Unearthed: Ancient city ruled by Genghis Khan's heirs

Remains of a 750-year-old city called Ukek, founded by the descendants of Genghis Khan, has been unearthed along the Volga river in Russia.

The city was founded just a few decades after Genghis Khan died in 1227 and the empire split apart.

Among the discoveries are two Christian temples, one of which has stone carvings and fine ceramics.

"Some items belonging to the local elite were found in the Christian district," Live Science quoted Dmitriy Kubankin, archaeologist with the Saratov Regional Museum of Local Lore in Russia, as saying.

The discovery of the Christian quarter of Ukek sheds light on the Christian society that lived under the Khan's rule, said the researchers.

Ukek was a multi-cultural city, where a variety of religious beliefs were practiced, including Islam, Christianity and Shamanism.

This city of Ukek was built close to Genghis Khan's summer residence along the Volga river.

Within the basement of the temple, remains of goods were found that may have been stored by local merchants. These included fine plates and bottles that were likely to have been imported from the Byzantine Empire or Egypt.

"Any church cellar was considered a safe place to store goods in, therefore, merchants used to keep objects of sale there," Kubankin added.

Today, modern-day buildings cover much of Ukek.

"This hampers any research and prevents complete unearthing of the entire site, because it extends over several private land plots," said Kubankin.

The findings were presented at the European Association of Archaeologists' annual meeting in Istanbul.