INNER MONGOLIA OR OUTER MONGOLIA?
Well as far as I'm concerned there really is not an Inner Mongolia; this color-coded spot on the map is within the borders of China and the people living there are Chinese. So if you want to visit Mongolia, you are going to "Outer Mongolia," the land of Genghis Khaan.
Who travels to Mongolia? The majority of westerners you will run into are there to extract something from the ground. Mongolia is almost an "untapped" reservoir of natural resources having been mined by the former USSR since the 1920s. Today you will find mining operations owned by the major corporations from around the globe setting up shop in Mongolia. This increased mining activity is one of the reasons I was in Mongolia in the summer of 2011. The urgent need to identify archaeological resources was recognized just recently. The country is a treasure trove of artifacts for archaeologists as well as being a major paleontological location for dinosaur bones.
You travel to Mongolia through Russia or China. I chose to fly to Beijing and tour that city on my way home.
Through the international organization of EarthWatch, I was part of an expedition titled "Archaeology of the Mongolian Steppe. " www.earthwatch.com
Our project was based in the Nature Preserve, Ick Nart, located south and east of Ulaanbaatar, the capital, in the Gobi Desert. From Ulaanbaatar we traveled seven hours by train, then jumped into beat-up Russian vans, and bumped over a dirt track for several hours, to the camp of gers (the Mongolian name for what we refer to as "yurts") our home for the next two weeks.
The prize wildlife creature is the argali, the largest mountain sheep in the world. The argali can be spotted standing tall on the rocky outcroppings, their large extraordinary horns making giant curls back towards their faces. Ikh Nart represents one of the last strongholds for the endangered argali.
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| Argali on a rocky outcropping |
A Day in the Life of a Volunteer "Archaeologist"
In addition to the archaeology team, the camp had a rotating group of biology students in residence. The camp included a local cook and a handyman. Breakfast was served around 8 am every morning, then at 9:00 we would meet to head out to the area we intended to map and survey. Most often we did surface canvasing surveys, walking a grid with a team member every 10 meters, walking 500 meters slowly then turning enmass to walk back -- moving the grid by about 80 meters (depending on how many of us were working the grid) searching the ground for any artifacts lying on the ground.
Because the ground is desert and scrubby, spotting anything unusual on the ground is relatively easy. The interesting thing about the soil in this area, is its percolating characteristic. Lithic (stone) tools such as scrapers and points, were lying on the surface. We found literally hundreds of beautifully shaped lithic tools, made from beautiful stones such as chalcedony, quartzite, obsidian and other colorful stones - created the same way as the stone tools found throughout the Americas.
Earthwatch expeditions are not for the wimpy traveler. We collected our drinking water at the spring, carrying the heavy bladder full of water back to the ger daily. The bladder filtered the spring water and we filled our water bottles from it. We did have a hot shower every day. Large sun shower bags are set out on rocks during the day to heat by the sun. After returning from the hot, dusty field work, a mad dash was made to grab a hot bag of water and one of the two shower stalls. The sun shower bag is lifted onto a pulley system and raised to your preferred height. Water on, water off, soap up, water on, rinse, water off. You then must refill the bag and place it on the rocks to heat up for the next day.
A fun night out to the "tourist resort" at Halsen Hill was planned for a Friday night. The resort was undoubtedly built by the Soviets, and you may be familiar with Soviet architecture. The 1960ish buildings are primarily cinder block with a shower building and one-room "cabins." The resort was built to take advantage of the mineral springs at the base of the hill and Mongolians visit to drink the mineral water. A "disco" attracts locals looking for a night out. Our group of Americans and one Aussie entered the disco to drink some beer and dance. Most of the dancers were young men dancing in a circle, bumping chests. A distinct cultural difference. I made the mistake of accepting a dance with a Mongolian man and was soon hiding from him behind my American friends as he had gotten rather possessive.
One of the local pasttimes is played with sheep's knuckles. Children play a game that resembles building a train and adults play drinking games with sheep's knuckles. There is also a divination set using sheeps knuckles.
Before leaving Mongolia I'd like to address the bad press that Genghis Khaan has received through the ages. History was written by the peoples conquered by the Mongols. As always in wars of conquest, atrocities were carried out by all sides. To the Mongols, Genghis is a national hero and he left behind an organized and well-equipped army, the Mongols' law code, the Ikh Zasag, as well as an integral administrative system. The Mongols educated women and left religious institutions alone in the countries they invaded. Genghis Khaan holds a very high status in Mongolia, he is revered, serving a spiritual role as well as giving national and personal pride.
Mongolia is still an unspoiled part of the world. Westerners were rare in Mongolia for most of the 20th century. Mongolia was a "kept" nation, much like Cuba, by the USSR. When the USSR collapsed Mongolia was left to figure out what kind of country it wanted to be. After struggling since about 1991 between communism and democracy, Mongolia is now considered a democratic country.
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| Camp baby argali |
A fun night out to the "tourist resort" at Halsen Hill was planned for a Friday night. The resort was undoubtedly built by the Soviets, and you may be familiar with Soviet architecture. The 1960ish buildings are primarily cinder block with a shower building and one-room "cabins." The resort was built to take advantage of the mineral springs at the base of the hill and Mongolians visit to drink the mineral water. A "disco" attracts locals looking for a night out. Our group of Americans and one Aussie entered the disco to drink some beer and dance. Most of the dancers were young men dancing in a circle, bumping chests. A distinct cultural difference. I made the mistake of accepting a dance with a Mongolian man and was soon hiding from him behind my American friends as he had gotten rather possessive.
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| Visit to a local family's ger, playing with sheep's knuckles |
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Our cook and driver playing the drinking game with sheep's knuckles |
Mongolia is still an unspoiled part of the world. Westerners were rare in Mongolia for most of the 20th century. Mongolia was a "kept" nation, much like Cuba, by the USSR. When the USSR collapsed Mongolia was left to figure out what kind of country it wanted to be. After struggling since about 1991 between communism and democracy, Mongolia is now considered a democratic country.
