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Joint Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads (Berkeley, California
U.S.A.), led by Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball, and Mongolian Institute of Archaeology,
Department of Archaeology (Ulanbaatar, Mongolia), headed by Dr. D. Tseveendorj,
conducted the excavation of the Beiram Kurgan located in Uvs aimag, western
Mongolia. The kurgan, located at near the 9,000 foot altitude in the Altai
Mountains (no.1), is the first excavation conducted in the Mongolia this region.
I first surveyed the excavation in July 1996 (no.2). The mound of stones measuring
approximately 60 x 72 feet was encircled by a ring of stones more than
35 feet beyond the mound; paths of stones placed at the cardinal points connected
the mound and the ring. The kurgan was chosen for excavation because of its
large size, its construction which was similar to Saka kurgans noted in the
Issyk region of southern Kazakhstan (some 60 km from Almaty), and its isolation
at the top of a mountain pass. In April of 1992, we again surveyed the area
and the kurgan (no3) and noted that the oovo (background, both photos) was
now much larger as many more people now passed through the Beiram pass going
to and from Ulangoom and Ulgii.
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