Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408100071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL A. DRISCOLL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
\ A commodities trader named Maury Kravitz thinks he knows a secret 2,800 people died to keep - the place where Genghis Khan is buried, perhaps with a cache of looted treasure.
Kravitz, 62, has obtained rights from the government of Mongolia for five years to search for the tomb of the great Mongol warrior, who died while looting north of Tibet in 1227.
At 5-foot-7 and 263 pounds, the bearded Chicagoan is an unlikely figure to star in his own action adventure in the mountain wilderness of Mongolia.
Most of what is known about Genghis Khan and his campaigns of plunder and conquest was written by people he conquered from China westward to Moscow, Baghdad and beyond. Clues to his burial place can be found in those writings, Kravitz said.
Extreme measures were taken to keep the burial site secret.
``The burial party included 2,000 people, and when the funeral was completed, they were all slaughtered by 800 soldiers who had accompanied them,'' Kravitz said. ``And when the 800 soldiers rode back ... they were greeted outside the city and slaughtered to the last man.''
A Japanese team, granted search rights in 1989, abandoned its quest last year after expeditions with helicopters and high-tech gear proved fruitless.
Kravitz recently visited the region where he believes Genghis Khan is buried, to check it out. He said he hopes to organize the expedition by mid-1996.
``We'll be doing it the old-fashioned way,'' Kravitz said. ``Slogging up and down the hills.''
The tomb may contain riches plundered from across Asia and eastern Europe when Genghis Khan ruled an empire that stretched from the Sea of Japan to the Caspian Sea, he said.
``All of these precious treasures were shipped back to Mongolia, and none of them ever showed up with any dealer of antiquities down through the years,'' said Kravitz, a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
L. Orgil, with the Mongolian Embassy in Washington, said the expedition would help his country's identity. Under the agreement, the Mongolian government retains the rights to most treasure found.
Kravitz said most experts believe Genghis Khan was buried in the Khaldur Burkhan mountains, east of the capital, Ulan Bator, in a region of rugged, wooded hills criss-crossed with rivers.
``But by and large, everything about his burial is hazy, vague and indefinite,'' he said.
Kravitz hopes to raise $5 million for the expedition from corporate sponsors. He anticipates a crew of about 60 U.S. volunteers and about a dozen Mongolian archaeologists and other experts.
by CNB