Great Wall kept out cattle not Khan, say archaeologists

THE northern segment of the Great Wall of China was supposedly built to keep the bloodthirsty Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan at bay.

However, it may have served a more mundane purpose, according to Israeli archaeologists, who say it was actually used to hem in livestock.

The archaeologists came to the conclusion after mapping out the Great Wall’s 460-mile Northern Line for the first time.

“Prior to our research, most people thought the wall’s purpose was to stop Genghis Khan’s army,” said Prof Gideon Shelach-lavi, from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and the leader of the two year-study.

But the Northern Line, which lies mostly in Mongolia, winds through valleys, is relatively low in height and close to paths, which suggests it served non-military functions.

“Our conclusion is that it was more about monitoring or blocking the movement of people and livestock, maybe to tax them,” Prof Shelach-lavi said.

He suggested that people may have been seeking warmer southern pastures during a medieval cold spell.

Construction of the Great Wall, which is split into sections that in total stretch for thousands of miles, first began in the third century BC and continued for centuries.

The Northern Line, also known as “Genghis Khan’s Wall” in reference to the Mongolian conqueror, was built between the 11th and 13th centuries with pounded earth.

According to Prof Shelach-lavi, whose findings from the ongoing study were published in the journal Antiquity, the Northern Line has been largely overlooked by his contemporary scientists.