The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BC to the first centuries BC.
[1][2][3] The mummies, particularly the early ones, are frequently associated with the presence of the
Indo-European Tocharian languages in the
Tarim Basin,
[4] although the evidence is not totally conclusive and many centuries separate these mummies from the first attestation of the Tocharian languages in writing.
Victor H. Mair's team concluded that the mummies are
Caucasoid, likely speakers of Indo-European languages such as the
Tocharians.
en.wikipedia.org
------------------------------------------------------
Writing in the journals BMC Genetics and BMC Biology, Chunxiang Li, an ancient DNA specialist at Jilin University, and colleagues report on their analysis of human remains from the Xiaohe tomb complex also on the eastern edge of the basin. Dating to about 4000 years before present, the site boasts notable artifacts like "numerous large phallus and vulva posts made of poplar, striking wooden human figurines and masts, well-preserved boat coffins, leather hides," as well as grain and other preserved organic material, they write. More importantly, Xiaohe has produced the oldest, best-preserved mummies in the Tarim Basin, ideal for testing hypotheses about the origins of these people, and the site spans a millennium, making it ideal for looking into population interaction after initial settlement.
In a Feb. 18, 2011 photo, the Beauty of Xiaohe, a mummy discovered in the Tarim Basin in far western... [+]
From the earliest layer of burials, Li and colleagues tested 20 individuals who produced affinities with 5 different mitochondrial DNA
haplogroups, or major branches on the female side of the genetic family tree. "The dominant haplogroup," they write, "in the Xiaohe people was the East Eurasian lineage C" which corresponds with a likely origin in South Siberia. But there were also "two West Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups H and K." In looking more closely at the lineages and mutations, however, Li and colleagues noted that several of the samples had mutations that are either rare in modern people or are not found in modern gene banks. They further analyzed Y chromosome haplogroups to attempt to identify major branches of the male line. But all seven males in the study belonged to a haplogroup that is widely distributed throughout Eurasia.
Almost a century after their discovery, the European-looking Tarim mummies found in China continue to produce surprising DNA results.
www.forbes.com
www.tourism-review.com
![In a Feb. 18, 2011 photo, the Beauty of Xiaohe, a mummy discovered in the Tarim Basin in far western... [+] China, is shown at the Secrets of the Silk Road exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. The exhibit is scheduled to run through until March 15. Philadelphia is the final stop before the artifacts return to China. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fthumbor.forbes.com%2Fthumbor%2F960x0%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fspecials-images.forbesimg.com%252Fimageserve%252Fba215a390a4c43cc983d52b6999a4c79%252F640x0.jpg%253Ffit%253Dscale&hash=6c4b624d7f4ed190bbc203c9b8130146 "In a Feb. 18, 2011 photo, the Beauty of Xiaohe, a mummy discovered in the Tarim Basin in far western... [+] China, is shown at the Secrets of the Silk Road exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. The exhibit is scheduled to run through until March 15. Philadelphia is the final stop before the artifacts return to China. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)")
