Austrian, Mongolian partner to unearth buried Buddhist artifacts

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Friday, August 7th, 2009 – 08:37 CEST

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pnp/1580935315/

Last weekend, Austrian online media producer and amateur archeologist Michael Eisenriegler (above) and his Mongolian colleague, Zundoi Altangerel, uncovered two crates worth of irreplaceable artifacts, including manuscripts, Buddhist statues and clothing.

It was shown live and online last weekend at the Hauptplatz in Linz — full disclosure: 80+1 is a sponsor of the Gobi Treasure project.

The relics that were found were part of a larger collection that was once housed at Khamaryn monastery, 450 kilometers southeast of Ulan Bator. The Communist government in Mongolia destroyed and pillaged the monastery in 1937. Some boxes of the materials were saved by Tuduv, a monk at the monastery. He buried 64 boxes, and told his grandson Zundoi Altangerel the location of the buried treasure in the Gobi Desert.

When communism ended in Mongolia in 1990, Altangerel dug up around 20 of the boxes, leaving around 40 still buried in the desert.

More than half of the crates are still buried in the Mongolian Gobi.

Altangerel has not said when he will reveal the location of the remaining crates.

Posted in Cultural Heritage, Mongolia, The Internet, Ulan Bator

Mobile phone service comes to Nauru

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 – 13:28 CEST

It’s hard to believe that even in late 2009, there are still countries, full-fledged independent countries, that do not have mobile phone service.

That list got smaller this week as the Pacific island nation of Nauru finally got access to…

Russia, Mongolia celebrate 1939 defeat of Japan

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Thursday, August 27th, 2009 – 15:20 CEST

Before leaving Mongolia yesterday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (pictured) and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj memorialized fallen soldiers who defeated the Japanese imperial forces at Khalkhyn Gol in 1939. This was the final battle between Soviet and Mongolian forces and Japan…

Ulan Bator forges ahead with Russian investment

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 – 10:37 CEST

Today, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with new Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj to discuss his country’s uranium fields and the possibility of upgrading the country’s rail networks.

Russia, which has had longstanding ties to Mongolia, had been concerned the the election…

Internet addiction center opens in a Seattle (USA) suburb

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Friday, August 21st, 2009 – 16:00 CEST

After Internet addiction centers have opened up in South Korea, China, and Japan, now the United States has just opened its first facility in Fall City, Washington, in Pacific Northwest region of the country.

The institution, formally called reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery…

Tsonjin Boldog boasts huge Genghis Khan statue

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, August 3rd, 2009 – 19:11 CEST

The New York Times has a new feature on the new statue of Mongolia’s most well-known historical figure, Genghis Khan. The 13th century emperor and conqueror of much of Asia and the Middle East has become a contemporary icon — Mongolians have…

Mongolian Neo-Nazis rise against China

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 – 10:44 CEST

Time magazine reports on the disturbing rise of nationalistic neo-Nazi groups in Mongolia, many of whom are vehemently anti-Chinese.

Mongolia, which just played host to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, may need to do something about this problem as it wants…

Reminder: Participate in Online Storytelling!

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Thursday, July 16th, 2009 – 09:42 CEST

In the online world, where our identities are mostly unknown, people don’t always have a chance to meet each other in person. However, we can still create something together.

So, let’s write two stories together in English!

Whether it’s a love story…

President Elbegdorj could open Mongolia’s mines

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 – 23:27 CEST

New Mongolian president Tsakhia Elbegdorj was elected last month largely to help improve Mongolia’s economic problems.

One way that he might go about doing that, a recent UPI report suggests, is by opening up the countries vast mining reserves.

Mongolia has many…

Mongolia elects Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj as its new president

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 – 10:17 CEST

Earlier this week, voters from all over Mongolia turned out to elected their new president. The winner was the US-educated Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, who is poised to become the country’s first president who has never been a member of the Mongolian People’s…

North Korea as Revealed by Google Earth, Citizen Activists

Posted by Florica Vlad, Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 – 16:12 CEST

For many years, citizen activists have been pooling information about North Korea in order to reveal the locations of hidden prisons and other sites of interest in the humanitarian effort to effect greater transparency on the isolated regime.

However, according to…

Facebook Creates Online Civil Society Clashes in Iran

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, May 25th, 2009 – 22:53 CEST

There’s been lots of online activity in the run-up to the Iranian presidential election, which is coming up on June 12.

There’s a four-way election currently going on between the two main conservative candidates, including incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohsen Rezaei,…

New Scientist: Eight things you didn’t know about the internet

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Thursday, May 7th, 2009 – 23:12 CEST

The internet is a tool that we all use every day. It’s arguably one of the greatest inventions of the last half century. But it’s had a profound impact on the way that we interact with each other and with society…

More bandwidth coming to Africa

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, May 4th, 2009 – 11:09 CEST

There’s been much discussion lately about how Africa’s bandwidth is too little, and too expensive. I’d argue, in fact, that this bandwidth problem, coupled with insane bureaucracy and corruption have kept prices in Africa largely artificially high.

OLPC News makes the…

Cornell researchers use geotagged Flickr photos to create maps

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 – 13:08 CEST

Occasionally when I upload a photo to Flickr, I’ll add some geotagging information if I have it readily available. Geotagging, for the uninitiated, is way to to tell Flickr where (down to the intersection) you took a particular photo. Basically,…

Ulan Bator Through the Eyes of Its Bloggers

Posted by David Sasaki, Monday, April 20th, 2009 – 15:34 CEST

With just over one million residents Ulan Bator is the largest city of the most sparsely populated country in the world, Mongolia. The city was founded in 1639 as a Buddhist monastic center, but turned into an important trading and manufacturing hub…