Mummies Unite!

While the whole world is still reeling from the impact of Flores Man (you should google the debate between the Creationists and Evolutionists) I found out that it's not the first time anomalies like these have been found.

As I'm typing this, Discovery is showing a highly interesting special on something the Chinese desert has coughed up relatively recently- mummies, and lots of them. On their own, mummies are unremarkable, since we know now that several ancient cultures mummified their dead. The striking thing about these mummies is this :

None of them are even remotely Chinese. Here we have small, forgotten Silk Road outposts deep in the deserts of China, and who do we find perfectly preserved there? Caucasian mummies, wrapped in clothes and shawls of European weave, from European wool. Celtic, to be exact. All this wouldn't be as surprising if some of these mummies hadn't predated Christ, as carbon dating later showed (we'll not get into some of the controversies this method brings, but it's accepted generally that it CAN give an estimate of relative age). DNA analysis now shows that these mummies share genetic traits with Swedes and Tuscans, among others. A precursor to the great IKEA explosion? Perhaps.

These western inhabitants of the inhospitable deserts not only brought their own culture and traditions, they also brought in some eerily modern medical techniques. A surviving third century text describes basic surgical techniques, and the researchers soon found a mummy with incisions bound with horsehair - evidence of surgery. Intriguing stuff for a Tuesday morning.

So before I'll leave you, here are some links, just in case you need to restore your sense of wonder at the world:
Infography on Bronze Age Mummies and Population
Online Discover Magazine article
Bodies of Evidence

Till later, have a good Tuesday.