A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets

March 15, 2010

In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air.

The cemetery lies in what is now China’s northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang, yet the people have European features, with brown hair and long noses. Their remains, though lying in one of the world’s largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god’s mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of procreation.

The long-vanished people have no name, because their origin and identity are still unknown. But many clues are now emerging about their ancestry, their way of life and even the language they spoke.

www.nytimes.com...

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SYMBOLISM Archaeologists believe the hundreds of 13-foot poles at the Small River Cemetery in a desert in Xinjiang Province, China, were mostly phallic symbols.

Cold Case Techniques Bring Mummy's Face to "Life"
6/22/2009
Source: University of Chicago

Newswise — Thanks to the skills of artists who work on cold case investigations, people have a chance to see what the University of Chicago's mummy Meresamun may have looked like in real life.

A Chicago forensic artist and a police artist in Maryland prepared the images, which depict an engaging woman in her late 20s as she would have looked in 800 B.C. Both artists, though working independently, produced strikingly similar images. The drawings are on display at the Oriental Institute Museum, and have been placed on the institute's Web site

oi.uchicago.edu...

, on Meresamun's Facebook page, her Wikipedia listing and on YouTube.

www.newswise.com...

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Forensic Artist Mummy

This is an amazing find in Tibet, looking forward and hopefully more information will be forthcoming. I added some information on Forensic art work.

This is exciting!

Hopefully this will yeild yet more evidence that ancient peoples travelled the globe and were well aware of the lands around them.

I'm hoping that it will point to further evidences of "the First Time" and ancient technological advancements, now lost to time.

Wow, I will be watching this one develop.

Interesting find, Thanks for the Info, Ill flag so i can see if any more info is added

The artist drawing looks like beyonce?

I remember reading about this before Although this article was a new one. Interesting about the mummies ancestry. The hats were similar to ones found up to 400 A.D. ? How many other missing cultural links are out there I wonder. Great find

Originally posted by dampnickers
This is exciting!

Hopefully this will yeild yet more evidence that ancient peoples travelled the globe and were well aware of the lands around them.

I'm hoping that it will point to further evidences of "the First Time" and ancient technological advancements, now lost to time.

Wow, I will be watching this one develop.

I hope so, we are digging out of desert that used to be lush lands to mountain plateus more evidence that people where in places and doing things that the shouldn't have been doing many millenia before Western history has said. We are seeing Europeans in places that they supposedly shouldn't have been in. We are seeing (the Olmecs of South America) large stone heads in South America that have more of a Negroid appearance than the native indians. And we are even starting to think that Vikings where the ones that may have ventured alot further in North America than we think, along with the Egyptians supposedly (I'm on the fence on that one). There may have been an ancient first super civilization on this planet. Some of the MS anthropologists or historians say well if they where so advanced then where are the skyscrapers, well it depends on when they where built. If this super civilization existed lets say 30,000 years ago, the metal would have long rusted away and most of the technology would have decayed away except stuff that would have taken longer. The only thing that would still look like someone built it would be massive stone buildings without mortar. Now if it was a civilization that existed 2 to 4 million years ago, even the stone buildings and monuments would seem to be part of the regular earth/mountain/plateu.

Many want to say that within 5 to 6 thousand years we started civilization and thats it, no way. I believe that in a time long gone we where a world spanning civlization and then something happened and we had a dark ages and then we came out of it at a time to today. Who knows maybe it wasn't the first or we may be the third encantation of civilization on this planet digging itself out. But we are older than they are saying we are civilization wise.

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WELL PRESERVED The mummy of an infant was one of about 200 corpses with European features that were excavated from the cemetery.

The Small River Cemetery was rediscovered in 1934 by the Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman and then forgotten for 66 years until relocated through GPS navigation by a Chinese expedition. Archaeologists began excavating it from 2003 to 2005. Their reports have been translated and summarized by Victor H. Mair, a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in the prehistory of the Tarim Basin

[edit on 18-3-2010 by Aquarius1]

reply to post by Aquarius1
Nice thread. The writing-style in the linked article is misplaced and extravagant. Is the guy looking to write pulp fiction romance novels? 'Terrifying desert?' WTF?!

The information in the article is more interesting. It's the first time I've seen that burial site and it's really quite awesome...very evocative. The people buried there have been discussed before on ATS and elsewhere, but the new update adds even more interest.

They are known as the Tarim Mummies...

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A feature of their clothing is a tartan weave...
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The 200 or so mummies have a distinctively Western appearance, and the Uighurs, even though they did not arrive in the region until the 10th century, have cited them to claim that the autonomous region was always theirs. Some of the mummies, including a well-preserved woman known as the Beauty of Loulan, were analyzed by Li Jin, a well-known geneticist at Fudan University, who said in 2007 that their DNA contained markers indicating an East Asian and even South Asian origin.

This is an artist's recreation of the 'Beauty of Loulan.' Bit on the masculine side for my money...

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reply to post by Kandinsky


Thanks Kandinsky, great post and pictures, they are amazing to say the least and yes do look very European, certainly no Chinese.