A group of archaeologists discovered a mysterious monument in eastern Mongolia. Excavations conducted by Professor Takashi Osawa of the University of Osaka lasted three years from 2015 to 2017 and showed the ancient ruins of a complex consisting of a stone sarcophagus in the center of the embankment where a deceased person could be housed surrounded by 14 stone pillars with Turkic runic inscriptions located throughout their area.

A person who may have been buried there and to whom the inscriptions on the surrounding pillars are dedicated, served as the viceroy of the king or Jagba.

Similar inscriptions were previously found only in western Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Takashi Osawa, refers the burial to the time of “Bilgue Haan of the Second Turkic Kaganate” between 716 and 734 years. Haan or Hagan is the title of imperial rank in Mongolian and Turkic languages, equal to the status of the emperor and is the one who rules the Haganate (empire).

Osawa says that the man described in the inscriptions rose to the level of “commander-in-chief in eastern Mongolia during the reign of Tengri Kagan from 734 to 741.

Along with the description of concrete events in the life of this man, immortalized in inscriptions on the columns, the discovery of this monument is interesting and that confirms – the steppe of Dongoin Shiree was the center of the East Turkic Khaganate, whose location was previously unknown.

This monument will reveal the relations of the rulers in the eastern part of the Türkic Kaganate and their territories, as well as their political and military relations with such Mongolian tribes as Khitan, Tatabs and Tatars. In addition, the location of stone pillars on the plateau will also provide important information for discussing religious ideas and the world view of the ancient nomads.