It often happens that archaeological finds overturn the usual ideas about the course of history.
Thus, the Tarim mummies found in China make you take a fresh look at the ancient highly developed civilization. Archaeologists have discovered in the Taklamakan desert well-preserved remains of the people of the white race.
The find casts doubt on the Chinese belief that all the achievements accumulated over the centuries originally belonged to them.
Inconvenient opening
At the beginning of the last century, the Swedish scientist and traveler Sven Gedin made an expedition to the places where the Silk Road ran. Part of his route passed through the Taklamakan Desert. There, not far from the dry lake Lop Nor, Gedin found ancient burials. After the opening of the graves, it immediately became clear that these were the remains of people who did not belong to the Mongoloid race. The scientist brought an interesting find to European museums. But it was not possible to study the remains in detail - the First World War began. Gedin went to the front, wrote materials about the valor of German soldiers. And after the defeat of Germany, he began to support the Nazis.
Sven Hedin.
It is clear that the attitude of European scientists to Gedin was appropriate. Therefore, they were in no hurry to study his findings. However, like the mummies brought later by other travelers. Only in 1934, when the Swedish archaeologist Bergman found another 200 similar mummies in Xinjiang, the scientific community showed interest in them.
Expeditions of Sven Gedin to Tibet and Central Asia, 1886-1934
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But the Chinese authorities, promoting the uniqueness of their civilization, reacted negatively to the find. After all, these were not just mummies - things were buried with them, testifying to the high level of development of an unknown people. Not Mongoloid! But it was believed that the Chinese were the first to engage in agriculture, invented the wheel, discovered iron, tamed horses, and indeed were a unique civilization. And then suddenly there were some people who created all this long before them! Then foreigners were strictly forbidden to visit Xinjiang and examine the mummies found.
Facts are stubborn things
When in 1977 Chinese archaeologists under the leadership of Weng Binghua in Kizilchok discovered 113 more burials, the remains of which clearly could not belong to the Chinese, it became useless to hide something. But as much as possible, the authorities tried to avoid the hype by sending the finds to a small museum in Urumqi.
Perhaps everything would have been covered with dust, as before, if it were not for the American archaeologist Mayr, who visited this museum in 1987. He was immediately interested in mummies in purple, checkered, woolen, well-made clothes and felt shoes. Everything about the dead was not like the Chinese: red or blonde hair, hooked noses, European eyes. The jaws of the mummies were apparently tied, but time loosened the bandages, so many of them had their mouths open.
The scientist spent 5 years trying to get permission from the Chinese authorities to study the exhibits. But during this time they have already been returned to the burial ground, citing the fact that the museum is not able to preserve them. Mayre and his colleagues had to re-excavate. After that, a DNA analysis was carried out, which showed that the mummies absolutely definitely belong to the white race.
The tribes of these people, who lived in China from 2 to 4 thousand years ago, paved the famous Silk Road. And not the Chinese, as was commonly believed.
The blue-eyed, blonde-haired leaders who contributed to the development of Chinese civilization were often mentioned in legends and were considered just fiction.
By 1990, mummies were still found in the province of Valu, but in 1998 the government forbade further excavations, fearing that new facts of the presence of white people in ancient China would be revealed.
Who are these people?
After careful examination of the finds, scientists noticed the similarity of features between the mummies from the Tarim basin and the mummy of the Pazyryk man, exhibited in the Hermitage. As for the fabrics, they, as experts say, are similar to the Celtic weaving and tartan pattern. DNA analysis of the mummies, carried out in 2007, showed that mixed blood flowed in their veins.
In accordance with the existing theory of the migration of peoples to the Tarim Basin, on their long journey, they entered into relations with other tribes. And yet, it is not known exactly what kind of people got to these places.
18th century Caucasian mummies BC e. - II century. n. e., in the Taklamakan desert.
The well-preserved two-meter man looked almost like a man sleeping in a hammock.
The white-skinned giant with curly brown hair and a Roman-Teutonic profile was wearing a robe belted with a plaited rope, trousers, colored knitted stockings and leather chuvyaki. The remains of three women rested nearby: two blondes and a reddish brown-haired woman 191 cm tall.
Even more ancient mummies - a thousand years older than the "Cherchen man", as the "two-meter Viking" was dubbed - were found in the town of Doulan.
Among them is a mummy of a completely European-looking woman, whose face was so beautiful that people called her "a sleeping beauty."
By the way, a knitted bag with wheat seeds and a sieve for sifting the grains was put in her grave. Considering that only rice was known in Ancient China, then, therefore, the "beauty" came with her people to China from the west. Where - it is unknown.
Bronze items suggested that the settlers were from Mesopotamia. The saddle and the remains of a horse clearly indicated a Scythian footprint. And the fragments of a wheel found in one of the burials coincided with the same parts of the carriage found in Ukraine, but even more ancient.
When all the pieces of the puzzle were added together, it turned out that the lands of Ancient China were densely populated by representatives of various European tribes.
Having suffered a fiasco with the attributes of everyday life, scientists resorted to the help of geneticists. Taking DNA from 12 mummies, they concluded that these bodies did indeed belong to different groups of people. Presumably Sarmatians, Tochars and Scythians.
A secondary examination by Dr. Hui Zhou of Jilin University confirmed this fact. The report, published in a scientific journal, says: “In all the men whose remains were analyzed, experts found Y chromosomes, today characteristic of the inhabitants of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia, but very rare in China. Mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down the female line, also points to Siberia and Europe.
Since the discovered Y chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA have ancient origins, Dr. Zhou concluded that the inhabitants of Europe and Siberia became related before coming to the Tarim Basin about 4000 years ago.