From a photo of us sitting calmly at the lunch table by the Orkhon River, no one would guess that earlier that morning at our ger camp, farther upstream, we had nearly been blown off our feet by biting gusts. Here, however, the autumn sun warmed us, and sheep grazed peacefully nearby. It felt like the perfect spot for a pastoral nomadic household to spend the autumn months—sheltered from the winds yet still rich in grass and freshwater. I imagined the same must have been true for Mongol nomadic families living around the capital of Kharkhorum in the 13th century. Though I had passed through the Kharkhorum region many summers, I had never visited in autumn or lingered long enough to observe the changes in weather and terrain. Experiencing it with companions who saw the landscape for the first time reminded me how much there is still to discover in what we think we already know.
