Mummies of Urumchi

Here is something I am reading.




Several caucasian mummies dated to 1000-2000 bc have been found in remote western China. The ground is so dry that buried bodies mummified naturally, and many of the textiles buried with them have survived in very good condition.

This book describes what we know about the people and their culture, and is packed with detailed info about just *how* we know what we know.

I'm finding it very interesting to read about the things we know because of, say, language. It seems that when people adopt a technology that is new to them, they also adopt the existing words for that technology. It is possible to determine who invented something by examining the words used for that something. Scrutiny of words, both original to a language and borrowed from elsewhere tell volumes about history and migration (of people and of technology)........

All of this makes eminent sense, but I never thought of it......

And then, of course, there is the DNA. The pollen in the soil near the bodies. The written historical record from other cultures (in this case the Chinese and the Greeks from Alexander's time).

If you have any interest in textiles, textile history, human migration, and/or the science backing up archeological conclusions, read this book.