The Chinggisid Crisis (1330–1370) and Its Archaeological Evidence on the Mongolian Plateau

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

What does the term crisis mean and what are archaeological indicators of a crisis in general? How can archaeology contribute to the ongoing debate about the Chinggissid crises (1330-1370)? The term crisis defies a precise definition and is often used as synonym for collapse, decline, disaster, dissolution, and fragility. In this analysis it is used as an umbrella term for serious threats to social order, be they natural or human.

Archaeological sources can certify armed conflicts, economic decline, legitimacy, disease, natural disasters/climate change. The two fields of armed conflicts and legitimacy are dealt with in more detail. A prime source is the longstanding and multifaceted research on the capital Karakorum. We see hastily abandoned rooms, burnt down landmark buildings and a mass grave. The last Khan of the Yuan dynasty Toghun Temür (1320-1370) refurbished the huge pagoda of the Buddhist monastery in Karakorum and erected a monumental inscription stele on the back of a turtle in front of the monastery. Toghun Temür tried to tap the good fortune of Karakorum and the Orkhon Valley to enrich his legitimacy.

But all the individual observations taken together cannot be solidified into a single event or woven into a story of decline.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51810