Man has existed in Mongolia for at least 50,000 years. Stone tools found in Bayankhongor on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert prove that stone age people inhabited the central steppe regions from those early times. Right until 2000 BC the way of life was mainly agricultural (not nomadic), combined with hunting and gathering.

For many centuries before the infamous Genghis Khaan, a succession of powerful empires existed in this part of Central Asia. Their history was recorded in songs and monuments. Rock engravings, stone figures, graves and ruins found in Mongolia are evidence of the highly civilized and cultured peoples living in the area.

With the introduction of metal working and the domestication of animals during the Bronze Age (1300BC - 600 BC) many people in Central Asia shifted towards a nomadic lifestyle, with herders existing alongside sedentary agricultural populations.

There was a cultural divide between the people, some tribes being of rather more Turkish origin and others of predominantly Mongol extraction. One could tell by the type of burial performed to which culture a people belonged. In the western Altai mountains warriors were buried lying on their side with knees drawn up. The graves were flat or mounded and marked by stones in various arrangements. Many examples can be seen along the Kharkhiraa river of our Uvs hiking trek.

In the Khangai and Khentii mountains of Central and Eastern Mongolia the people were more Mongol and their graves were of the cist type, pits lined with stones and the body laid on its back. Examples can be found in Arkhangai province, site of several of our tours. Stones engraved with stylised deer marked the graves and the best examples of deer stones in Central Asia are to be found near to Moron town, south of Lake Khovsgol in northern Mongolia.

By the Iron Age (first millennium BC) nomadic pastoralism became the dominant way of life. Riding saddled horses enabled people to move over increasingly large distances with a requirement for more grazing land for their herds. There were violent conflicts between tribes for control over pasture for grazing and in the second century BC the Xiongnu came to dominate the greater part of Mongolia and created a powerful empire which occupied the same territories later controlled by Genghis Khan and his ancestors ("the Mongol Empire"). The capital was established in the Orkhon valley near Kharkhorin. In order to keep the Xiongnu out of China, the Chinese built the first section of the Great Wall on the edge of the Gobi Desert.

Following the dissolution of the Xiongnu Empire in 155AD, the area was dominated by the Xianbei and then the Ruan-Ruan, who formed another vast empire stretching from Russian Turkestan to Korea. In turn, they were destroyed by the Tujue Turks from the Altai whose empire was again a great threat to China and caused the second period of construction of the Great Wall.

From the times of the Turkish Khanates until Genghis Khan, the Orkhon valley (site of present day Kharkhorin) was the political center of the nomadic tribes. The Turks left many monuments, the most common being "man stones", human figures located at the burial sites of important warriors, depicted holding a cup and dagger to symbolize participation in their own funeral banquet. Zoomorphic statues such as turtles and lions are also from this period, and several monuments have been taken to Kharkhorin and displayed in the grounds of Erdene Zuu monastery.

The Uighur period (754 - 840 AD) came after the Tujue Turks, and was important because they quickly developed a highly civilized culture, including a written script based on Aramaic (the forerunner of the Mongol writing system). The capital, Khar Balgas, was founded by the Orkhon river at Khotont on the road which now leads from Kharkhorin to Tsetserleg (capital of Arkhangai province).

The Uighurs were finally weakened by a series of political crises and an exceptionally hard winter during which millions of cattle perished. The Khirghiz took advantage of the Uighur's weakness and seized power after 20 years of failed attempts to dominate the region.

The Kirghiz came from Siberia and were not greatly interested in the area of Mongolia, and they were soon beaten back northwards by the Qidan from Manchuria (north west China). No nomadic confederations were able to prevent the growth of the Qidan empire, which included a large part of Central Asia.

They built cities of economic and military importance, and controlled the salt and iron trades as well as the "Silk Road" caravan route. Farmers grew mulberry trees for the silk worms and craftsmen produced silk cloth, ceramics and jewelry. The state religion was Buddhism, but like the Mongols who followed, the Qidan did not restrict other religious practice, and Buddhism existed alongside Taoism, Confucianism, Nestorian Christianity and Manchaeism.