Archaeologists for 4 months kept their discovery in secret, for fear of vandals. November 27 last year in the rocks on the territory of the altan Altanktsgts Bayan-lyghy aimak Mongolian archaeologists discovered a burial supposedly related to the XIII – XVII centuries.
The body was in a carved wooden coffin. Next to the body were a saddle, a stirrup, a stroller, a bow and arrow, a saadag quiver, a wooden bowl, a Mongolian deel from cloth and an escigo ongo-felt ongon. Ongo or ongon is the spirit of the ancestor of the family or clan, its iconic image in the culture of the Mongolian peoples.
Employees of the Institute of Archeology and History of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences investigated the findings and found that their initial assumption about the age of the find turned out to be incorrect. The discovered burial belongs to the XII century.
All the finds-the saddle, the stirrup, the carriage, the bow and arrow, the saadag quiver, the wooden bowl, the Mongolian deel from the cloth and the esggi ongo-are very well preserved. For the first time, a cult image was discovered – Ongo of the ancient Mongols, made of felt.
Parts of the ongons (wolf fangs, deer antlers, bones, feathers of birds, parts of wood, etc.) were used as amulets. Ongon also called the image, the iconographic sign of the spirit, the deity. Ongons are considered the receptacles of the spirits of the dead ancestors. They are made of wood, wool, fur, leather, felt, metal and fabric.
