All Seattle 2012 student matinees are full with lengthy waiting lists.

“Exploration has always been about going where we haven’t been able to go before. Today, technology helps us navigate past those old barriers” – Albert Yu-Min Lin

“As an archaeologist, I’m thrilled to work with this team of explorers, mountain-climbers and engineers to see the past in a new way. We’re viewing the landscape as Genghis Khan knew and experienced it” – Fredrik Hiebert

For centuries, historians have wondered about the location of the tomb of Genghis Khan, the legendary ruler who united Mongolia’s feuding tribes and led them on a campaign of conquest unequaled in world history. Mongolian custom states that Genghis’s underground burial site was meant to stay hidden, and that disturbing the tomb would unleash a curse that would end the world. So the site has remained undiscovered, protected by a strong cultural taboo against entering this sacred place.

Enter Albert Yu-min Lin, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and pioneer of the use of digital technology to “crowd-source” discoveries. His Valley of the Khans Project uses satellite imagery, ground penetrating radar, and remote sensors to identify and investigate archaeological sites without disturbing them – thereby maintaining respect for local customs. Guided by the eyes of thousands of volunteers who have identified promising search locations via the Field Expedition: Mongolia website, Lin and his team have zeroed in what they believe may indeed be the last resting place of Genghis Khan.

Find out more about this fascinating combination of high-tech tools and old-fashioned expedition—living in yurts and crossing Mongolia’s rugged terrain on horseback—from a true 21st-century explorer. Joining Lin will be Fred Hiebert, National Geographic’s archaeology fellow,who has searched for human history in some of the world’s most remote and romantic places. He has participated in the project from the beginning, adding a seasoned archaeologist’s eye to Lin’s technological wizardry in the quest for Genghis Khan’s final chapter.

Recommended for grades 7–12.

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