Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mallory, J. P
• Mair, Victor H

Titel

The Tarim mummies : ancient China and the mystery of the earliest peoples from the West

Ort / Verlag

London : Thames & Hudson

Erscheinungsjahr

2000

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 337-343) and index
• Description: The best-preserved mummies in the world are not found in Egypt or Peru but in the museums of Xinjiang, the westernmost province of modern China. For thousands of years the occupants of what would later become the Silk Road buried their dead in the sands of the Täklimakan desert. This arid environment, preserving body and clothing, allows an unparalleled glimpse into the lives and appearance of the prehistoric peoples who settled in the Tarim Basin on the western rim of ancient China some four thousand years ago. This intriguing study describes the discovery of these ancient peoples and reveals the latest attempts to explain their origins and determine their ethnic identity. It examines the clues left by physical remains; their economy, technology and textiles (some of the mummies even wore tartan); and the later traces of the languages of the Tarim region.
• Inhalt: Introduction: Rediscovery -- Ch. 1. Beyond the Centres: Tarim Between East and West -- Ch. 2. East Central Asia: Players at the Centre of the Board -- Ch. 3. The Linguistic Landscape -- Ch. 4. The Testimony of the Hoe -- Ch. 5. The Mummies Themselves -- Ch. 6. Tartans in the Tarim -- Ch. 7. Skulls, Genes and Knights with Long Swords -- Ch. 8. The Usual Suspects: The Indo-Iranians -- Ch. 9. Tocharian Trekkers -- Ch. 10. Who Were the Mummies? -- Ch. 11. Legacy -- App. 1. On the Tocharian Problems -- App. 2. Radiocarbon Dates From Selected Sites -- Bibliography -- Sources of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Index