has been tentatively identified as one of the other four). These restoration works were completed between the two expeditions of Giscard in 2015 and 2016, but geothermal imagery revealed traces of older tamgas on the surface of the tumulus.