Answer: Genghis Khan

Despite the reach and power of his empire and the awe inducing size of his armies and entourage, the Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan requested that his burial site be hidden with no markings, no signs, and most definitely no visible temple, tomb, or other structure.

After centuries of speculation and searching, including earnest efforts involving excavations and the dedicated work of scholars, the burial site of Genghis Khan has never been located. It is widely believed that he was buried near his alleged birthplace close to the Onon River in Mongolia, but it is just as possible he was buried at a location somewhere else in his empire. Compounding the search process is the larger problem: there is no accurate historical record of what happened after the death of the great conqueror. In fact, a prominent legend on the matter, passed down by oral history in the region, is that the funeral escort killed anyone and anything that crossed their path on the way to the burial site, that Khan was buried in a subterranean tomb and the slaves who constructed it were killed by his soldiers and then, in grisly turn, those soldiers were killed by other soldiers who had no knowledge of the location of the tomb.

That alone would make it difficult enough to locate, but to add further complexity to the search, a parallel legend also states that the slaves who built the tomb also excavated the area so thoroughly that they rerouted a river to conceal the site of burial. While it’s always possible (and more than likely) such great tales are the product of Genghis Khan’s larger than life achievements and not necessarily the truth of his actual burial, it’s also always possible that future archaeologists may find evidence via satellite analysis that such a project was in fact under taken.