Principles

Buryat history and culture extend across Russia, Mongolia, Shenehen and the world diaspora. State and administrative borders provide context, but do not define the scope of the project.

Eight principles

1. Evidence before certainty. Every significant historical statement shows what it rests on; where evidence is thin, the page says so.
2. Terms in context. Words such as ug, obog, omog, otog, «род» or clan are explained in the source, period and place where they were used, not given one eternal meaning.
3. Multiple interpretations remain visible. Where researchers disagree, the disagreement is shown and attributed; the project does not appoint a final judge.
4. Community knowledge is attributed and respected. Descriptions by bearers of a tradition are shown as their own layer, with attribution, not merged into catalogue or research text.
5. Sensitive heritage is not automatically open data. Sacred, ritual, family and personal material follows separate rules before publication.
6. AI assists; humans remain accountable. AI helps search, compare and format. It is never cited as a source, and a person answers for what is published.
7. Corrections are public and welcome. Substantive changes are recorded in a public log; readers are invited to report errors.
8. Independence from parties, states and territorial projects. The project does not advocate for a political party, state or territorial project.

How catalog entries are checked

Catalog records link to the institution, publication or collection that holds the original material. We record the access conditions, the current status of the link and the date of the latest check; we do not present a portal homepage as evidence for a specific historical claim.

Documented, reconstructed, approximate and contested information must remain distinguishable. A gap in the evidence is named as a gap rather than filled with a smooth narrative.

Scholarly interpretation

Chronology: the statement restates an argument made in named scholarly publications.

Editorial synthesis

Chronology: a statement assembled by the project's editors on the basis of the literature cited.

Strongly supported

Chronology: supported directly by at least two independent scholarly sources.

Limited evidence

Chronology: supported by one scholarly source, or by sources without page-level locators.

Unreviewed externally

Chronology: checked inside the project; no external source cited yet.

Live

Catalog: the resource opened normally at the last check.

Partial access

Catalog: part of the material is reachable, the rest needs registration, a reading room or a visit.

Needs recheck

Catalog: the link has not been confirmed recently and is due for a fresh check.

Buryat-language publication requires human review

Machine-generated Buryat text is not published as finished language. Missing Buryat copy is preferable to an authoritative-looking invention; language review is a separate editorial stage. If you can review Buryat copy, write to us.

Public work, private lives

The people directory covers published work and public professional roles. It excludes private contacts, family details, migration status and political affiliation. Removal and correction requests are honoured through the contact page.

Details of how statements are typed and labelled: Methodology.