The mummies of China’s Tarim Basin

[DAVIDE]

A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets



SYMBOLISM Archaeologists believe the hundreds of 13-foot poles at the Small River Cemetery in a desert in Xinjiang Province, China, were mostly phallic symbols.


In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air.
The cemetery lies in what is now China’s northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang, yet the people have European features, with brown hair and long noses. Their remains, though lying in one of the world’s largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god’s mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of procreation.
The long-vanished people have no name, because their origin and identity are still unknown. But many clues are now emerging about their ancestry, their way of life and even the language they spoke.
Their graveyard, known as Small River Cemetery No. 5, lies near a dried-up riverbed in the Tarim Basin, a region encircled by forbidding mountain ranges. Most of the basin is occupied by the Taklimakan Desert, a wilderness so inhospitable that later travelers along the Silk Road would edge along its northern or southern borders.
In modern times the region has been occupied by Turkish-speaking Uighurs, joined in the last 50 years by Han settlers from China. Ethnic tensions have recently arisen between the two groups, with riots in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. A large number of ancient mummies, really desiccated corpses, have emerged from the sands, only to become pawns between the Uighurs and the Han.
The 200 or so mummies have a distinctively Western appearance, and the Uighurs, even though they did not arrive in the region until the 10th century, have cited them to claim that the autonomous region was always theirs. Some of the mummies, including a well-preserved woman known as the Beauty of Loulan, were analyzed by Li Jin, a well-known geneticist at Fudan University, who said in 2007 that their DNA contained markers indicating an East Asian and even South Asian origin.
The mummies in the Small River Cemetery are, so far, the oldest discovered in the Tarim Basin. Carbon tests done at Beijing University show that the oldest part dates to 3,980 years ago. A team of Chinese geneticists has analyzed the mummies’ DNA.






WELL PRESERVED The mummy of an infant was one of about 200 corpses with European features that were excavated from the cemetery.




Despite the political tensions over the mummies’ origin, the Chinese said in a report published last month in the journal BMC Biology that the people were of mixed ancestry, having both European and some Siberian genetic markers, and probably came from outside China. The team was led by Hui Zhou of Jilin University in Changchun, with Dr. Jin as a co-author.
All the men who were analyzed had a Y chromosome that is now mostly found in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia, but rarely in China. The mitochondrial DNA, which passes down the female line, consisted of a lineage from Siberia and two that are common in Europe. Since both the Y chromosome and the mitochondrial DNA lineages are ancient, Dr. Zhou and his team conclude the European and Siberian populations probably intermarried before entering the Tarim Basin some 4,000 years ago.
The Small River Cemetery was rediscovered in 1934 by the Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman and then forgotten for 66 years until relocated through GPS navigation by a Chinese expedition. Archaeologists began excavating it from 2003 to 2005. Their reports have been translated and summarized by Victor H. Mair, a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in the prehistory of the Tarim Basin.
As the Chinese archaeologists dug through the five layers of burials, Dr. Mair recounted, they came across almost 200 poles, each 13 feet tall. Many had flat blades, painted black and red, like the oars from some great galley that had foundered beneath the waves of sand.
At the foot of each pole there were indeed boats, laid upside down and covered with cowhide. The bodies inside the boats were still wearing the clothes they had been buried in. They had felt caps with feathers tucked in the brim, uncannily resembling Tyrolean mountain hats. They wore large woolen capes with tassels and leather boots. A Bronze Age salesclerk from Victoria’s Secret seems to have supplied the clothes beneath — barely adequate woolen loin cloths for the men, and skirts made of string strands for the women.
Within each boat coffin were grave goods, including beautifully woven grass baskets, skillfully carved masks and bundles of ephedra, an herb that may have been used in rituals or as a medicine.

In the women’s coffins, the Chinese archaeologists encountered one or more life-size wooden phalluses laid on the body or by its side. Looking again at the shaping of the 13-foot poles that rise from the prow of each woman’s boat, the archaeologists concluded that the poles were in fact gigantic phallic symbols.



A 3,800-year-old mummy, the Beauty of Xiaohe, found at the Small River Cemetery.


The men’s boats, on the other hand, all lay beneath the poles with bladelike tops. These were not the oars they had seemed at first sight, the Chinese archaeologists concluded, but rather symbolic vulvas that matched the opposite sex symbols above the women’s boats. “The whole of the cemetery was blanketed with blatant sexual symbolism,” Dr. Mair wrote. In his view, the “obsession with procreation” reflected the importance the community attached to fertility.
Arthur Wolf, an anthropologist at Stanford University and an expert on fertility in East Asia, said that the poles perhaps mark social status, a common theme of tombs and grave goods. “It seems that what most people want to take with them is their status, if it is anything to brag about,” he said.
Dr. Mair said the Chinese archaeologists’ interpretation of the poles as phallic symbols was “a believable analysis.” The buried people’s evident veneration of procreation could mean they were interested in both the pleasure of sex and its utility, given that it is difficult to separate the two. But they seem to have had particular respect for fertility, Dr. Mair said, because several women were buried in double-layered coffins with special grave goods.
Living in harsh surroundings, “infant mortality must have been high, so the need for procreation, particularly in light of their isolated situation, would have been great,” Dr. Mair said. Another possible risk to fertility could have arisen if the population had become in-bred. “Those women who were able to produce and rear children to adulthood would have been particularly revered,” Dr. Mair said.
Several items in the Small River Cemetery burials resemble artifacts or customs familiar in Europe, Dr. Mair noted. Boat burials were common among the Vikings. String skirts and phallic symbols have been found in Bronze Age burials of Northern Europe.
There are no known settlements near the cemetery, so the people probably lived elsewhere and reached the cemetery by boat. No woodworking tools have been found at the site, supporting the idea that the poles were carved off site.




Many of the women buried there wore string undergarments like the one in this drawing.





The Tarim Basin was already quite dry when the Small River people entered it 4,000 years ago. They probably lived at the edge of survival until the lakes and rivers on which they depended finally dried up around A.D. 400. Burials with felt hats and woven baskets were common in the region until some 2,000 years ago.
The language spoken by the people of the Small River Cemetery is unknown, but Dr. Mair believes it could have been Tokharian, an ancient member of the Indo-European family of languages. Manuscripts written in Tokharian have been discovered in the Tarim Basin, where the language was spoken from about A.D. 500 to 900. Despite its presence in the east, Tokharian seems more closely related to the “centum” languages of Europe than to the “satem” languages of India and Iran. The division is based on the words for hundred in Latin (centum) and in Sanskrit (satam).
The Small River Cemetery people lived more than 2,000 years before the earliest evidence for Tokharian, but there is “a clear continuity of culture,” Dr. Mair said, in the form of people being buried with felt hats, a tradition that continued until the first few centuries A.D.
An exhibition of the Tarim Basin mummies opens March 27 at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif. — the first time that the mummies will be seen outside Asia.














Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/sc...l?pagewanted=2

[ian991]

Nice thread!
Actually the discovery of Tarim mummies is important, because it proves t he connection of Chinese empire, and Roman empire.
Until now, scientists only determined trade connections between these two empires.

[Roma_Victrix]

Holy Necro-thread, Batman!

Nice thread!
Actually the discovery of Tarim mummies is important, because it proves t he connection of Chinese empire, and Roman empire.
Until now, scientists only determined trade connections between these two empires.

Lol. No. The first Tarim Mummies were interred in the Tarim Basin literally more than a thousand years before the establishment of the Roman Empire. They are not the connection between Rome and Han China, although there are incredibly valid theories about Romans (sailing from Roman Egypt) arriving in Han China via the South China Sea and Vietnam. Chinese histories affirm this idea as well as archaeology in today's Vietnam showing Roman coins and trade items from the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, the emperors who allegedly sent diplomatic missions to Emperor Huan of Han China (although they were most likely just a group of Roman merchants).

In either case, the Tarim Mummies are an interesting topic but ultimately just serve as a reminder that the Tarim Basin was populated by various Indo-European peoples throughout history, long before the Turkification of the region by the Uyghurs and Kara-Khanid Khanate. By various Indo-European peoples, I do not just mean the Tocharians, either, since there were also the Wusun, Saka/Scythians, Sogdians, and Gandharis to name a few. They continued living there under the various periods of Chinese, Xiongnu, and Tibetan domination as well, although by the time the Mongols got there in the 13th century AD it had been thoroughly Islamized and Turkified. It used to be a major center of Buddhism before that point, as evidenced by the many caves, temples, and grottoes that still exist in the region, to say nothing of Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Nestorian Christianity.

[Kyffhäuser]

necro again

Roma_Victrix, by Jupiter if you see this, were these Indo-Europeans or indigenous Europeans? Or by 4000 years ago, was there a difference anymore?

[Ἀπολλόδοτος Α΄ ὁ Σωτήρ]

If by indigenous Europeans you mean the pre-IE people who inhabited Europe 4000 years ago, although by that time IE peoples have spread to most of Europe, then the answer is no.
They were IE peoples and spoke languages related to those spoken by other IE peoples in Europe and in Asia. They were either the Tocharians, a subgroup of IE people, or the Sakas who were an Eastern Iranian, also a wider subgroup of IE peoples, they could be both.

[Kyffhäuser]

Yes, by indigenous Europeans I mean indigenous Europeans. Thanks for answering.

[sumskilz]

Yes, by indigenous Europeans I mean indigenous Europeans. Thanks for answering.

Most of the ancestry of the people who lived in Europe before the Indo-Europeans wasn't really indigenous. It was from the people who brought farming to Europe from Anatolia and the Levant, but it sort of depends on how long it takes before you consider a group indigenous, which is kind of arbitrary. Anyway, the people who spread the Indo-European languages eastward were from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.

[Darios]

Most of the ancestry of the people who lived in Europe before the Indo-Europeans wasn't really indigenous. It was from the people who brought farming to Europe from Anatolia and the Levant, but it sort of depends on how long it takes before you consider a group indigenous, which is kind of arbitrary. Anyway, the people who spread the Indo-European languages eastward were from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.

Correct. Also, do not forget that Indo-European does not necessarily translates to "white" or "European" in the modern sense. Archaeologists have confirmed that Yamnaya culture people were originally from the Near East (before migrating north to the Pontic Steppe) possessing dark eyes and a skin tone darker than modern day Middle Easterners. From what I understand, it was not until they interacted with the Corded Ware cultures of Northern Eurasia that Indo-European speakers began taking on what we today consider to be "European" features. The later Andronovo (proto-Indo-Iranians) culture appears to have had a population possessing a combination of both Yamanya and Corded Ware DNA, and is possibly the source for the Europoid genetic features found among the Tarim Basin mummies.

[athanaric]

Most of the ancestry of the people who lived in Europe before the Indo-Europeans wasn't really indigenous. It was from the people who brought farming to Europe from Anatolia and the Levant, but it sort of depends on how long it takes before you consider a group indigenous, which is kind of arbitrary. Anyway, the people who spread the Indo-European languages eastward were from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.

Yeah, "indigenous", "native", and "aboriginal" are relative terms. That's why it's so moronic when people try to turn them into ethnonyms (as often happens in the case native Americans and Australians). I.e. the Western Hunter-gatherers were indigenous to Europe relative to the Early Neolithic Farmers, who were indigenous relative to the IE cultures, who are indigenous relative to the Uralic peoples, who are indigenous relative to more recent immigrants, etc.

[sumskilz]

Correct. Also, do not forget that Indo-European does not necessarily translates to "white" or "European" in the modern sense. Archaeologists have confirmed that Yamnaya culture people were originally from the Near East (before migrating north to the Pontic Steppe) possessing dark eyes and a skin tone darker than modern day Middle Easterners. From what I understand, it was not until they interacted with the Corded Ware cultures of Northern Eurasia that Indo-European speakers began taking on what we today consider to be "European" features. The later Andronovo (proto-Indo-Iranians) culture appears to have had a population possessing a combination of both Yamanya and Corded Ware DNA, and is possibly the source for the Europoid genetic features found among the Tarim Basin mummies.

Here are the allele frequencies of European associated phenotypes in Yamnaya samples:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They had the most significant light skin allele at 100%, same as in modern Europeans. In modern Middle Easterners, the frequency is 90-95% for most populations. However, the Yamnaya frequency of the second most significant light skin allele is only 40%. It's 40-60% in modern Middle Easterners. So yeah, it's probably safe to say that the lighter Yamnaya people had complexions similar to what's typical of modern Armenians or Georgians, some were darker like modern Iraqis for example. They carried the most significant blue/green eye allele at a frequency of about 10%. This would mean something like 99% of them had dark eyes because the phenotype is recessive.

Yamnaya ancestry was about half CHG (Caucasus Hunter Gatherer) and half EHG (Eastern Hunter Gatherer). The former lived on the south side of the Caucasus during the Mesolithic, the later were a group who lived in what is now Ukraine up to about the Karelia area during the Mesolithic. They were distinct from the WHG (Western Hunter Gatherer) people who lived in most of Europe.

The Corded Ware people had ancestry that was 79% Yamnaya (or Yamnaya-like) 4% WHG, and 17% Early Neolithic Farmer (ENF from Anatolia/the Levant originally). The people alive today most similar to the early farmers are Sardinians. So I don't think the Eastern Indo-Europeans got their European associated phenotypes from admixture with more western groups so much as there was simply natural selection in that direction over time. Corded Ware seems to be an offshoot of early Yamnaya or pre-Yamnaya however you want to think of it.

Anyway, here are some of the more important papers on the topic if anyone is interested:

Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians

Upper Palaeolithic genomes reveal deep roots of modern Eurasians

Yeah, "indigenous", "native", and "aboriginal" are relative terms. That's why it's so moronic when people try to turn them into ethnonyms (as often happens in the case native Americans and Australians). I.e. the Western Hunter-gatherers were indigenous to Europe relative to the Early Neolithic Farmers, who were indigenous relative to the IE cultures, who are indigenous relative to the Uralic peoples, who are indigenous relative to more recent immigrants, etc.

And, an interesting example that I've probably mentioned before here, the "indigenous" people of Greenland arrived long after the Norse did. I gave them the parentheses, but they are indigenous relative to the Danes who came later. Plenty of ridiculous politics around ownership of the word. I've heard (from people involved) that Assyrians have had their petition to UN to be considered an indigenous population of Iraq repeatedly rejected, often with contempt. That is their side of the story anyway.

[Kyffhäuser]

Most of the ancestry of the people who lived in Europe before the Indo-Europeans wasn't really indigenous. It was from the people who brought farming to Europe from Anatolia and the Levant, but it sort of depends on how long it takes before you consider a group indigenous, which is kind of arbitrary. Anyway, the people who spread the Indo-European languages eastward were from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.

Yes, I have to call them something. I've seen it used myself, and the guy with the greek name knew what I was talking about, so I'm not too worried about the taxonomy.

Thanks for reviving the topic with the new studies.

[Roma_Victrix]

This is the thread that just won't die! Sumskilz makes excellent posts and replies as usual, though.

Genetics and even culture aside, the region fell under Imperial China's political and military domination on and off from the Western Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC all the way to the mid Tang dynasty. After the An Lushan Rebellion in the mid-8th century AD, the Chinese kind of gave up on the region and the subsequent Song dynasty wasn't powerful enough to retake it given their rivals, the Western Xia Dynasty, blocking the way during the 10th, 11th and early 12th centuries, followed by the Jurchen Jin dynasty taking over northern China. Not long after that came the Mongols, who eventually united all of China into a more massive empire that included not just the Tarim Basin but also Mongolia, Tibet, & Korea (although the tributary Goryeo dynasty there was still on life support, at least until the rise of the Joseon dynasty). As I said before, though, the Mongols ruled over a Tarim Basin that was no longer Buddhist/Nestorian Christian/Manichaean/Zoroastrian or even Indo-Iranian in culture, but now thoroughly Turkic and Muslim.

At its height the subsequent Ming dynasty of the late medieval and early modern periods held sway over parts of Manchuria, Mongolia, and for a brief while even northern Vietnam, but even the Ming never wrestled control over the Tarim Basin (or Tibet for that matter), only the Hexi Corridor in Gansu leading to the Tarim Basin. By that point, and certainly by the time the Manchu-led Qing dynasty took over the Tarim Basin in the 17th century, it's peoples were basically Uyghur Turkic in both culture and appearance, especially after the genocide of the Dzungar Mongols living there. However, there are still some Uyghur Turkic people living there who look mixed race and even just straight up Europoid, sometimes with blond hair and light colored eyes. There is also still a small minority of Iranian speakers living there too, although the true linguistic descendants of the Sogdians are the Yaghnobi who live in Tajikistan.

[RandomPerson2000]

As I said before, though, the Mongols ruled over a Tarim Basin that was no longer Buddhist/Nestorian Christian/Manichaean/Zoroastrian or even Indo-Iranian in culture, but now thoroughly Turkic and Muslim.

That's not necessarily the case religious wise considering that even after the initial Mongol conquest of the Tarim Basin during the 13th century there was a still a few Buddhist and Nestorian holdouts in the region until the 14th century or the latter half of the 15th century such as the Uyghur kingdom of Qocho which lasted until 1389 when it was conquered by the Chagatai Khanate.

Further reading on the topic
Eurasian Corridors of Interconnection: From the South China to the Caspian Sea by Susan M. Walcott and Corey Johnson
The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3, Issue 2 by W. B. Fisher and Esham Yarshater
Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang by James A. Millward
Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall by Emeri J. van Donzel and Andrea Barbara Schmidt
A History of Inner Asia by Branko Soucek and Svat Soucek