Улаанбаатар
Clay vases discovered from Xiongnu nobles’ burials
Art & Culture
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The ‘Xiongnu: New Archeological Discoveries’ special exhibition is currently running at the Hall of Ancient History of the National Museum of Mongolia.
The exhibition puts the spotlight on various archeological artifacts that were discovered from tombs and burials of Xiongnu nobles from 2000 years ago.
This time, the Institute of Archeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences is highlighting a cooking pot and a clay vase of the Xiongnu times. During archeological excavations, it is common to discover various cooking pots or clay vases at burial sites, which suggests that it was an already-established custom to place offerings for those who passed.
Xiongnu clay vases are generally divided into two groups: large vases that have an opening as wide as the diameter of its main body, and spherical-shaped vases that have a small opening and a narrow neck.
As the large vases are often discovered covered in ashes, it is considered that the particular type of vases were used as cooking pots or storing dry goods, while the spherical-shaped vases were used to store drinks.
The ‘Xiongnu: New Archeological Discoveries’ special exhibition will run at the National Museum of Mongolia.
