We followed a lead from you, our virtual explorers, to go check out what looked like a circular mound surrounded by a few square formations. We arrived at the location in high spirits, hoping to find a beautiful khirigsur burial site. As Misha—our Mongolian archeologist—and I approached the site, I saw the smile fall off of his face.

The burial site you had tagged and that had been visible from space in a satellite image acquired just three months ago, had been looted.

Two of the square burial tombs had been dug up and replaced with rectangular four-foot holes. Stones and dirt were thrown about and we could tell by the lack of vegetation on the displaced soil that the tomb had been raided less than three weeks ago.

It honestly broke my heart to see something that had stood untouched for 3,000 years as a monument to Mongolian and world history, just disappear because someone thought they might find precious metals. Now the world will never be able to learn anything from this site.

Misha led a team to talk to the nomads in neighboring gers to see if they had witnessed anything. We found out that just two weeks previously a white jeep showed up in the middle of the night and in the morning, the nomads discovered the hole. The nomads shared our frustration as they too, knew that the lands on which they have lived for generations had been robbed of this important piece of history.

Perhaps the main goal of the Valley of The Khans project is to help give these people a voice and to protect this area that abounds with ancient history. By learning about the history of this region, we can prove its significance to Mongolian life and a heritage that shaped the world. Our vision is to identify the most important areas and work with local authorities and international agencies in order to protect them. I feel this is not only our mission but also our obligation as scientists and explorers.

Update: Since the initial writing of this blog post, we discovered yet another tomb that has been recently raided. There is a sense of urgency growing within our camp to increase the measures taken to protect these resources.