Abstract
The maps of the banners of Inner and Outer Mongolia, drawn on the Qing government’s order in the 19th and early 20th century, contain a great number of names and drawings of ovoos (stone or earth heaps, sometimes with a central pole, a tuft, flagpoles or arrows, or tree trunks arranged in conical shape). Many of them distinguish two types of ovoos: cult ovoos and boundary-marker ovoos; in addition, many mountains are called “ovoo”. This paper raises questions about the naming of ovoos, their representation by mimetic drawings or abstract symbols, the type and hierarchy of ovoos, and the accuracy of their location. By focusing on examples of maps preserved in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, this paper aims at understanding the role of ovoos in the representation of a territory.
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