GENGHIS KHAN: THE TOMB THAT VANISHED: The Conqueror, the Secret Burial, and the 800-Year Search for His Lost Grave

Genghis Khan conquered kingdoms, shattered empires, and changed the course of world history. Yet nearly eight hundred years after his death, no one can say with certainty where he was buried.

In 1227, the founder of the Mongol Empire died during his final campaign against the Western Xia. His body was carried back toward Mongolia, but somewhere between his death and burial, the trail disappeared. No confirmed tomb has ever been found. No authenticated remains have been identified. What survived instead were stories of murdered witnesses, trampled earth, forbidden mountains, hidden burial grounds, and a secret grave supposedly designed never to be discovered.

GENGHIS KHAN: THE TOMB THAT VANISHED investigates one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in ancient and medieval history.

Beginning with the rise of Temüjin and his transformation into Genghis Khan, James P. Patterson follows the conqueror through the creation of the Mongol Empire, his final Western Xia campaign, the competing accounts of his death, and the mysterious journey of his body back toward the Mongolian homeland.

At the center of the investigation stands Burkhan Khaldun, the sacred mountain deeply connected to Genghis Khan’s early life and long associated with traditions surrounding his burial. But does the historical evidence actually place his tomb there?

Drawing upon The Secret History of the Mongols, Persian chronicles, Chinese historical records, medieval travelers, archaeological research, satellite surveys, and modern scholarship, this book separates documented evidence from the legends that have surrounded the lost tomb for centuries.

Did thousands of horses really erase the grave? Were witnesses killed to protect its location? Was the burial hidden inside Mongolia’s sacred Khentii Mountains? Could modern technology finally locate the resting place of the world’s most famous Mongol conqueror?

Or did the people who buried Genghis Khan accomplish exactly what they intended?

For readers fascinated by Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire, lost tombs, historical mysteries, archaeology, ancient warriors, medieval history, and unsolved discoveries, this is the investigation into the grave the world has searched for for eight centuries.