Mongolian Archaeology

Project Title

Mongolian Archaeology

Full-time researcher

SHIRAISHI Noriyuki　 Professor/Faculty of Humanities

Overview

Our research theme is the elucidation of the history of the nomadic dynasty established in the Mongolian Plateau. The nomadic dynasty of Mongolia had a significant influence on world history. For example, the westward movement of the Huns is believed to be a cause of the great migration of the Germanic people. The Mongolian Empire is also said to have started globalization by connecting the East and the Western through a transportation network.

Nevertheless, the mechanism of the rise and fall of this empire is not well understood. This is due to the dearth of written resources. Therefore, our research is focusing on material resources. For example, archaeologists intend to reconstruct the society and culture of that period from existing ruins, while biochemists are focusing their attention on the circumstances of human migration from genomic analysis of human bones and climatologists hope to recreate paleoclimate from soil and sediments. The collaboration of humanities and sciences is a notable characteristic of our project.

Despite the hostile environment of the Mongolian Plateau, where there are stark differences in temperature and the air is extremely dry, it was the birthplace of many powerful dynasties. This place may also offer insights for helping people with few resources who are suffering from the adverse effects of global warming. Likewise, the system that ruled people of various ethnicities with different religious beliefs may offer insights for resolving conflicts. Therefore, in our research, we are searching for “new insights from ancient wisdom” that focuses on the sustainable development of society from the past to the present and the future.

This project was supported by Grants-in-aid for Science Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Project Members

Name

Institution

Area of Specialization

Notes

SHIRAISHI Noriyuki

Niigata University

Mongolian archaeology

Leader

BATMUNKH Tsogtbaatar

Mongolian Academy of Sciences

Mongolian archaeology

International cooperator

MIYAKE Toshihiko

Shukutoku University

Numismatics　Archaeology

KAKEN (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research) member

SHINODA Masato

Nagoya University

Arid climatology

KAKEN (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research) member

SUZUKI Kosetsu

Kobe Women’s University

North Asian history

KAKEN (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research) member

GAKUHARI Takashi

Kanazawa University

DNA science

KAKEN (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research) member

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