Interesting information about the shaft system in the now Trans-Baikal Territory. As usual, few people know about these structures, even the historians themselves. But many saw (for example, who served in those parts).
Official information:
Genghis Khan's rampart (system of ramparts) is a wide earthen rampart with a ditch, stretching from Mongolia to the Argun region along the Zabaikalsk - Abagatui - Kailastui line. Rumor has it that the origin of this shaft, like many other phenomenal phenomena, was associated with the name of Genghis Khan. The shaft under this name is marked on modern maps of Mongolia, Chita region. G. Miller (18th century) wrote that the Tungus and Mongols called the ancient fortifications along the Argun, in the regions of Tsurukhayt-Abagait, Kerim, that is, from the Mongolian "herem", which means a fortress (in this case a fortress wall), a rampart, a belt, fortification (literally herem - belt, belt. There is still no clarity in history about the origin and age of the ramparts. No one can confidently date them to the era of Genghis Khan, they could have been built both earlier and later than his reign.
There are very few photos.
In fact, it is a unique historical monument, measured in time in millennia and thousands of kilometers in space and stretching from the Sea of Japan across Manchuria to Afghanistan. The unconditional artificial origin of embankments has been proven, having a profile of a flattened trapezoid with a base of 5 to 8 meters, a width of the upper part - 1.5-2 meters and a height of 0.9-1 meters. On both sides of the shaft there are recesses, from which the soil was removed for it. On the southern side of the rampart, every 40 kilometers, there are square platforms, surrounded by a higher one and a half meter - rampart, and at the corners there are more than 2 meters high rises. There is a passage in the south wall of each of these squares.
Mongolian legends, as well as the most widespread scientific hypothesis, link their origin with the activities of Genghis Khan. It is assumed that these are the remains of an impregnable wall, built at the end of his reign, that is, at the beginning of the XIII century, to protect the Mongol state he created. In a word, something like an analogue of the Great Wall of China.
Promotional video:
According to another hypothesis, this structure is somewhat later and was erected by one of the descendants of Genghis Khan not as a border wall, but as a barrier for wild animals that migrated from Mongolia to the south. Radiocarbon studies have shown that in its western section the rampart was built in the 9th century, and on the east - in the 6th century and, therefore, has nothing to do with Genghis Khan. The purpose of the embankments is still unclear. The authors believe that the rulers of Ancient Mongolia set out to create a defensive line for their country for centuries. The work was carried out by large detachments, and each of them was assigned a section of 40 kilometers. And the detachments were located in camps surrounded by a wall with watchtowers in the corners.
The Northern Val of Chinggis Khan begins 30 km south of the mouth of the Shusyn-gol River, which flows into the Onon-Gol River on the right, at a point 48º 27 'north latitude, 111º 30' east longitude from Greenwich. For 375 kilometers, it passes through the territory of the Mongolian Republic at a distance of 100-175 km from the border with the Russian Federation, while crossing the Solovievsk (RF) - Choibalsan (Mongolia) railway to the south of the station called Val Chinggis Khan. Then, 50 km south of the famous border pillar at the junction of the borders of the Russian Federation, Mongolia and China, it crosses the state border of the Mongolian Republic with the People's Republic of China, passes 70 km through the territory of Inner Mongolia (PRC). Directly at border point No. 60, Tovuytologoy {50}, located on the Val,it enters Russia and after 6 km crosses the Chita (RF) - Harbin (PRC) railway near the Zabaikalsk station. For 75 km along the converging directions with the Argunya river it goes to its left bank near the Kailastui settlement.
Then, on the opposite bank of the Argun (in the PRC), the swell is traced eastward for about 45 km and ends near the settlement of Botokovan off the coast of the Argun (49º 58 'north latitude, 119º 07' east longitude). In the book by VA Anuchin "Geographical Sketches of Manchuria", published in Moscow in 1948, there is a diagram of the Three Rivers (the region of the Khaul, Derbul, Gan rivers flowing into the Argun River below the Hailar River. Not to be confused with the modern Chinese concept of "Three Rivers" in relation to the territory of Fuyuan County, bounded by the Amur Rivers and the Songhua (Songhuajiang) and Ussuri (Usulijiang) flowing into it. In this diagram, along the left bank of the Gan River, from the mouth upstream about 45 kilometers, a separate conventional sign shows the section of Chinggis Khan's Val.
It is possible that this could also be a dam, which protected the field from flooding during flooding of the river.
The Southern Val of Chinggis Khan begins in the Mongolian People's Republic (42º 20 'north latitude, 102º 30' east longitude) in a desert area near the southern border of the Mongolian People's Republic with the PRC, 10 km northeast of the top of Mount Alag-Ula (1338 m above sea level) and 75 km east of the closed-drain Saga-Nur Lake, located in the PRC (Inner Mongolia). Through the territory of the Mongolian Republic, 225 km passes along a small arc before crossing the border of the PRC. Here the traces of Val are poorly read, as the desert has been doing its job for centuries, gradually covering Val with sand. Then the Vala line crosses the border and, walking along Inner Mongolia, moves away from the border to the south and southeast by 75-250 km, and in the final, eastern section, 425 km long, runs mainly parallel to the Russian border at a distance of 325-370 km from it. Visible traces of Val disappear near the right bank of the Nonni (Nunjiang) River, in its middle reaches.
"Genghis Khan's Val" is not the only structure, there are also so-called "towns" - fortresses, the official version is Khitan fortifications. There was once in the Middle Ages such an empire of Liao, the first state to which China was forced to submit.
The scope of the fortifications stretching for 700 km is impressive, but it would be no less interesting to know what kind of terrible and warlike people lived in Transbaikalia, from which the mighty Khitan had to defend themselves so hard.
Link to the map
To the west of this structure, the Genghis Khan Val is
visible. Tracking the path, I measured that only this shaft branch is more than 90 km long
In the south, this section joins with such a double shaft:
Link to the map.
In places the shafts diverge and converge again. However, like modern road embankments with two-way traffic
Here the ramparts cross the river. Link to the map.
And rests against the Argun river:
If you lead this section of the rampart to the west, then it abuts against the city of Zabaikalsk.
Around Zabaikalsk (to and from it) there are such canals (in some places they are interspersed). Whether they are modern or more ancient is not clear.
Modern railway near Zabaikalsk.
We look beyond the fortresses and circular ramparts:
Small fortress-star. And immediately the question: did the Khitan have known principles of construction according to Vauban, according to whose drawings they built all of Europe with these stars? Or is there something we don't know?
Link to the map.
The huge scale of excavation works is visible. Who could accomplish this in this semi-desert region? Residents of Tartary? Kidane (TI)? And the purpose of these shafts remains a mystery. But the version with transport embankments is gaining more and more ground beneath it.
In my opinion, the information raises even more questions than to the Zmievs or the Zavolzhskaya wall. One of them:
- who exactly built these colossal ramparts?
- when and for what purpose?
- the number of residents of the territory who performed these works should be much larger than the data from the TI;
- why this information is not studied and advertised, etc.
Author: sibved