Many people are hearing of Urumchi now for the first time because of the unrest involving the Uighers and the Han Chinese. This would seem to be a good time to remind everyone of the remarkable history of this region in western China.
Colin Thubron is said to be the foremost living British travel writer; to my chagrin I have to admit to not knowing of him until I encountered his latest book - Shadow of the Silk Road. In it, he traverses Asia from Xian in China westward to the shores of the Mediterranean in Turkey, following the general route of the Silk Road. He travels solo and uses only local transport (trains, cabs, hitchhiking, walking) across some of the most physically and culturally primitive landscape on earth. It's an eye-opening account of current life in these areas (western China, Kyrgyzstan and other small "stans", Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey) and the history and prehistory of the area. Very few pictures, but quite thought-provoking.
As he is passing the edge of the Tarim Basin, Thubron briefly mentions the Tokharians and the Caucasoid mummies in the Taklamakan Desert. I had heard of these years ago in a PBS or Discovery Channel program, so this whetted my interest, and I found Elizabeth Barber's book, The Mummies of Urumchi in our library. It is more than an archaeological study; the author is an expert on fabrics, and she uses analysis of the mummies' woven clothing (and some linguistic investigation) to sort out the origins and lives of these little-known people. Cherchen Man, for example is obviously caucasoid, 6'6" tall (and Cherchen woman also over 6' in height), wearing brightly colored and expertly woven woolens; they were living in this area north of Tibet in about 1000 B.C. Many Chinese living in this area today have blonde or red hair and blue eyes. The text is beautifully illustrated, especially the details of the fabrics; one cannot fail to be impressed by the technology and sophistication of these people from 3000 years ago. Highly recommended.
Barber's book is superb. Were these early, mumified people Celts? Were their textiles Tartans? Provocative book, indeed. Of course, the modern inhabitants, called Uygurs (Uighurs) or Yellow [central] Uygurs absorbed many small tribes and clans over time and the blonde/red hair and blue eyes DNA can come from a myriad of sources that passed through the Central Asian crucible.
ReplyDeleteMy small contribution to this is that textiles, and the looms and spindles involved, are often overlooked in archeological excavations.
ReplyDeleteSpindle spun yarn and woven cloth are our history.