Ruins of the capital of Mongol Empire mapped for the first time

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The ruins of Karakorum, the 13th-century capital of the Mongol Empire, are still visible on the Earth’s surface today. But scholars have long ignored this physical evidence. Instead, descriptions of the city have relied largely on written accounts by European travelers.

Now, for the first time ever, researchers have drawn on advanced geophysics methods to publish a detailed map of the capital.

Lead author Jan Bemmann, an archaeologist at the University of Bonn, and his team spent 52 days surveying an area of 465 hectares with a SQUID, or superconducting quantum interference device. (The technology measures topography and underground magnetic fields to create a map of unexcavated remains below the surface.)

 

Speaking with the Art Newspaper, Bemmann notes that the new map allows researchers to identify where large brick buildings once stood and where roads once cut through the terrain. The team was also able to locate elite neighborhoods within the city walls.

 

 

 

“The great gain from our project is that we can now view the plan of the abandoned city in enormous detail, both above and below ground,” the archaeologist says.

Source - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-map-capital-of-mongolian-empire-for-the-first-time-180979007/