Where is the Tomb of Genghis Khan?

Genghis Khan was one of the most powerful men to ever live. Born to rule in the middle of the 12th century, he would rise to unite the warring tribes of the Mongolian steppe and become the first khan of his Mongol Empire.

Sweeping across Asia and eastern Europe with awesome destruction, in officially adopted the title Genghis Khan in 1206. Reorganizing his kingdom into something of a meritocracy where many of the old tribal loyalties were replaced, in the two decades that followed he carved out an empire the likes of which had not been seen since the time of Alexander the Great.

Surrounded by powerful and organized foes, these years of campaigns into what is now China and as far west as Europe saw the great Khan relentlessly build his world. Believing himself divinely blessed, out of the bloodshed and ruin he created something of a multi-ethnic state.

But his luck could not last for ever. In 1227 and now in his sixties, the Khan had been embroiled for years fighting mighty China. Now he faced the Xia capital of Zhongxing.

There was no great end for Genghis Khan. Details of his life are hard to come by and even harder to verify (an entire decade of his life is missing following a decisive defeat of his forces in 1187) but it seems the great Khan fell from his horse while hunting while the city was under siege. He would never recover.

He died in August 1227, his death kept a closely-guarded secret from the Xia defenders of Zhongxing lest it offer them hope. The city itself would indeed fall a month later, its guard and population ruthlessly put to the sword.

There are, of course, many differing stories about the death of Genghis Khan. Rashid al-Din, the Persian statesman and doctor writing a century later, noted that the Khan suffered from an illness, which may have killed him. Marco Polo said Genghis Khan was killed by an arrow in the siege, but then Marco Polo made up a lot of things. Others even said he was struck by lightning.

Whatever the cause, many believe that Genghis Khan was the most powerful man alie when he died. His funeral has been recorded as one of the grandest ever, the Khan put to rest surrounded by countless treasures.

And nobody knows where.

A Resting Place for Eternity

It is perhaps not surprising that we do not know where the great Khan is buried, given the enormous periods of silence in his earlier history. It does become surprising however when we consider what little we do know about his funeral.

The body of Genghis Khan was taken back to his homelands of Mongolia to the far north, then as now a vast and empty land. He had chosen the site for his tomb many years earlier: it was to be sited close to the sacred peak of Burkhan Khaldun. This was where the Khan had been born, and this is where he would rest for eternity.

The funeral itself including all the arrangements for interring the body was considered a great secret. The ceremony, details of the tomb itself and the treasures buried with him were considered “ikh khorig”: a great taboo not to be spoken of.

We do know the general area of the tomb though, because the honor guard of Genghis Khan guarded these lands from interlopers. These fierce warriors, drawn from the Uriankhai who lived in the forests of the region, would not tolerate any visitors at all who trespassed near the site.

And, frankly, that is all we really know about the place. Rumors abound from this point, but many of them are drawn from logical deduction as much as facts.

It is said that those who bult the tomb, and those who laid the great Khan to rest, were killed to prevent the location of his burial ever being found. This would certainly explain why his grave has remained undiscovered for all these centuries, but it is such a lurid story that it perhaps stretches imagination.

It is also said that a river may have been diverted over the site of the tomb, and this would certainly also explain why it has never been found. However one can sense the frustrations of tomb robbers and archaeologists alike creeping in at the edges of this story: a tomb so well and so deliberately hidden would save their blushes and explain why they could not find it.

There is no surviving evidence that has ever been found of a river in the region deliberately being diverted in this way. The truth is more likely to be found when the geography of the place is considered: inaccessible, vast, uninhabited. One could lose something much larger than the tomb of a Khan in such a place.

Such stories should also be considered through the lens of those who wished to safeguard the gravesite. It would suit them very well to build the tomb’s reputation as something permanently beyond reach, made inaccessible through design and worthy of Genghis Khan.

This has not however stopped archaeologists from searching for his legendary lost tomb from that day to this. With so few details and so much rumor however it is very difficult for anyone to pick their way to the truth at the heart of the stories, notwithstanding the 800 years which have passed since the funeral.

Will the tomb of Genghis Khan ever be found? Given enough time and resources this is not impossible, and certainly there have been wild advances in archaeology in the past few decades which now offer the greatest chance of finding it. 

But for all the modern tools, all the ground penetrating radar and computer analysis and ever more sophisticated understanding of archaeological interpretations, it has still not been found. There are many other lost treasures out there, but the tomb of Genghis Khan must rank in the first order.

Will it ever be found? Only time will tell.

Top Image: Monument to Genghis Khan in Ulaanbaator, but the true resting place of the great warlord remains a mystery (Berbard Gagnon / Public Domain)