Paradise Lost Gold Coins from the Underworld

Abstract

In 2011, the Mongolian and Kazakhstan joint expedition, dates approximately to the seventh century (A.D. 650–670), excavated a tomb of Shoroon Bumbagar, decorated with a wall painting, in Bayannuur sum of Bulgan province. The structure of the Shoroon Bumbagar tomb, murals and burial objects clearly exhibit tastes of nomads who resided along the Silk Roads and the Steppe Route. Comparing to funerary art traditions in East Asia such as Chinese and Koguryo mural tombs, it represents nomadic culture as well as the broad interactions from Byzantine Empire to China. With wall paintings and burial objects, this newly excavated mural tomb in Mongolia reveals significant information about the cultural exchanges between nomads and settled people along the Silk Roads. The burial objects excavated from the tomb include male and female figurines, either standing or riding on a horse, two tomb guardian figures, two tomb guardian animal figures, animal figurines, gold and bronze objects, fragments of a golden floral crown ornament, and Byzantine coins of the Emperor Heraclius, dated around the 630s. It is certain that the remarkable new findings from the tomb would bring a new perspective in the study of the history of tombs and demonstrates cultural exchanges and transmissions of the funerary arts of Asia along the Silk Roads.