Join the crowd to solve an 800 year old mystery

A small team of explorers, led by Albert Lin, is searching for Genghis Khan’s tomb. He’s using unusual methods to do the searching, however, by harnessing the power of crowdsourcing to locate the tomb. Using satellite imagery, anyone can get involved and help identify possible burial sites and reduce the amount of digging necessary to find the tomb.

The tale of Genghis Khan’s tomb is a bit grisly. He died in 1227, and according to lore, he wished to be buried without any markings on his burial site. His instructions were carried out precisely. Everyone associated with his burial including slaves, soldiers, and civilian witnesses were killed. To this day, no one knows where the site is located, except for the general idea that it might be somewhere near the Onon River in Mongolia.

There are thousands (6208, at last count) of regular people involved in the search. All the volunteers involved look at satellite images and identify rivers and roads, modern structures, ancient structures, and possible burial sites. All of this information is used to help identify possible burial sites, all without doing any actual digging. This preserves Mongolia’s land and pays credence to local customs.

Dr Lin has written a letter to armchair archaeologists:

Hello fellow explorers!

The entire Valley of the Khans team is very excited to begin the expedition to Mongolia but, for me, the adventure begins today. By enlisting the help of thousands of “virtual explorers” like you, we can start to uncover the mysteries of the Valley of the Khans right now!

The area that we will be exploring has been untouched for more than 800 years. There are no maps, no roadsigns and no one to ask for directions. But we’ve scanned the landscape with super high-resolution satellite imagery. By participating in the online exploration on this site, YOU can join our team by examining these satellite images and searching for clues that will guide our quest to discover the lost tomb of Genghis Khan. Maybe you’ll map out roads and rivers that our expedition can follow to make our way through this inhospitable territory. Perhaps you can identify traces of a nomad’s ger that might be a good place for us to camp. Or maybe you’ll see the buried outline of an ancient tomb that could be the clue we’re searching for…

If you’d like to get involved, visit National Geographic and see what you can do to help.