Ulaanbaatar
Mongolian, Chinese archeologists' co-discovery among top in 2019
Society
Ulaanbaatar
/MONTSAME/ A rare pair of silver dragons discovered in Mongolia by local and
Chinese scientists has been added to a prestigious list of archeological discoveries.
The silver
dragons were found for the first time not only in Mongolia, but also Asia, said
Diimaajav Erdenebaatar, head of the Department of Archeology at the Ulaanbaatar
State University, in a recent interview with Xinhua.
"I am
very happy and satisfied that our first collaboration was so effective,"
Eerdenebaatar said of his department's cooperation with Chinese archeologists.
The silver
dragons excavated in two lavish tombs jointly by Mongolian and Chinese
archeologists have been recently included in the list of top 10 archeological
discoveries by the Archaeological Institute of America's Archeology magazine,
Erdenebaatar said.
"The
two silver dragons, each 8 cm in length and with a gesture looking back to its
vertical tail, is a great achievement of a three-year joint excavation in
Undur-Ulaan soum of the central-west Mongolian province of Arkhangai co-carried
by archeologists from our university and China's Henan province," he said.
"This
was the first time that our university's archaeologists collaborated with the
Chinese side," said the co-head of the joint Mongolia-China archeological
team.
After three
years' hard work, the China-Mongolia team this summer finished the excavation
of two tombs, both of which are Xiongnu noble burials, Erdenebaatar said,
adding that details of the dragons' horns, eyes, teeth and feathers were
exquisitely carved.
Nobles of
that time probably believed dragons were majestic symbols, according to the
Mongolian expert.
"But we
are now working to determine exactly whether the two gilded silver dragons were
decorative items or otherwise," Erdenebaatar said.
In addition,
a number of bronze objects, such as pots and wares, were unearthed from the two
tombs.
Many of
these bronze objects were broken, and the Chinese archeologists will soon
return to Mongolia to restore them, he said.
The
archeologists of the two countries also found a number of cultural items
believed to date back to the Han Dynasty, Erdenebaatar said.
"It
shows that our two peoples have been in a relationship for several thousand
years," he added.
Erdenebaatar
expressed his willingness to further cooperate with Chinese archeologists in
the future.
The
Archaeology magazine is a bimonthly publication of the Archaeological Institute
of America. As a world-famous archaeological magazine, it began publishing its
annual Top 10 Discoveries in 2006.
Source: Xinhua
