The Takla Makan Mummies

It has long been thought that China evolved in isolation. Until the 1980's when graves where found containing amazingly well preserved Caucasian mummies. Wang

Binghua was studying Asian mummies found in the Takla Makan Desert along the Silk Road. When he found something that changed history forever. A female mummy undoubtedly European.

After this initial find, Caucasian mummies were unearthed all over the dessert. It became evident that a whole civilization had been lost. Not only had this civilization been lost it was hundreds of thousands of miles in the wrong place.

Many questions had to be answered. Using all of the latest technologies experts analyzed the data and began to formulate theories about the existence of the lost civilization. Using carbon dating they began to discover the age of the mummies. The oldest mummy known as "the beauty of LouLan" was 4,000 years old. An ancient structure was found. It consisted of six concentric rings made from wooden stakes. Six male corpses were removed. Then the beauty of LouLan was unearthed. In an amazing state of preservation. Lice was even found in her hair. The fibers from her clothes matched European wool. Her cause of death, dust and soot in her lungs.

These ancients didn't intend to mummify their dead. They buried their dead in the desert temporarily so that the body would be quickly reduced to bones. Then the bones would be moved to a permanent resting place. Only in this case the dry desert air, freeze dried the bodies leaving them in pristine condition.

This process is nothing like the long, complicated method of mummification the Egyptians perfected.

However over time the ancients made improvements on the process. They created tombs in which the air could circulate freely. They would tie the hands together with leather straps creating a more dignified pose. They also used leather chin straps to keep the mouth closed when the tongue swelled. Later they developed an ointment ( thought to be mostly animal fat) to rub all over the skin making the skin more supple.

Eventually the ancients started burying belongings with the corpses. They probably began to believe and evolve their notion of an afterlife. One female mummy was found wearing a black felt hat.(drawing of hat pictured left} The hat was to awkward for everyday use it is believed it was worn by the high priestess.

As study of the mummies continued they found fragments of wagon wheels long before the wheel was known in China. They also found horse whips and bridals, suggesting they probably migrated on horseback.

A corpse was found in remarkable condition. This one had been carefully operated on and the wounds sown up with horse hair sutures. Old Chinese manuscripts have been found detailing surgical procedures. Apparently this worked, however, not with our guy the wounds never healed indicating he died while under the knife.

As the work continued they began to find Asians and Caucasians buried together. After following all of the clues, it is believed this lost civilization was European possibly ancient Celts. They migrated East on horseback and settled in the oasis along the desert. They eventually met and interacted peacefully with Asians. The races began to inter marry and the European bloodline was lost through the generations.

An ancient, astonishing civilization lost, found and messing up the timeline. Still, the Fascinating Mystery here is how East and West got along then but can't now.