Blond Mummies, Tocharians and Indo-Europeans of China
Archaeological discovery of mummies in the Taklamakan desert of Western China dating back 4,000 years has captivated the imaginations of researchers, who were surprised to discover that they were caucasians from Europe. The answers to the mystery of who these white mummies were might be found in the later history of Xinjiang province; in the Chinese written records of blue eyed and red bearded merchants such as the Yuezhi and the Sogdians from the West and in the manuscripts written in a mysterious Indo-European language known as Tocharian. Clearly there were both Iranic and Tocharian peoples living in Western China in later times, and the Tarim mummies must have been the ancestors of some if not all of them.
The inhospitable Tarim basin became a vital route for merchants, at the crossroads between East and West, the basin is skirted by oasis towns which were stations for anyone traveling on the Silk Road.The caucasian, Europoid mummies and the ancient Indo-European languages of the region challenge popular misconceptions about the limits of European civilisation in the Bronze Age. The material excavated suggests the area was active for thousands of years, with diverse languages, lifestyles, religions, and cultures present. #AncientAliens #Xinjiang #Tocharian
Blond Mummies, Tocharians and Indo-Europeans of China
Archaeological discovery of mummies in the Taklamakan desert of Western China dating back 4,000 years has captivated the imaginations of researchers, who were surprised to discover that they were caucasians from Europe. The answers to the mystery of who these white mummies were might be found in the later history of Xinjiang province; in the Chinese written records of blue eyed and red bearded merchants such as the Yuezhi and the Sogdians from the West and in the manuscripts written in a mysterious Indo-European language known as Tocharian. Clearly there were both Iranic and Tocharian peoples living in Western China in later times, and the Tarim mummies must have been the ancestors of some if not all of them.
The inhospitable Tarim basin became a vital route for merchants, at the crossroads between East and West, the basin is skirted by oasis towns which were stations for anyone traveling on the Silk Road.The caucasian, Europoid mummies and the ancient Indo-European languages of the region challenge popular misconceptions about the limits of European civilisation in the Bronze Age. The material excavated suggests the area was active for thousands of years, with diverse languages, lifestyles, religions, and cultures present.
Sources:
Adams, D., (2019) ‘Tocharian C: its discovery and implications’ https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll...
A dictionary of Tocharian B https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/i...
Gray, Russell & Atkinson, Quentin & Greenhill, Simon. (2011). Language Evolution and Human History.
Good, I., ‘A Social Archaeology of Cloth some preliminary remarks on prehistoric textiles of the Tarim Basin’ (Peabody Museum) http://www.safarmer.com/Indo-Eurasian...
Hollard, C. et al. (2018). New genetic evidence of affinities and discontinuities between bronze age Siberian populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 167 (1): 97–107.
Katariya, A., ‘Ancient History of Central Asia: Yuezhi-Gurjar History’, Article No 01
Mair, V., ‘Ancient Mummies of the Tarim Basin’ https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedit...
Ning, et al. (2019), ‘Ancient Genomes Reveal Yamnaya - Related Ancestry and a Potential Source of Indo-European Speakers in Iron Age Tianshan’ https://www.cell.com/current-biology/...
Wenkan, X. (1996) ‘The Tokharians and Buddhism’
Xie, M. et al, (2013) Interdisciplinary investigation on ancient Ephedra twigs from Gumugou Cemetery (3800 B.P.) in Xinjiang region, northwest China. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
Yang, Y. (2019), ‘Shifting Memories: Burial Practices and Cultural Interaction in Bronze Age China A study of the Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries in the Tarim Basin’ http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/...
Selections from the Han Narrative Histories https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad...
00:00 Intro
00:21 Tarim mummies
04:21 Tocharian
06:45 Han Chinese accounts of white merchants in Tarim
09:40 Yuezhi and Kushans
13:16 Kroraina / Loulan kingdom
14:35 Sogdians
16:05 Tocharian vs Iranic - Centum/Satem
17:35 Genetics of Tarim mummies and Iron Age Tarim skeletons
20:59 Yang paper - archaeological survey of Bronze Age Tarim 24:41 Conclusion
Caption author (Korean)
Tocharian languages
| Tocharian (a. k. a. Agnean-Kuchean) | |
|---|---|
Tocharian B manuscript, c. 7th century AD
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| Native to | Agni, Kucha, Turfan and Krorän |
| Region | Tarim Basin |
| Ethnicity | Tocharians |
| Extinct | 9th century AD |
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Indo-European
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Early form
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| Dialects |
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:xto – Tocharian Atxb – Tocharian B |
xto Tocharian A |
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txb Tocharian B |
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| Glottolog | tokh1241 |
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
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The Tocharian (sometimes Tokharian) languages (/təˈkɛəriən/ or /təˈkɑːriən/), also known as Arśi-Kuči, Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians.[3] They are known from manuscripts dating from the 5th to the 8th century AD, which were found in oasis cities on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (now part of Xinjiang in northwest China) and the Lop Desert. The discovery of this language family in the early 20th century contradicted the formerly prevalent idea of an east–west division of the Indo-European language family on the centum–satem isogloss, and prompted reinvigorated study of the family. Mistakenly identifying the authors with the Tokharoi people of ancient Bactria (Tokharistan), early authors called these languages "Tocharian". This naming has remained, although the names Agnean and Kuchean have been proposed as a replacement.[4][3]
The documents record two closely related languages, called Tocharian A (also East Tocharian, Agnean or Turfanian) and Tocharian B (West Tocharian or Kuchean). The subject matter of the texts suggests that Tocharian A was more archaic and used as a Buddhist liturgical language, while Tocharian B was more actively spoken in the entire area from Turfan in the east to Tumshuq in the west. A body of loanwords and names found in Prakrit documents from the Lop Nor basin have been dubbed Tocharian C (Kroränian). A claimed find of ten Tocharian C texts written in Kharoṣṭhī script has been discredited.[5]
The oldest extant manuscripts in Tocharian B are now dated to the 5th or even late 4th century AD, making Tocharian a language of Late Antiquity contemporary with Gothic, Classical Armenian and Primitive Irish.[6]
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