The annual conference of Mongolian archaeologists was held in Ulaanbaatar in late December 2023, during which synopses of Paleolithic through Medieval archaeological research conducted in the country throughout the year were presented. More than 100 archaeological studies were undertaken in Mongolia in 2023, 40 of which were summarized as conference papers.
The principal results of research conducted in 2023 at Tsagaan Agui Cave were presented by Dr. D. Bazargur and based upon the results of electronic ballots cast by the conference members, the Tsagaan Agui archaeological project achieved first place ranking.
Excavations of deeply stratified Tsagaan Agui Cave, located in the Gobi Altai region of Bayankhongor aimag, were conducted by an international team from 1995-2000 and resumed in 2021 by a renewed joint Mongolian-Russian-American expedition (including members of the Institute of Archeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, and the University of Arizona).
Since 2021, archaeological and natural science research has been carried out annually at the cave under the coordinated leadership of A. M. Khatsenovich, B. Gunchinsuren, D. Bazargur, Ya. Tserendagva, and J. W. Olsen. In 2023, the Tsagaan Agui team studied Layers 5.1–7 in the cave, dating back to the Middle Paleolithic. Stone artifacts produced through bipolar and Levallois technology were discovered in these strata, as well as fossil remains of hyenas, snow leopards, Pallas’s cats, foxes, and mustelids.
In 2021, the Tsagaan Agui project also received the highest ranking among international and domestic Mongolian archaeological research endeavors undertaken that year.
This year, team member Dr. Ya. Tserendagva received the conference’s second place award for research conducted within the framework of his own independent project focusing on the discovery of archaeological sites in eastern Mongolia that have yielded Lower Paleolithic bifacial artifacts.
Research at Tsagaan Agui Cave is currently being carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, the Leakey Foundation, and the University of Arizona’s Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology.
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