Researchos on the Sites with Old Inscriptions in Mongolia

In this project we have aimed at comprehensive researches on some main historical sites and inscriptions in Mongolia, which are most important for the historical study of the Turks (6-8 cc.), the Uighurs (8-9 cc.) and the Mongol Empire (13-14 cc.). The recent change of policy of the Mongol government enabled us to have access to these sites and inscriptions. Every summer from 1996 to 1998 we dispatched five or six members to Mongolia for a month or longer. We have taken two sets of ink rubbings from each of the inscriptions written in Ancient Turkic, Sogdian, Mongolian, Persian and Chinese. including some newly discovered ones. We brought one set of them to Japan following necessary procedures for taking the permission. These rubbings have enabled us to improve the text of inscriptions publishede by former scholars. In this report we provide the most up-to-date text edition of the inscriptions in Ancient Turkic and Sogdian concerning to the Turk-Uighur period. with fully annotated Japanese-English translations. As for the inscriptions of Mongolian Period, on which the researches are restricted only for the last year of the term (1998), we are obliged to only provide some revised edition of the texts already published. We are still continuing to edit these unpublished texts. As we are not disciplined for archaeological method, we can only give the informations on the present state and scenery of each historical site-that has or had respective inscription(s). We think they would be useful for making fresh interpretations of these texts. We have an intention to publish the photo-reproductions of all rubbings in the final report within five years.