The history of Ulaanbaatar , the capital of Mongolia , dates to when it was first established as a moveable monastery. A balbal or ancient human statue was chosen as the ceremonial foundation site Shav of the city when it settled in at its current location. Human habitation at the site of Ulaanbaatar dates from the Lower Paleolithic. Alexey Okladnikov 's archeological work in and revealed many Paleolithic sites on Mt. In various Paleolithic tools were discovered at Mt.
Songinokhairkhan as well as Buyant-Ukhaa 23 stone tools that scholars date from , years ago to 40,, years ago. Okladnikov also revealed an Upper Paleolithic 40,, years ago site on the south-east base of the Zaisan Hill on the northern edge of Mt. Bogd Khan Uul. Byambyn Rinchen mentions it as an inspiration for his prehistoric novel Zaan Zaluudai.
The lower strata of this bistratified settlement located at the present-day Zaisan Memorial revealed tools and materials fashioned according to the Levallois technique. These Upper Paleolithic people hunted mammoth and woolly rhinoceros , the bones of which are found abundantly around Ulaanbaatar.
Bogd Khan Uul facing the city. The paintings show human figures, horses, eagles and abstract designs like horizontal lines and large squares with over a hundred dots within them.
The same style of painting from the same era is found very close to the east of the city at Gachuurt, as well as in Khovsgol Aimag and southern Siberia, indicating a common South Siberian nomadic pastoral culture. Bogd Khan Uul was probably an important religious cult location for these people.
