Drone photos of the Great Wall of China/Expedia
A section of the Great Wall of China, which stretches all the way to Mongolia, has been explored these days for the first time and it is revealing to researchers speculative insights into the history and function of this massive structure about which so far little was known.
The ancient wall, which is 405 kilometers long, was nicknamed the "Mongolian Arch" due to its curved shape and is more or less parallel to the border between China and Mongolia.
It stretches from Sukhbaatar Province to Dornod Province in northeastern Mongolia, where winter temperatures sometimes drop to minus 25 degrees Celsius.
"Despite its size and complexity, it is not clear exactly when it was built, who built it and what its purpose was," write the authors of the study published in the Journal of Field Archaeology
. -11 to the 13th century, but the researchers are currently unable to provide a more precise timeline and stated that "the Mongolian arc, despite its size, has been largely ignored in the academic discourse until now".
The study authors combined satellite images, Chinese atlases and Soviet maps along with direct field observations to analyze the wall and its associated structures.
Their most striking finding was that the Mongolian arch contained large holes in it, a kind of many gaps, which indicates that it was built in a hurry and therefore not completely fortified.
"One possible explanation for these holes, which were weak points in the system, is that the Mongol arch was built quickly in the last years of the Jin dynasty as a defense against the expected invasion of the Mongol armies," the researchers write.
Despite the uncertainty regarding the age of the wall, it seems likely that the construction began at the same time as the rapid Mongol invasion of the territory that was under the control of the Jin Kingdom around 1200 AD, thus strengthening the hypothesis that it was built in a certain panic.
However, the authors of the study repeatedly point out that their insights and suggestions are not final and should only be considered as theories.
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An alternative idea put forward by the researchers is that the Mongol bow was never intended to serve a military function at all, but rather was "associated with controlling the movement of people and their herds, perhaps with other civil functions such as taxation".
Evidence supporting this theory stems from the fact that the wall was not such a good barrier to an invading army, with many of its outposts being located in inefficient locations with little visibility of the surrounding landscape.
Overall, the authors of the study cannot currently draw any definitive conclusions about the purpose of the Mongolian Arch, although they plan to conduct more extensive excavations of some of the structures in the coming year.
They hope that this will help them determine "the dates of construction and the duration of use of the wall, and shed light on the activities of the people who were housed in these compounds."
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The 'mysterious' Great Wall of China was not meant to protect against Genghis Khan
These findings reinforce those published four years ago about another mysterious section of the Great Wall of China, known as the "Northern Line", which was then reconstructed for the first time and shed a new light on the structure's role in relation to the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan.
The study suggested the possibility that the wall was not used for protection, but rather for the supervision and control of nomadic tribes that raided China.
While parts of the famous Great Wall of China were designated as defensive fortifications, the purpose of the long and mysterious "Northern Line", which stretches 737 km across the steppes of Mongolia, remained a mystery for centuries. The common explanation was that the wall, built between the 10th and 13th centuries, was intended to protect the Chinese Kitan-Leo Empire from Genghis Khan, the founder of the largest Mongol empire in history.
However, the study, published in the journal Antiquity, refutes this explanation and offers a surprising theory: the "Northern Line" wall was not intended for military purposes at all, but for supervision and control about the movements of nomadic tribes, who made frequent raids on Chinese lands.
An international team of archaeologists mapped the mysterious section for the first time and conducted a detailed review of part of the wall and the buildings around it. The researchers examined 72 buildings along the wall, which are divided into small groups at distances of about 30 km from me
The findings revealed that the buildings are not located in strategic places for protection against invading armies, but near the roads - which indicates their function as a means of controlling the population.
"Our analysis suggests the possibility that the wall was not intended for defense against invading armies or nomadic invasions, but to monitor and control the movements of migrating populations and their herds," said Professor Gideon Shelah-Lavi from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, head of the research team.
The Great Wall of China/GettyImages
Moreover, this section was built before the times of Genghis Khan (907-1125 AD), which sharpens the conclusion that it was intended to expand the control of the Khitan-Liu Empire and not to protect against the brutal invader.
The researchers then noted that their research may also shed new light on other walls in the world that were considered defensive fortifications, and even on modern border walls that divide populations.
"Our research challenges the assumption that they were all military buildings," said Professor Shelah-Lavie.
"It is necessary to examine their structure and context in order to better understand the reasons why they were built."
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