Orkhon inscriptions, Inscription site in Khöshöö Tsaidam, Orkhon Valley, Mongolia

The Orkhon inscriptions are two memorial steles of pale grey-beige stone, carved on all four faces with Old Turkic runic script and Middle Chinese. Both were originally set on carved stone turtles inside walled enclosures; Bilge Qaghan's stone bears a carved ibex and a twisted dragon. A long diagonal crack crosses the face of one slab.

The monuments were raised in the 8th century to commemorate Kül Tigin and Bilge Khagan, two leaders of the Göktürk people. The texts tell of their deeds and the relationship with China under the Tang dynasty.

The names on the tablets honor two brothers who ruled the realm and never forgot their roots in the steppes. You can still see how important the memory of military campaigns and treaties was to the Göktürk people, as they had both carved into stone.

The site lies roughly 50 miles north of Erdene Zuu Monastery in open terrain reached by four-wheel-drive vehicle. Organized tours from Ulaanbaatar simplify the journey and often include a local guide on arrival.

A Danish linguist deciphered the characters in 1893, revealing the oldest known written record of a Turkic language. Before that, no one knew this language had been written down so early.