Tarim mummies - mummified bodies of Caucasians of the 18th century BC e. - II century AD e., preserved in the arid conditions of the Takla-Makan Desert near Loulan (burial grounds Gumugou (Kyavrigul), Xiaohe, Ayala Mazar). Mummies were also found at the eastern end of the Tarim Basin around Turpan, near Niya, Cherchen and along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.
The earliest mummies can be dated back to the 18th century BC. e., the most recent - II century AD. e. They are distinguished by long, braided hair of a red or light blond shade.
Craniometric data testify to the anthropological similarity of the Tarim mummies with the carriers of the Afanasiev and Andronov cultures of southern Siberia (Indo-Europeans). The bodies have tattoos and makeup of a clearly ritual nature.
DNA research of seven male mummies from the burial ground of the Tarim Valley - Xiaohe (Malaya Rechka or "Cemetery No. 5") west of Lake Lop Nor (3980 ± 40 years ago) showed that they all belong to the Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1a1a. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA showed the presence of East Eurasian haplogroup C4 (in five men and nine women) and West Eurasian haplogroups H and K (in two women). For 2012, out of 12 identified Y-chromosomal haplogroups, 11 belong to the R1a1a subclade, 1 to the K paragroup.
The clothes are well preserved: loose dresses made of very thin fabrics, knitted trousers and checkered skirts, felt raincoats and leggings with a checkered pattern.
They had, for example, hats adorned with feathers and surprisingly reminiscent of the headdresses of the Tyrolean mountains. Woolen cloaks with tassels and leather shoes have also survived.
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Mummies have not lost their human features, and, according to archaeologists, one can guess their social affiliation - they look not just like dried up corpses, but like wealthy soldiers, merchants, artisans, peasants …
They wear clothes made of fabrics woven from dyed woolen threads of blue, brown and green colors.
“The checkered and diagonal patterns on the fabrics are of the Northern European type,” explains the archaeologist. - Together with the deceased, everything that a person needed in everyday life was put into the grave: pots, combs, needles, buckles and hairpins made of wood and bone, as well as whole loaves of bread and bundles of herbs. Weapons are rarely found in the graves.
Loulan beauty
Loulan beauty was nicknamed one of the oldest Tarim mummies. It belongs to a young Caucasian woman (180 cm tall and locks of light brown hair) and was found in 1980 in the vicinity of Loulan. The approximate age of the find is 3800 years.
The mummy is kept in the museum of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the city of Urumqi.
Near the Loulan beauty, the burial place of a 50-year-old "Cherchen man" with hair braided into two braids and a 3-month-old baby with a "bottle" made of cow horn and a teat made of sheep's udder was found.
Artifacts were also found: a sieve, a cap, a woven bag with wheat grains. Presumably, the burial belongs to the ancient Indo-Europeans (Afanasyev culture or Tochars).
How did the blonde strangers end up in such remote areas of Asia? Where did they go then? No replies found.
