View source for Tarim mummies

{{short description|Series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name=Tarim mummies
| map          = 
{{Continental Asia in 2000 BCE|center|||Map of the Tarim Mummies.png|none}}
| mapcaption   = Location of the Tarim mummies (<small>{{Colorsample|#DEB887|0.6}}</small>), with other contemporary cultures {{c.|2000 BCE}}
|period = [[Bronze Age]]
|dates = c. [[21st century BC|2100 BCE]] – [[1 BC|1 BCE]]
|region = [[Taklamakan Desert]] in the [[Tarim Basin]]
|precededby  = [[Afanasievo culture]]
|followedby  = [[Tocharians]]
}}
[[File:Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum Urumqi Xinjiang China 新疆 乌鲁木齐 新疆维吾尔自治区博物馆 - panoramio (2).jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The "Xiaohe Mummy", exhibited in Xinjiang Museum, is one of the oldest Tarim mummies, dating more than 3800 years ago. Another mummy from the same place is the "[[Princess of Xiaohe]]".]]
The '''Tarim mummies''' are a series of [[Mummy|mummies]] discovered in the [[Tarim Basin]] in present-day [[Xinjiang]], [[China]], which date from [[Tarim Basin#Early periods|1800 BCE to the first centuries BCE]],<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/asia/19mummy.html |title=The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn't Care to Listen To |last=Wong |first=Edward |date=18 November 2008 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=10 May 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=237}}<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Wade |title=A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/science/16archeo.html?pagewanted=1 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 March 2010 |access-date=9 June 2011}}</ref> with a new group of individuals recently dated to between c. 2100 and 1700 BCE.<ref name="School of Life Sciences">School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, China, (2021). [https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/view/PRJEB46875?show=reads "The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies"], in ENA, European Nucleotide Archive.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Shuicheng |first=Li |title=Ancient Interactions in Eurasia and Northwest China: Revisiting J. G. Andersson's Legacy |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities |volume=75 |date=2003 |publisher=Fälth & Hässler |location=Stockholm |page=13 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_kzrAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA13 |quote=Biological anthropological research indicates that the physical characteristics of those buried at Gumugou cemetery along the Kongque River near Lop Nur in Xinjiang  are very similar to those of the Andronovo culture and Afanasievo culture people from Siberia in Southern Russia. This suggests that all of these individuals belong to the Caucasian physical type. Additionally, excavations in 2002 by Xinjiang archaeologists at the site of Xiaohe cemetery, first discovered by the Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman, uncovered mummies and wooden human effigies that clearly have Europoid features. According to the preliminary excavation report, the cultural features and chronology of this site are said to be quite similar to those of Gumugou.  Other sites in Xinjiang also contain both individuals with Caucasian features and ones with Mongolian features. For example, this pattern occurs at the [[Yanbulark cemetery]] in Xinjiang, but individuals with Mongoloid features are clearly dominant. The above evidence is enough to show that, starting around 2,000 BCE some so-called primitive Caucasians expanded eastward to the Xinjiang area as far as the area around Hami and Lop Nur. By the end of the second millennium, another group of people from Central Asia started to move over the Pamirs and gradually dispersed in southern Xinjiang. These western groups mixed with local Mongoloids resulting in an amalgamation of culture and race in middle Xinjiang east to the Tianshan.}}</ref> The Tarim population to which the earliest mummies belonged was agropastoral, and they lived c. 2000 BCE in what was formerly a freshwater environment, which has now become desertified.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Doumani Dupuy |first=Paula N. |title=The unexpected ancestry of Inner Asian mummies |journal=Nature |date=November 2021 |volume=599 |issue=7884 |pages=204–206 |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-02872-1 |pmid=34707262 |bibcode=2021Natur.599..204D |s2cid=240072156 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02872-1 |language=en|quote=The basin holds several intact Bronze Age cemeteries of a founding population known as the agropastoral Xiaohe culture, which formed around 2100 BCE in what were then freshwater environments (the Bronze Age spanned from about 3000 to 1000 BCE).|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A genomic study published in 2021 found that these early mummies (dating from 2,135 to 1,623 BCE) had high levels of [[Ancient North Eurasian]] ancestry (ANE, about 72%), with smaller admixture from [[Ancient Northeast Asians]] (ANA, about 28%), but no detectable [[Western Steppe Herder|Western Steppe-related ancestry]].<ref name="Zhang 2021a"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nägele |first1=Kathrin |last2=Rivollat |first2=Maite |last3=Yu |first3=He |last4=Wang |first4=Ke |year=2022 |title=Ancient genomic research – From broad strokes to nuanced reconstructions of the past |journal=Journal of Anthropological Sciences |volume=100 |issue=100 |pages=193–230 |doi=10.4436/jass.10017 |pmid=36576953 |quote=Combining genomic and proteomic evidence, researchers revealed that these earliest residents in the Tarim Basin carried genetic ancestry inherited from local Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, carried no steppe-related  ancestry, but consumed milk products, indicating communications of persistence practices independent from genetic exchange.}}</ref> They formed a genetically isolated local population that "adopted neighbouring pastoralist and agriculturalist practices, which allowed them to settle and thrive along the shifting riverine oases of the Taklamakan Desert."{{sfn|Zhang|2021}} These mummified individuals were long suspected to have been "[[Proto-Tocharian]]-speaking pastoralists", ancestors of the [[Tocharians]], but this has now been largely discredited by their absence of a genetic connection with [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]-speaking migrants, particularly the [[Afanasievo]] or [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] cultures.<ref>{{harvnb|Zhang|2021}}: "Our results do not support previous hypotheses for the origin of the Tarim mummies, who were argued to be Proto-Tocharian-speaking pastoralists descended from the Afanasievo, or to have originated among the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex or Inner Asian Mountain Corridor cultures. Instead, although Tocharian may have been plausibly introduced to the Dzungarian Basin by Afanasievo migrants during the Early Bronze Age, we find that the earliest Tarim Basin cultures appear to have arisen from a genetically isolated local population that adopted neighbouring pastoralist and agriculturalist practices, which allowed them to settle and thrive along the shifting riverine oases of the Taklamakan Desert."</ref>

Later Tarim Mummies dated to the Iron Age (1st millennium BCE), such as those of the [[Subeshi culture]], have characteristics closely resembling those of the [[Saka]] ([[Scythian]]) [[Pazyryk culture]] of the [[Altai Mountains]], in particular in the areas of weaponry, horse gear and garments.<ref name=LX>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Xiao |last2=Wagner |first2=Mayke |last3=Wu |first3=Xiaohong |last4=Tarasov |first4=Pavel |last5=Zhang |first5=Yongbin |last6=Schmidt |first6=Arno |last7=Goslar |first7=Tomasz |last8=Gresky |first8=Julia |title=Archaeological and palaeopathological study on the third/second century BC grave from Turfan, China: Individual health history and regional implications |journal=Quaternary International |date=21 March 2013 |volume=290–291 |pages=335–343 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2012.05.010 |bibcode=2013QuInt.290..335L |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.05.010 |issn=1040-6182|quote=The whole graveyard including tomb M2 belongs to the Subeixi culture, associated with the [[Cheshi]] (Chü-shih) state known from Chinese historical sources (Sinor, 1990). Archaeological and historical data attest it as society with a developed agro-pastoral economy, that existed in and north of the Turfan Basin (Fig. 1) during the first millennium BC. The Subeixi weaponry, horse gear and garments (Mallory and Mair, 2000; Lü, 2001) resemble those of the Pazyryk culture (Molodin and Polos'mak, 2007), suggesting contacts between Subeixi and the Scythians living in the Altai Mountains.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They are candidates as the Iron Age predecessors of the [[Tocharians]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |title=The Problem of Tocharian Origins: An Archaeological Perspective |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=2015 |page=24 |url=https://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp259_tocharian_origins.pdf}}</ref> The rather recent easternmost mummies at [[Qumul]] ([[Yanbulaq culture]], 1100–500 BCE), provide the earliest Asian mummies found in the Tarim Basin, and have a mix of "Europoid" and "Mongoloid" mummies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benjamin |first1=Craig |title=Empires of Ancient Eurasia: The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-63540-0 |page=45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3U1UDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |language=en |quote=...&nbsp;the fact that in cemeteries such as [[Yanbulaq]] both Europoid and Mongoloid mummies have been found together, also indicates some degree of interaction between existing farming populations and newly arrived nomadic migrants from the West.}}</ref>{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=237}}

==Archaeological record==
[[File:Map of the Tarim Mummies (Tarim detail).png|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Tarim Basin]], with the [[Taklamakan Desert]], and area of the Tarim mummies (<small>{{Colorsample|#DEB887|0.6}}</small>) with main burial sites.]]
[[File:AurelSteinWithDog.jpg|thumb|Sir [[Aurel Stein]] in the Tarim Basin, 1910]]
At the beginning of the 20th century, European explorers such as [[Sven Hedin]], [[Albert von Le Coq]] and Sir [[Aurel Stein]] all recounted their discoveries of [[desiccation|desiccated]] bodies in their search for [[antiquities]] in [[Central Asia]].{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=10}} Since then, numerous other mummies have been found and analyzed, many of them now displayed in the museums of Xinjiang. Most of these mummies were found on the eastern end of the [[Tarim Basin]] (around the area of [[Lopnur]], [[Subeshi]] near [[Turpan]], [[Loulan Kingdom|Loulan]], [[Yanbulaq culture|Kumul]]), or along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin ([[Khotan]], [[Niya (Tarim Basin)|Niya]], and [[Cherchen]] or [[Qiemo County|Qiemo]]).

According to {{harvtxt|Mallory|Mair|2000}}, the earliest Tarim mummies, found at [[Qäwrighul]] (Gumugou) and dated to 2135–1939 BCE, were classified in a [[Craniometry|craniometric]] analysis as belonging to a "Proto-Europoid" type, whose closest affiliation is to the [[Bronze Age]] populations of southern [[Siberia]], [[Kazakhstan]], Central Asia, and the [[Volga River#Human history|Lower Volga]].{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=237}} A revised craniometric analyses by {{harvtxt|Hemphill|Mallory|2003}} on the early Tarim mummies (Qäwrighul) failed to demonstrate close phenetic affinities to "Europoid populations", but rather found that they formed their own cluster, distinct from the European-related Steppe pastoralists of the [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]] and [[Afanasievo culture|Afanasievo cultures]], or the inhabitants of the Western Asian [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] culture. Later Tarim mummies displayed varying affinities with Andronovo-like, BMAC-like or Han-like populations, suggesting different waves of migration into the Tarim basin.<ref>{{harvnb|Hemphill|Mallory|2003}}: "The results fail to demonstrate close phenetic affinities between the early inhabitants of Qäwrighul and any of the proposed sources for immigrants to the Tarim Basin. The absence of close affinities to outside populations renders it unlikely that the human remains recovered from Qäwrighul represent the unadmixed remains of colonists from the Afanasievo or Andronovo cultures of the steppe lands, or inhabitants of the urban centers of the Oxus civilization of Bactria."</ref>

Notable mummies are the tall, red-haired "[[Cherchen Man|Chärchän man]]" or the "Ur-David" (1000&nbsp;BCE); his son (1000&nbsp;BCE), a 1-year-old baby with brown hair protruding from under a red and blue felt cap, with two stones positioned over its eyes; the "Hami Mummy" (c. 1400–800 BCE), a "red-headed beauty" found in Qizilchoqa; and the "Witches of Subeshi" (4th or 3rd century BCE), who wore {{convert|2|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} black felt conical hats with a flat brim.<ref>Though modern Westerners tend to identify this type of hat as the headgear of a witch, there is evidence that these pointed hats were widely worn by both women and men in some Central Asian tribes. For instance, the Persian king Darius recorded a victory over the "Sakas of the pointed hats". The Subeshi headgear is likely an ethnic badge or a symbol of position in the society.</ref> Also found at Subeshi was a man with traces of a surgical operation on his abdomen; the incision is sewn up with sutures made of horsehair.<ref name="The Mummies of Xinjiang">{{cite news |url=http://discovermagazine.com/1994/apr/themummiesofxinj359 |title=The Mummies of Xinjiang |work=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]] |date=1 April 1994 }}</ref>

Many of the mummies have been found in very good condition, owing to the dryness of the desert and the desiccation it produced in the corpses. The mummies share many typical Caucasian body features, and many of them have their hair physically intact, ranging in color from blond to red to deep brown, and generally long, curly and braided. Their costumes, and especially [[textiles]], may indicate a common origin with Indo-European [[neolithic]] clothing techniques or a common low-level textile technology. Chärchän man wore a red [[twill]] tunic and [[tartan]] leggings. Textile expert [[Elizabeth Wayland Barber]], who examined the tartan-style cloth, discusses similarities between it and fragments recovered from [[salt mines]] associated with the [[Hallstatt culture]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Christopher P. |last1=Thornton |first2=Theodore G. |last2=Schurr |title=Genes, language, and culture: an example from the Tarim Basin |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=83–106 |year=2004 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.2004.00203.x }}</ref> As a result of the arid conditions and exceptional preservation, tattoos have been identified on mummies from several sites around the Tarim Basin, including Qäwrighul, [[Yanghai]], [[Shengjindian]], Shanpula (Sampul), Zaghunluq, and Qizilchoqa.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Deter-Wolf |first1=Aaron |last2=Robitaille |first2=Benoît |last3=Krutak |first3=Lars |last4=Galliot |first4=Sébastien |title=The World's Oldest Tattoos |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=February 2016 |volume=5 |pages=19–24 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.11.007|bibcode=2016JArSR...5...19D |s2cid=162580662 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01227846 }}</ref>

It has been asserted that the textiles found with the mummies are of an early European textile type based on close similarities to fragmentary textiles found in salt mines in [[Austria]], dating from the second millennium BCE. Anthropologist Irene Good, a specialist in early Eurasian textiles, noted the woven diagonal twill pattern indicated the use of a rather sophisticated loom and said that the textile is "the easternmost known example of this kind of weaving technique".<ref name="The Mummies of Xinjiang"/>

The cemetery at [[Yanbulaq culture|Yanbulaq]] contained 29 mummies which dated from 1100 to 500&nbsp;BCE, 21 of which are [[Asian people|Asian]]—the earliest Asian mummies found in the Tarim Basin—and eight of which are of the same Caucasian physical type as found at Qäwrighul.{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=237}}

==Genetic studies==
[[File:EuropoidMaskLopNurChina2000-1000BCE.jpg|thumb|upright|Mask from Lop Nur, China, 2000–1000&nbsp;[[BCE]]]]

In 1995, Mair claimed that "the earliest mummies in the Tarim Basin were exclusively [[Caucasian race|Caucasoid]], or [[Europoid]]" with east Asian migrants arriving in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin around 3,000 years ago while the [[Uyghurs|Uyghur]] peoples arrived around the year 842. In trying to trace the origins of these populations, Victor Mair's team suggested that they may have arrived in the region by way of the [[Pamir Mountains]] about 5,000 years ago.

Mair has claimed that:
{{blockquote|The new finds are also forcing a reexamination of old Chinese books that describe historical or legendary figures of great height, with deep-set blue or green eyes, long noses, full beards, and red or blond hair. Scholars have traditionally scoffed at these accounts, but it now seems that they may be accurate.<ref name="Mair V">{{cite journal |last=Mair |first=Victor H. |title=Mummies of the Tarim Basin |journal=Archaeology |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=28–35 [30] |year=1995 }}</ref>}}
In 2007, the Chinese government allowed a [[National Geographic Society]] team headed by [[Spencer Wells]] to examine the mummies' DNA. Wells was able to extract undegraded DNA from the internal tissues. The scientists extracted enough material to suggest the Tarim Basin was continually inhabited from 2000&nbsp;BCE to 300&nbsp;BCE and preliminary results indicate the people, rather than having a single origin, originated from Europe, [[Mesopotamia]], Indus Valley and other regions yet to be determined.<ref name="genetics">{{cite journal |doi=10.1186/1741-7007-8-15|title=Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age |year=2010 |last1=Li |first1=Chunxiang |last2=Li |first2=Hongjie |last3=Cui |first3=Yinqiu |last4=Xie |first4=Chengzhi |last5=Cai |first5=Dawei |last6=Li |first6=Wenying |last7=Victor |first7=Mair H. |last8=Xu |first8=Zhi |last9=Zhang |first9=Quanchao |last10=Abuduresule |first10=Idelisi |last11=Jin |first11=Li |last12=Zhu |first12=Hong |last13=Zhou |first13=Hui |display-authors=6 |journal=BMC Biology |volume=8 |number=15 |page=15 |pmid=20163704 |pmc=2838831 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Burial goods excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery (Burial XHM66 from layer 4).jpg|thumb|left|upright=.5|Burial XHM66 from Xiaohe cemetery, with boat-shaped coffin and mummified remains dressed in woollen garments.{{sfn|Zhang|2021}}]]
A 2008 study by [[Jilin University]] showed that the Yuansha population has relatively close relationships with the modern populations of South Central Asia and [[Indus Valley]], as well as with the ancient population of Chawuhu.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11427-008-0034-8 | doi=10.1007/s11427-008-0034-8 | title=Mitochondrial DNA analysis of human remains from the Yuansha site in Xinjiang, China | year=2008 | last1=Gao | first1=Shizhu | last2=Cui | first2=Yinqiu | last3=Yang | first3=Yidai | last4=Duan | first4=Ranhui | last5=Abuduresule | first5=Idelisi | last6=Mair | first6=Victor H. | last7=Zhu | first7=Hong | last8=Zhou | first8=Hui | journal=Science in China Series C: Life Sciences | volume=51 | issue=3 | pages=205–213 | pmid=18246308 | s2cid=1636381 | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="genetics2">{{cite journal |doi=10.1186/s12863-015-0237-5 |title=Analysis of ancient human mitochondrial DNA from the Xiaohe cemetery: Insights into prehistoric population movements in the Tarim Basin, China |year=2015 |last1=Li |first1=Chunxiang |last2=Ning |first2=Chao |last3=Hagelberg |first3=Erika |last4=Li |first4=Hongjie |last5=Zhao |first5=Yongbin |last6=Li |first6=Wenying|last7=Abuduresule|first7=Idelisi|last8=Zhu |first8=Hong |last9=Zhou |first9=Hui |display-authors=6 |journal=BMC Genetics |volume=16 |page=78 |pmid=26153446 |pmc=4495690 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Between 2009 and 2015, the remains of 92 individuals found at the [[Xiaohe Tomb complex]] were analyzed for [[Y-DNA]] and [[mtDNA]] markers. Genetic analyses of the mummies showed that the maternal lineages of the Xiaohe people originated from both East Asia and West Eurasia, whereas the paternal lineages all originated from West Eurasia. The East Eurasian mtDNA carried by the Tarim mummies is mtDNA haplogroup C and the particular subclade found in the Tarim mummies originates from southeast Siberians like [[Udege people|Udeghe]] and [[Evenks]] and not from East Asians, who carry mtDNA haplogroup C at a far lower rate and carry different subclades of mtDNA C.<ref name="genetics" />

[[Mitochondrial DNA]] analysis showed that maternal lineages carried by the people at Xiaohe included mtDNA [[haplogroup]]s [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)|H]], [[Haplogroup K (mtDNA)|K]], [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U5|U5]], [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U7|U7]], [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U2|U2e]], [[Haplogroup T (mtDNA)|T]] and [[Haplogroup R (mtDNA)|R*]], which are now most common in West Eurasia. Also found were haplogroups common in modern populations from East Asia: [[Haplogroup B (mtDNA)|B5]], [[Haplogroup D (mtDNA)|D]] and [[Haplogroup G (mtDNA)|G2a]]. Haplogroups now common in Central Asian or Siberian populations included: [[Haplogroup C (mtDNA)#Haplogroup C4|C4]] and [[Haplogroup C (mtDNA)#Haplogroup C5|C5]]. Haplogroups later regarded as typically South Asian included [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|M5]] and [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|M*]].<ref name="genetics2" />

Li et al. (2010) found that nearly all – 11 out of 12 males, or around 92% – belonged to [[Y-DNA haplogroup]] [[Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA)|R1a1a-M198]],<ref>Li, 2010</ref> which are now most common in Northern India and Eastern Europe; the remaining one belonged to the exceptionally rare paragroup [[Haplogroup K-M9#Origins and distribution|K*]] (M9) from Asia.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=http://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-10183-1012365432.htm |script-title=zh:中国北方古代人群Y染色体遗传多样性研究 |language=zh |trans-title=Study on Genetic Diversity of Y-chromosome in Ancient Inhabitants of Northern China |publisher=[[Jilin University]] |date=2012 |type=PhD |access-date=3 May 2015 |archive-date=13 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013071233/http://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-10183-1012365432.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Clémence |last1=Hollard |first2=Vincent |last2=Zvénigorosky |first3=Alexey |last3=Kovalev |first4=Yurii |last4=Kiryushin |first5=Alexey |last5=Tishkin |first6=Igor |last6=Lazaretov |first7=Eric |last7=Crubézy |first8=Bertrand |last8=Ludes |first9=Christine |last9=Keyser |display-authors=6 |title=New genetic evidence of affinities and discontinuities between bronze age Siberian populations |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=167 |issue=1 |pages=97–107 |year=2018 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.23607 |pmid=29900529 |s2cid=205337212 }}</ref>

The geographic location of this admixing is unknown, although south Siberia is likely.<ref name="genetics"/>

In 2021 the School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, China, analyzed 13 individuals from the Tarim basin, dated to c. 2100–1700 BCE, and assigned 2 to [[Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA)|Y-haplogroup R1b1b-PH155/PH4796]] (R1b1c in ISOGG2016), 1 – to [[Haplogroup R1 (Y-DNA)|Y-haplogroup R1-PF6136]] (xR1a, xR1b1a).<ref name="School of Life Sciences" /><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04052-7/tables/1 |title=Extended Data. Table 1. A summary of the Bronze Age Xinjiang individuals reported in this study |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]}}</ref>

===Derivation from Ancient North Eurasians===
[[File:Eurasian genetic ancestry components (K8).jpg|thumb|Frequency of Eurasian ancestral components in the context of the early Tarim mummies. ANE-like ancestry, maximized in the Paleolithic Afontova Gora 3 specimen as well as in the "Tarim_EMBA1" samples, is displayed in red.]]
A 2021 genetic study on the Tarim mummies (13 mummies, including 11 from [[Xiaohe Cemetery]], ranging from 2,135 to 1,623 BCE) found that they were most closely related to an earlier identified group called the [[Ancient North Eurasian]]s, particularly the population represented by the ''[[Afontova Gora]] 3'' specimen (AG3), genetically displaying "high affinity" with it.<ref>{{harvnb|Zhang|2021}}: "To understand this mixed genetic profile, we used qpAdm to explore admixture models of the Dzungarian groups with Tarim_EMBA1 or a terminal Pleistocene individual (AG3) from the Siberian site of Afontova Gora31, as a source (Supplementary Data 1D). AG3 is a distal representative of the ANE ancestry and shows a high affinity with Tarim_EMBA1."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Western China's mysterious mummies were local descendants of ice age ancestors |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/western-china-s-mysterious-mummies-were-local-descendants-ice-age-ancestors |website=Science.org}}</ref> The genetic profile of the ''Afontova Gora 3'' individual represented about 72% of the ancestry of the Tarim mummies from Xiaohe, while the remaining 28% of their ancestry was derived from [[Ancient Northeast Asians]] (ANA, Early Bronze Age [[Baikal Lake|Baikal]] populations).<ref name="Zhang 2021a">{{harvnb|Zhang|2021}}: "Using qpAdm, we modelled the Tarim Basin individuals as a mixture of two ancient autochthonous Asian genetic groups: the ANE, represented by an Upper Palaeolithic individual from the Afontova Gora site in the upper Yenisei River region of Siberia (AG3) (about 72%), and ancient Northeast Asians, represented by Baikal_EBA (about 28%)."</ref> Tarim mummies from Beifang have a slightly higher amount of ANA ancestry and can be modelled as having 89% Xiaohe-like ancestry and about 11% ANA ancestry.{{sfn|Zhang|2021}} The Tarim mummies are thus one of the rare [[Holocene]] populations who derive most of their ancestry from the [[Ancient North Eurasians]] (ANE, specifically the [[Mal'ta]] and Afontova Gora populations), despite their distance in time (around 14,000 years).<ref name="Zhang 2021b">{{harvnb|Zhang|2021}}: "The Tarim mummies are among only a few known Holocene populations that derive the majority of their ancestry from Pleistocene ANE groups, who once made up the huntergatherer populations of southern Siberia, and which are represented by individual genomes from the archaeological sites of Mal'ta (MA-1)29 and Afontova Gora (AG3). (...) The Tarim mummies are currently the best representative of the pre-pastoralist ANE-related population that once inhabited Central Asia and southern Siberia (Extended Data Fig. 2A), even though Tarim_EMBA1 postdates these populations in time."</ref> More than any other ancient population, the Tarim mummies can be considered as "the best representatives" of the Ancient North Eurasians.<ref name="Zhang 2021b"/>


When compared with other ANE-derived Holocene poulations, the early Tarim mummies from Xiaohe ("Tarim_EMBA1") display the highest genetic affinity to Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers from the [[Altai Mountains]] (5500–3500 BCE). Tarim_EMBA1 and Altai hunter-gatherers can be successfully modeled from each other in both directions: Altai hunter-gatherers can be modeled as a 2-source admixture between Tarim_EMBA1 and [[Ancient Paleo-Siberian]]s, while conversely, Tarim_EMBA1 can be modeled as an even mixture of Altai hunter-gatherers and the ANE-genome AG3 from [[Afontova Gora]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Ke |last2=Yu |first2=He |last3=Radzevičiūtė |first3=Rita |last4=Kiryushin |first4=Yuriy F. |last5=Tishkin |first5=Alexey A. |last6=Frolov |first6=Yaroslav V. |last7=Stepanova |first7=Nadezhda F. |last8=Kiryushin |first8=Kirill Yu. |last9=Kungurov |first9=Artur L. |last10=Shnaider |first10=Svetlana V. |last11=Tur |first11=Svetlana S. |last12=Tiunov |first12=Mikhail P. |last13=Zubova |first13=Alisa V. |last14=Pevzner |first14=Maria |last15=Karimov |first15=Timur |date=6 February 2023 |title=Middle Holocene Siberian genomes reveal highly connected gene pools throughout North Asia |url= |journal=Current Biology |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=423–433.e5 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.062 |issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free |pmid=36638796 |bibcode=2023CBio...33E.423W }}</ref>

Tests on their genetic legacy also found that many groups in [[Demographics of Central Asia|Central Asia]] and [[Xinjiang]] derive varying degrees of ancestry from a population related to the Tarim mummies. The [[Tajik people]] show the relative highest affinity with the Tarim mummies, although their main ancestry is linked to Bronze Age Steppe pastoralists ([[Western Steppe Herders]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Shan-Shan |last1=Dai |first2=Xierzhatijiang |last2=Sulaiman |first3=Jainagul |last3=Isakova |first4=Wei-Fang |last4=Xu |first5=Najmudinov Tojiddin |last5=Abdulloevich |first6=Manilova Elena |last6=Afanasevna |first7=Khudoidodov Behruz |last7=Ibrohimovich |first8=Xi |last8=Chen |first9=Wei-Kang |last9=Yang |first10=Ming-Shan |last10=Wang |first11=Quan-Kuan |last11=Shen |first12=Xing-Yan |last12=Yang |first13=Yong-Gang |last13=Yao |first14=Almaz A. |last14=Aldashev |first15=Abdusattor |last15=Saidov |first16=Wei |last16=Chen |first17=Lu-Feng |last17=Cheng |first18=Min-Sheng |last18=Peng |first19=Ya-Ping |last19=Zhang |display-authors=6 |date=25 August 2022 |title=The Genetic Echo of the Tarim Mummies in Modern Central Asians |url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590 |access-date=17 December 2022 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=39 |issue=9 |pages=msac179 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msac179|pmid=36006373 |pmc=9469894 }}</ref>

[[File:Genetic ancestry and admixture of ancient populations of Eurasia.png|thumb|center|upright=3.5|Genetic ancestry and admixture of ancient populations of Eurasia. The Tarim mummies (<small>{{Colorsample|#FFd75f|0.6}}</small>) are unrelated to the [[Afanasievo culture]] (<small>{{Colorsample|#32CD32|0.6}}</small>). They are instead mainly descended from the [[Ancient North Eurasians]] (ANE, 72%), with relatively minor [[Baikal EBA]] admixture (28%), and remained essentially in genetic isolation. "The Tarim mummies' so-called Western physical features are probably due to their connection to the Pleistocene ANE gene pool".<ref name="Zhang 2021a"/>]]

==Posited origins==
[[File:距今3800年的小河墓地古代欧罗巴人种成年女性干尸复原.jpg|thumb|upright|Reconstruction of a female individual from [[Xiaohe Cemetery]]. [[Xinjiang Museum]]. The Tarim mummies are considered as the "best representatives" of [[Ancient North Eurasians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Zhang|2021}}: "The Tarim mummies are among only a few known Holocene populations that derive the majority of their ancestry from Pleistocene ANE groups, who once made up the huntergatherer populations of southern Siberia, and which are represented by individual genomes from the archaeological sites of Mal'ta (MA-1)29 and Afontova Gora (AG3). (...) The Tarim mummies are currently the best representative of the pre-pastoralist ANE-related population that once inhabited Central Asia and southern Siberia (Extended Data Fig. 2A), even though Tarim_EMBA1 postdates these populations in time."</ref>]]
Mallory and Mair (2000) propose the movement of at least two Caucasian physical types into the Tarim Basin. The authors associate these types with the [[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]] and [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] ([[Saka language|Saka]]) branches of the [[Indo-European language family]], respectively.{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|pp=317–318}} However, archaeology and linguistics professor [[Elizabeth Wayland Barber]] cautions against assuming the mummies spoke Tocharian, noting a gap of about a thousand years between the mummies and the documented Tocharians: "people can change their language at will, without altering a single gene or freckle".{{sfn|Barber|1999|p=119}}

On the other hand, linguistics professor Ronald Kim argues that the amount of divergence between the attested Tocharian languages necessitates that Proto-Tocharian must have preceded their attestation by a millennium or so. This would coincide with the timeframe during which the Tarim Basin culture was in the region.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kim |first=Ronald |title=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics |title-link=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-08-044299-0 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Keith |edition=2nd |chapter=Tocharian}}</ref>

B. E. Hemphill's biodistance analysis of [[Craniometry|cranial metrics]] (as cited in {{Harvcolnb|Larsen|2002}} and {{Harvcolnb|Schurr|2001}}) has questioned the identification of the Tarim Basin population as European, noting that the earlier population forms their own distinct cluster and having closer affinities to two specimens from the [[Harappa|Harappan]] site of the Indus Valley civilisation, while the later Tarim population displays closer affinities with the [[Amu Darya|Oxus River]] valley population. Because craniometry can produce results which make no sense at all (e.g. the close relationship between [[Neolithic]] populations in [[Ukraine]] and [[Portugal]]) {{Better source needed|date=November 2022}} and therefore lack any historical meaning, any putative genetic relationship must be consistent with geographical plausibility and have the support of other evidence.{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=236}}<ref>{{harvnb|Hemphill|Mallory|2003}}: "In fact, the early sample from western China, Qäwrighul (QAW), is identified as possessing closer affinities to the two samples from Harappa(HAR and CEMH)."</ref>

Han Kangxin, who examined the skulls of 302 mummies, found the closest relatives of the earlier Tarim Basin population in the populations of the [[Afanasevo culture]] situated immediately north of the [[Tarim Basin]] and the [[Andronovo culture]] that spanned [[Kazakhstan]] and reached southwards into West [[Central Asia]] and the [[Altai Mountains|Altai]].{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|p=236–237}}

It is the Afanasevo culture to which {{Harvcoltxt|Mallory|Mair|2000|pp=294–296, 314–318}} trace the earliest Bronze Age settlers of the [[Tarim Basin|Tarim]] and [[Turpan]] basins. The Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500&nbsp;BCE) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the [[Eurasian Steppe]] yet predates the specifically [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]]-associated Andronovo culture (c. 2000–900&nbsp;BCE) enough to isolate the [[Tocharian languages]] from [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]] linguistic innovations like [[satemization]].{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|pp=260, 294–296, 314–318}}

Mair concluded:
{{blockquote|From the evidence available, we have found that during the first 1,000 years after the [[Loulan Kingdom|Loulan]] Beauty, the only settlers in the Tarim Basin were Caucasoid. East Asian peoples only began showing up in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3,000 years ago, Mair said, while the [[Uyghur people|Uighur peoples]] arrived after the collapse of the Orkon Uighur Kingdom, largely based in modern day Mongolia, around the year 842.<ref name="Celtic">{{cite news|first = Clifford|last = Coonan|title =A meeting of civilisations: The mystery of China's celtic mummies|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-meeting-of-civilisations-the-mystery-of-chinas-celtic-mummies-5330366.html|work = [[The Independent]]|date = 28 August 2006|access-date = 11 December 2018}}</ref>}}

[[File:Genetic structure of ancient and present-day populations (Tarim-MA1 proximity).png|thumb|The [[Tarim Mummies]] have a strong genetic proximity with [[Ancient North Eurasian]]s (here represented by the MA-1 human specimen of the [[Mal'ta-Buret' culture]] ({{c.|24,000 BP}})]]
{{Harvcoltxt|Hemphill|Mallory|2003}} note the existence of an additional physical type at Alwighul (700–1 BCE) and Krorän (200 CE) different from the earlier one found at Qäwrighul (1800 BCE) and Yanbulaq (1100–500 BCE), while finding no evidence of significant Steppe-related contributions to these remains:
{{Blockquote|The results fail to demonstrate close phenetic affinities between the early inhabitants of Qäwrighul and any of the proposed sources for immigrants to the Tarim Basin. The absence of close affinities to outside populations renders it unlikely that the human remains recovered from Qäwrighul represent the unadmixed remains of colonists from the Afanasievo or Andronovo cultures of the steppe lands, or inhabitants of the urban centers of the Oxus civilization of Bactria. ... This study confirms the assertion of Han [1998] that the occupants of Alwighul and [[Loulan Kingdom|Krorän]] are not derived from proto-European steppe populations, but share closest affinities with Eastern [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] populations. Further, the results demonstrate that such Eastern Mediterraneans may also be found at the urban centers of the [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|Oxus civilization]] located in the north [[Bactria]]n oasis to the west. Affinities are especially close between Krorän, the latest of the Xinjiang samples, and Sapalli, the earliest of the Bactrian samples, while Alwighul and later samples from Bactria exhibit more distant phenetic affinities. This pattern may reflect a possible major shift in interregional contacts in Central Asia in the early centuries of the second millennium BCE. ... Nevertheless, there is no support for the hypothesis that steppe populations contributed significantly to Bronze Age populations of the Tarim Basin. Despite numerous similarities between Afanasievo and Andronovo artifacts and Bronze Age artifacts from Xinjiang (Bunker, 1998; Chen and Hiebert, 1995; Kuzmina, 1998; Mei and Shell, 1998; Peng, 1998), all analyses of phenetic relationships consistently reveal a profound phenetic separation between steppe samples and the samples from the Tarim Basin (Qäwrighul, Alwighul, and Krorän).}}<!--
From Libby Rosof (1997) "Penn Researcher Finds Chinese Mummies' Surprising Roots":

{{quote|In examining small bags some of the mummies wore around their necks, [[Victor H. Mair|Mair]]'s team found a supposed connection to [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] culture. The bags, which were buried with some mummies buried between 1000 BCE to 200-to-300 CE contained [[ephedra]], a medicinal shrub used in [[Zoroastrian]] religious rituals. "The ephedra indicates that some of these people were almost certainly speaking an [[Iranian languages|Iranian language]]", [Mair] said.<ref>{{cite news |first=Libby |last=Rosof |date=9 September 1997 |title=Penn Researcher Finds Chinese Mummies' Surprising Roots |journal=Almanac |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]] |location=Philadelphia |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=12–13 |url=http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/features/1997/090997/mummies.html |access-date=20 August 2007 |postscript=.}}</ref>
-->

Zhang et al. (2021) proposed that the 'Western' like features of the earlier Tarim mummies could be attributed to their [[Ancient North Eurasian]] ancestry.<ref>{{harvnb|Zhang|2021}}: "The Tarim mummies' so-called Western physical features are probably due to their connection to the Pleistocene ANE gene pool."</ref> Previous craniometric analyses on the early Tarim mummies found that they formed a distinct cluster of their own, and clustered with neither the European-related Steppe pastoralists from the [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]] and [[Afanasievo culture]], nor with inhabitants of the Western Asian [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] culture, nor East Asian populations further East.<ref>{{harvnb|Hemphill|Mallory|2093}}: "The results fail to demonstrate close phenetic affinities between the early inhabitants of Qäwrighul and any of the proposed sources for immigrants to the Tarim Basin. The absence of close affinities to outside populations renders it unlikely that the human remains recovered from Qäwrighul represent the unadmixed remains of colonists from the Afanasievo or Andronovo cultures of the steppe lands, or inhabitants of the urban centers of the Oxus civilization of Bactria."</ref>

== Historical records and associated texts ==
=== Chinese sources ===
{{main|Western Regions|Protectorate of the Western Regions}}
[[File:Infant mummy (Tarim).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Infant Tarim mummy, son of the [[Cherchen Man]], circa 1000 BCE.]]
Western Regions (''Hsi-yu''; {{zh|c=西域|p=Xīyù|w=Hsi<sup>1</sup>-yü<sup>4</sup>}}) is the historical name in China, between the 3rd century BCE and 8th century CE for regions west of [[Yumen Pass]], including the Tarim and Central Asia.<ref>{{cite book |title=China and her neighbours, from ancient times to the Middle Ages: a collection of essays |last1=Tikhvinskiĭ |first1=Sergeĭ Leonidovich |last2=Perelomov |first2=Leonard Sergeevich |publisher=Progress |year=1981 |page=124}}</ref>

Some of the peoples of the Western Regions were described in Chinese sources as having full beards, red or blond hair, deep-set blue or green eyes and high noses.<ref name="Mair">{{cite journal|last=Mair |first=Victor H. |title=Mummies of the Tarim Basin |journal=Archaeology |volume=48 |date=March–April 1995 |number=2 |pages=28–35 [30]}}</ref> According to Chinese sources, the [[city state]]s of the Tarim reached the height of their political power during the 3rd to 4th centuries CE,<ref>Yu (2003), pp. 34–57, 77–88, 96–103.</ref> although this may actually indicate an increase in Chinese involvement in the Tarim, following the collapse of the [[Kushan Empire]].

===The Rouzhi===
{{main|Rouzhi}}
Reference to the [[Rouzhi]] name was possibly made around 7th century BCE by the Chinese philosopher [[Guan Zhong]], though [[Guanzi (text)|his book]] is generally considered to be a later forgery.<ref>{{citation |last=Liu |first=Jianguo |title=Distinguishing and Correcting the pre-Qin Forged Classics |year=2004 |publisher=Shaanxi People's Press |location=Xi'an |isbn=7-224-05725-8}}</ref>{{Rp|115–127}} Guan Zhong described a group called either the Yuzhi 禺氏 or Niuzhi 牛氏 as a people from the north-west who supplied [[jade]] to the Chinese from the nearby mountains of Yuzhi 禺氏 at [[Gansu]].

After the Rouzhi experienced a series of major defeats at the hands of the [[Xiongnu]], during the 2nd century BCE, a group known as the Greater Rouzhi migrated to Bactria, where they established the [[Kushan Empire]]. By the 1st century CE, the Kushan Empire had expanded significantly and may have annexed part of the Tarim Basin.

===Tocharian languages===
{{main|Tocharian languages}}

[[File:Tocharian.JPG|thumb|right|Wooden tablet with an inscription showing Tocharian B in its Brahmic form. [[Kucha]], [[China]], 5th–8th century ([[Tokyo National Museum]])]]

The degree of differentiation between the language known to modern scholars as [[Tocharian A]] (or by the [[endonym]] ''Ārśi-käntwa''; "[[mother tongue|tongue]] of [[Karasahr|Ārśi]]") and [[Tocharian B]] (''Kuśiññe''; [adjective] "of [[Kucha]], [[Kuchean]]"), as well as the less-well attested [[Tocharian C]] (which is associated with the city-state of ''[[Krorän]]'', also known as ''Loulan''), and the absence of evidence for these beyond the Tarim, tends to indicate that a common, proto-Tocharian language existed in the Tarim during the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. Tocharian is attested in documents between the 3rd and 9th centuries CE, although the first known [[epigraphic]] evidence dates to the 6th century CE.

Although the Tarim mummies preceded the Tocharian texts by around 2,000 years, their shared geographical location and links to Western Eurasia have led many scholars to suggest that the mummies were related to the [[Tocharians|Tocharian peoples]].

==Arguments for cultural transmission from West to East==
The possible presence of speakers of [[Indo-European languages]] in the Tarim Basin by about 2000&nbsp;BCE{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|pp=317–318}} could, if confirmed, be interpreted as evidence that cultural exchanges occurred among Indo-European and Chinese populations at a very early date. It has been suggested that such techniques as [[chariot]] [[Ancient warfare|warfare]] and [[bronze]]-making may have been transmitted to the east by these Indo-European nomads.<ref name="Baumer 2000, p. 28">Baumer (2000), p. 28.</ref> Mallory and Mair also note that: "Prior to ''c''. 2000 BCE, finds of metal artifacts in China are exceedingly few, simple and, puzzlingly, already made of alloyed copper (and hence questionable)."

[[File:Burial goods excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery (wooden sculpture excavated from the upper layer of a double-layer mud coffin of XHM75).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Wooden sculpture from [[Xiaohe cemetery]]]]
While stressing that the argument as to whether bronze technology travelled from China to the West or that "the earliest bronze technology in China was stimulated by contacts with western steppe cultures", is far from settled in scholarly circles, they suggest that the evidence so far favours the latter scenario.{{sfn|Mallory|Mair|2000|pp=327–328}} However, the culture and the technology in the northwest region of Tarim basin were less advanced than that in the East China of Yellow River-[[Erlitou culture|Erlitou]] (c. 2070–1600&nbsp;BCE) or [[Majiayao culture]] (c. 3100–2600&nbsp;BCE), the earliest bronze-using cultures in China, which implies that the northwest region did not use copper or any metal until bronze technology was introduced to the region by the [[Shang dynasty]] in about 1600 BCE. The earliest bronze artifacts in China are found at the [[Majiayao]] site (between 3100 and 2700 BCE),<ref>{{cite book|last=Martini |first=I. Peter |title=Landscapes and Societies: Selected Cases |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-481-9412-4 |page=310}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Higham |first=Charles |title=Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Infobase]] |year=2004|isbn=0-8160-4640-9 |page=200 |author-link=Charles Higham (archaeologist)}}</ref> and it is from this location and time period that Chinese Bronze Age spread. Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the [[Erlitou]] ({{zh|w=Erh-li-t'ou}}) period, which some historians argue places it within the range of dates controlled by the Shang dynasty.<ref name="Chang 1982">{{cite book |last=Chang |first=K. C. |title=Studies of Shang Archaeology |page=1 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1982}}</ref>

[[File:Cone-shaped high-peaked hat, Subeshi cemetery.jpg|thumb|upright|Cone-shaped high-peaked hat, 1st millennium BCE, [[Subeshi cemetery]]]]
Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding [[Xia dynasty|Xia]] ({{zh|w=Hsia}}) dynasty.<ref name="Chang 1982"/> The US [[National Gallery of Art]] defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the "period between about 2000 BC and 771 BC", which begins with Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of [[Western Zhou]] rule.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_pt2.shtm |title=Teaching Chinese Archaeology, Part Two |location=United States |publisher=National Gallery of Art |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528124017/http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_pt2.shtm |archive-date=28 May 2010}}</ref> Though that provides a concise frame of reference, it overlooks the continued importance of bronze in Chinese metallurgy and culture. Since that was significantly later than the discovery of bronze in Mesopotamia, bronze technology could have been imported, rather than being discovered independently in China. However, there is reason to believe that bronzework developed inside China, separately from outside influence.<ref>{{cite book |author=Li-Liu |title=The Chinese Neolithic |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005}}</ref><ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shzh/hd_shzh.htm ''Shang and Zhou Dynasties: The Bronze Age of China'' Heilbrunn Timeline]. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 13 May 2010.</ref>

The Chinese official [[Zhang Qian]], who visited [[Bactria]] and [[Sogdiana]] in 126 BCE, made the first known Chinese report on many regions west of China. He believed to have discerned Greek influences in some of the kingdoms. He named [[Parthia]] "Ānxī" (Chinese: 安息), a transcription of "[[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arshak]]" ([[Arsaces]]), the name of the founder of [[Arsacid Empire|Parthian dynasty]].<ref>[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/notes10.html The Kingdom of Anxi]</ref> Zhang Qian clearly identified Parthia as an advanced urban civilization that farmed grain and grapes and manufactured silver coins and leather goods.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 |title=Silk Road, North China |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |website=The Megalithic Portal |editor-first=A. |editor-last=Burnham |year=2007}}</ref> Zhang Qian equated Parthia's level of advancement to the cultures of [[Dayuan]] in [[Ferghana]] and [[Daxia]] in Bactria.

The supplying of [[Tarim Basin]] [[jade]] to China from ancient times is well established, according to {{Harvcoltxt|Liu|2001}}: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the [[Tomb of Fu Hao|tomb of Fuhao]] of the [[Shang dynasty]] by [[Zheng Zhenxiang]], more than 750 pieces, were from [[Khotan]] in modern [[Xinjiang]]. As early as the mid-first millennium BCE the [[Yuezhi]] engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China."

==Famous mummies==
===The Princess of Xiaohe===
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=450|caption_align=center
| align    = right
| direction =horizontal
| image1   = Tarim-mumia-4.jpg
| image2   = Xiaohe cemetery (female mummy with European features).jpg
| footer=The "[[Princess of Xiaohe]]", dated {{c.|1800 BCE}}
}}
The ''[[Princess of Xiaohe]]'' ({{lang-zh|小河公主}}) was unearthed and also named by the archaeologists of Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology at Xiaohe Cemetery Tomb M11, 102&nbsp;km west of Loulan, Lop Nur, Xinjiang in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=Expedition Magazine  |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-the-tarim-basin/ |access-date=27 December 2021 |website=[[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology|Penn Museum]]}}</ref> She has reddish brown hair and long eyelashes and was wrapped in a white wool cloak with tassels and wore a felt hat, string skirt, and fur-lined leather boots. She was buried with wooden pins and three small pouches of [[Ephedra (plant)|ephedra]] and twigs and branches of ephedra were placed beside the body.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Eternal Mummy Princesses |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-eternal-mummy-princesses |access-date=27 December 2021 |website=Discover Magazine |language=en}}</ref> She is not permanently exhibited in any museum.

===The Beauty of Loulan===
The ''[[Beauty of Loulan]]'' (also referred to as the "Loulan Beauty" or the "Beauty of [[Krorän]]") is the most famous of the Tarim mummies, along with the [[Cherchen Man]].<ref name=":3">{{cite book|last=Ercilasun |first=Konuralp |chapter=Introduction: The Land, the People, and the Politics in a Historical Context |date=2018 |title=The Uyghur Community: Diaspora, Identity and Geopolitics |pages=1–16 |editor-last1=Kurmangaliyeva Ercilasun |editor-first1=Güljanat |series=Politics and History in Central Asia |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] US |language=en |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-52297-9_1 |isbn=978-1-137-52297-9 |editor-last2=Ercilasun |editor-first2=Konuralp}}</ref> She was discovered in 1980 by [[Chinese people|Chinese]] [[archaeologists]] working on a film about the [[Silk Road]]. The mummy was discovered near [[Lop Nur]]. She was buried 3 feet beneath the ground. The mummy was extremely well preserved because of the dry climate and the preservative properties of salt.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111907467.html |title=A beauty that was government's beast |last=Demick |first=Barbara |date=21 November 2010 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804095441/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111907467.html |archive-date=4 August 2016 |access-date=26 January 2020}}</ref> She was wrapped in a woolen cloth; the cloth was made of two separate pieces and was not large enough to cover her entire body, thereby leaving her ankles exposed. The Beauty of Loulan was surrounded by funerary gifts.<ref name=":2">{{harvnb|Barber|1999|pp=71–87}}</ref> The Beauty of Loulan has been dated back to approximately 1800 BCE.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-the-tarim-basin/ |title=Ancient Mummies of the Tarim Basin |magazine=Expedition Magazine |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology|Penn Museum]] |access-date=26 January 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Beauty of Loulan (reconstruction and original).jpg|thumb|upright=1.75|The [[Beauty of Loulan]] (also "Beauty of Krorän"). Museum exhibit and detail of the face, [[Xinjiang Museum]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Matthew |title=The 'Silk Roads'in Time and Space: Migrations, Motifs, and Materials |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=2012 |pages=96–97 |url=https://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp228_silk_roads.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Beauty of Kroran (Book description) |url=https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7ao2O3nqxL4/Swmke0b4fqI/AAAAAAAAALY/uyEMY02zt20/s1600/LoulanBeauty.jpg}}</ref>]]
The Beauty of Loulan lived around 1800 BCE, until about the age of 45, when she died. Her cause of death is likely due to lung failure from ingesting a large amount of sand, [[charcoal]], and dust.<ref name=":1" /> According to Elizabeth Barber, she probably died in the winter because of her provisions against the cold.<ref name=":2" /> The rough shape of her clothes and the [[Louse|lice]] in her hair suggest she lived a difficult life.<ref name=":1" />

The Beauty of Loulan's hair colour has been described as [[Auburn hair|auburn]].<ref name=":2" /> Her hair was infested with lice.<ref name=":1" /> The Beauty of Loulan is wearing clothing made of [[wool]] and [[fur]]. Her hood is made of [[felt]] and has a feather in it.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mair |first=V. H. |author-link=Victor Mair |year=2010 |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-mummies-of-east-central-asia/ |title=The mummies of east central Asia |journal=Expedition |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=23–32}}</ref> She is wearing rough ankle-high [[moccasin]]s made of [[leather]], with fur on the outside. Her skirt is made of leather, with fur on the inside for warmth. She is also wearing a woolen cap. According to Elizabeth Barber, these provisions against the cold suggest she died during the winter.<ref name=":2" /> The Beauty of Loulan possesses a [[comb]], with four teeth remaining. Barber suggests that this comb was a dual purpose tool to comb hair and to "pack the [[weft]] in tightly during weaving". She possesses a "neatly woven bag or soft basket". Grains of [[wheat]] were discovered inside the bag.<ref name=":2" />

A 23-poem sequence on the Beauty of Loulan appears in the Canadian poet [[Kim Trainor]]'s ''Karyotype'' (2015).

===Other mummies===
<gallery widths="200px" heights="150px" perrow="4">
File:Loulan beauty closeup.jpg|Another "[[Commons:Category:Loulan Beauty (2004)|Loulan Beauty]]", excavated in 2004. Buried at the age of 25, she is 3800 years old
File:Tarim ferfi.jpg|Mummy from [[Xiaohe cemetery]]
File:Cherchen Man mummy in XUAR Museum.jpg|The "[[Cherchen Man]]", dated {{c.|1000 BCE}}
File:距今2800年古代欧罗巴和蒙古人种混血且末女尸 Qiemo Female Mummy(about 2800 years ago.She belongs to a Mixture of Europoid and Mongoloid traits)4.jpg|A wife of the "[[Cherchen Man]]", dated {{c.|1000 BCE}}
</gallery>

===Yingpan man===
[[File:Yingpan man (detail).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Yingpan man]], 4th–5th century CE]]
The [[Yingpan man]] is a much later mummy from the same area, dating to the 4th–5th century CE. Dressed in luxurious clothes, he may have been a [[Sogdian people|Sogdian]] or an elite member of the [[Shanshan]] Kingdom.<ref name="RFG">{{cite book |last1=Cheang |first1=Sarah |last2=Greef |first2=Erica de |last3=Takagi |first3=Yoko |title=Rethinking Fashion Globalization |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-350-18130-4 |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MostEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Tingting |last2=Fuller |first2=Benjamin T. |last3=Jiang |first3=Hongen |last4=Li |first4=Wenying |last5=Wei |first5=Dong |last6=Hu |first6=Yaowu |title=Revealing lost secrets about Yingpan Man and the Silk Road |journal=Scientific Reports |date=13 January 2022 |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=669 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04383-5 |pmid=35027587 |pmc=8758759 |bibcode=2022NatSR..12..669W |issn=2045-2322}}</ref>

== Controversies ==
According to [[Edward Wong|Ed Wong's]] [[The New York Times|''New York Times'']] article from 2008, Mair was prohibited from leaving the country with 52 genetic samples. However, a Chinese scientist clandestinely sent him half a dozen, on which an Italian geneticist performed tests.<ref name=":0" />

Since then, China has prohibited foreign scientists from conducting research on the mummies. As Wong says, "Despite the political issues, excavations of the grave sites are continuing."<ref name=":0" />

==See also==
* [[Pazyryk culture]]
* [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]]
* [[Dzungarian Gate]]
* [[Gushi culture]]
* [[Tocharian clothing]]
* [[Kurgan hypothesis]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last=Barber |first=Elizabeth Wayland |date=1999 |title=The Mummies of Ürümchi |location=London |publisher=Pan Books |isbn=0-330-36897-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Baumer |first=Christoph |date=2000 |title=Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin |publisher=White Orchid Books |location=Bangkok |isbn=974-8304-38-8}}
* {{cite book |last1=Davis-Kimball |first1=Jeannine |author-link1=Jeannine Davis-Kimball |last2=Behan |first2=Mona |date=2002 |title=Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines |publisher=Warner Books |location=New York |edition=1stTrade |isbn=0-446-67983-6}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hemphill |first1=Brian E. |last2=Mallory |first2=J. P. |author-link2=J. P. Mallory |date=19 September 2003 |title=Horse-mounted invaders from the Russo-Kazakh steppe or agricultural colonists from Western Central Asia? A craniometric investigation of the Bronze Age settlement of Xinjiang |journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |volume=125 |issue=3 |pages=199–222 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.10354 |pmid=15197817}}
* {{cite journal |last=Larsen |first=Clark Spencer |publication-date=June 2002 |date=2002 |title=Bioarchaeology: The Lives and Lifestyles of Past People |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=119–166 |doi=10.1023/A:1015267705803 |s2cid=145654453 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Li |first=Shuicheng |publication-date=December 1999 |date=1999 |title=A Discussion of Sino-Western Cultural Contact and Exchange in the Second Millennium BC Based on Recent Archeological Discoveries |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |issue=97 |url=http://sino-platonic.org/abstracts/spp097_sino_western.html }}
*  {{cite web |last=Light |first=Nathan |date=1999a |title=Hidden Discourses of Race: Imagining Europeans in China |url=http://homepages.utoledo.edu/nlight/uyghhst.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515210246/http://homepages.utoledo.edu/nlight/uyghhst.htm |archive-date=15 May 2008 |access-date=20 August 2007 }}
* {{cite magazine | last=Light | first=Nathan | date=March–April 1999b | title=Tabloid Archaeology: Is Television Trivializing Science? | magazine=Discovering Archaeology | pages=98–101 | url=http://homepages.utoledo.edu/nlight/discarch.txt |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060920170441/http://homepages.utoledo.edu/nlight/discarch.txt | archive-date=20 September 2006 }}
* {{cite journal | last=Liu | first=Xinru | date=2001 | title=Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan. Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies | journal=[[Journal of World History]]| volume=12 | issue=2 | pages=261–292 | doi=10.1353/jwh.2001.0034| s2cid=162211306 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |last2=Mair |first2=Victor H. |author2-link=Victor H. Mair |date=2000 |title=The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West |place=London |publisher=Thames & Hudson}}
* {{cite book |author=Pliny the Elder |author-link=Pliny the Elder |title=The Natural History}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Schurr |first=Theodore G. |publication-date=January–February 2001 |date=2001 |title=Tracking Genes Across the Globe: A review of ''Genes, Peoples, and Languages'', by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza |magazine=[[American Scientist]] |volume=89 |issue=1 |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/tracking-genes-across-the-globe |access-date=12 March 2009 |archive-date=14 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214073642/http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/tracking-genes-across-the-globe/ |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Chengzhi | first1 = Xie | last2 = Chunxiang | first2 = Li | last3 = Yinqiu | first3 = Cui | last4 = Dawei | first4 = Cai | last5 = Haijing | first5 = Wang | last6 = Hong | first6 = Zhu | last7 = Hui | first7 = Zhou | date= 2007 | title = Mitochondrial DNA analysis of ancient Sampula population in Xinjiang | journal = Progress in Natural Science | volume = 17 | issue = 8| pages = 927–933 | doi=10.1080/10002007088537493}}
* {{cite book | last = Yu | first = Taishan | title = A Comprehensive History of Western Regions | edition = 2nd | date= 2003 | publisher = Zhongzhou Guji Press | location = Zhengzhou | isbn = 7-5348-1266-6}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Fan |date=November 2021 |title=The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=599 |issue=7884 |pages=256–261 |bibcode=2021Natur.599..256Z |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-04052-7 |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=8580821 |pmid=34707286}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080517022334/http://www.rogerblench.info/Language%20data/China/Geneva%20paper%202004%20submit.pdf Stratification in the peopling of China: how far does the linguistic evidence match genetics and archaeology? pdf]
* [https://archive.today/20121130000830/http://maximus101.livejournal.com/26356.html?thread=1015028 High-quality images of Tarim-basin mummies]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080728125250/http://www.meshrep.com/PicOfDay/mummies/mummies.htm Images of the Tocharian mummies] Includes the face of the "Beauty of Loulan" as reconstructed by an artist.
* {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/chinamum/taklamakan.html|title=The Takla Makan Mummies |publisher=PBS|access-date=17 January 2008}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100207120027/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=todaysfeatures&xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2005/april/todaysfeatures_april37.xml Genetic testing reveals awkward truth about Xinjiang's famous mummies] ([[Agence France-Presse|AFP]]) [[Khaleej Times]] Online, 19 April 2005
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/asia/19mummy.html The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn't Care to Listen To] [[The New York Times]], 18 November 2008
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/science/16archeo.html?pagewanted=all 'A Host of Mummies, A Forest of Secrets'], [[Nicholas Wade]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 15 March 2010.

{{Mummies}}
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[[Category:Tarim mummies| ]]