Customer Reviews

The Tarim Mummies

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The authors, who are among the top experts on the Tarim mummies, do a very good job of detailing the scholarly process of determining who these people were and their wider linguistic and religious contexts. The book presents information on the mummies themselves, and their 'racial' affiliations. Both Caucasian and Asian mummies were found in different parts of modern Xinjiang, though Caucasian ones predominate for the most part. The questions are: who were these Caucasians mummified in ancient times, how did they get to what's know China, what language(s) did they speak, and what historical roles might they have played? It turns out these are complicated questions, and associating these mummies in a linguistic group and that linguistic group with an archaeological culture proves to be a difficult task. The authors, however, have done a most convincing and nuanced job answering these questions. It seems that several languages were used concurrently-- Chinese for imperial administration, Prakrit for religion (specifically Buddhism), Sogdian for trade, and Saka and 2-3 Tocharian languages for everyday speech. Connecting these Tocharians to India's Kushan dynasty isn't so clear cut-- it may be that Iranian-speaking Saka who also lived in the region were actually the Yuezhi of Chinese records who became the founding members of that influential dynasty. Anyone interested in the spread of Indo-European language and culture, in the Silk Road, in the spread of Buddhism, in Chinese imperial history, or in mummies in general would do well to read this book. The authors conclude the book with a brief overview of several East-West exchanges, noting both Chinese contributions to the West such as the compass and, later on, moldboard plows, and Western contributions to China, including the Chariot and wheel, probably brought in by the early Tocharian speakers, and Buddhism, which spread from Indian to Central Asia (or 'Inner Eurasia' as the authors write) and through the Tarim Basin along the Silk Road into China. This to me is an exceptionally interesting topic, very ably covered by the authors.

This book, by its nature, is both enjoyable and frustrating. The archological evidence that is found bears testament to human history before written history but it cannot speak to us in the same way the written word can.

The authors present what can be known along with their own frustrations of what cannot be known. The authors are very frank in their treatment of the subject of caucasoid/europoid peoples in central asia. They honestly admit there are things they don't and cannot know.

The archeological artifacts are shown and interpreted very conservatively by the authors and others whose research they cite. The subject of who these people were, where they came from, what languages they spoke and how they interacted with asian cultures to the east is treated with scholarly objectivity. The authors stear clear of making pronouncements based upon the evidence that isn't sufficient to support them.

I enjoyed reading about the burial customs, dress, and appearance of the europoid peoples of central asia. Obvious similarities to other european peoples clearly shows coomon origin and cultural outlook. The "witches", complete with tall, conical, wide-brimmed hats shows the power of cultural memory. They look like the "Wicked Witch of the West" from "The Wizard of Oz"!

I would like to point out that if a reader is not truly interested in the subject, they are likely to be bored to tears by the authors' writing style. This is not light reading.

I felt chapter 11 was both unnecessary an annoying. The authors take great pains to show China is a great country with a great legacy of achievement. They do so in such a way that seems an attempt to denigrate european peoples - deliberately. It is quite possible that these europoid peoples brought technologies such as the wheel and bronze to China. This seems a reasonable *possibility* and should be stated frankly without politically-correct quibbling. It seems there is a taboo in presenting the blonde-haired, blue-eyed caucasian as doing something *first* or *best*. Nazi Germany was defeated 60+ years ago. Get over it.

The authors are at their best when evaluating the artifacts and tying them to migrations, languages and cultures. There is much good data in this book and I would recommend it to those interested in the subject.

This book, written by two reputable professors, is probably the only book any non-specialist needs to read about the Tarim Mummies. J.P. Mallory is a professor of pre historic archaeology at Queen's University in Belfast, and Victor Hair is a Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at University of Pennsylvania. Furthermore, Mallory is the world's foremost non insane authority on the Indo Europeans. The Indo Europeans are the semi-mythical linguistic/ethnic group that spawned the languages and people that comprise essentially all of Europe as well as Sanskrit and it's derivatives and Iranian. The debate over these people's was badly tarnished by a century and a half of racist ideology (No one calls them the Aryans anymore, even though they called themselves Aryans.) Regardless of the historical baggage, it's an interesting area to read about. Mallory has written multiple books about the subject either by himself (In Search of Indo Europeans) or in conjunction with others (Oxford's Guide to Proto Indo European Linguistics.)

The Tarim Mummies reads like a synthesis of his theories about indo european linguistics, but here he has added the insight of Victor Hair, who is able to bring Chinese records into the equation.

According to Mallory, the Tarim Mummies emigrated into the Tarim Basin from the North West. His thesis is that they represent the Eastern fringe of a "centrifugal" migration of Indo Europeans south from their ancestral homeland in the Russian Steppes. In doing so, Mallory is advancing his long running thesis that places the indo european "home land" in the Asian-Russian steppelands of the North, as supposed to those who would place it the Caucauses, the western steppes or in south-eastern Europe.

This homeland debate is anachronistic in my mind- we have been so accustomed to fixed national borders that it seems foreign to think that entire nations migrated thousands of miles in the early period of civilization. In fact, settling down was a pretty good way to get wiped off the face of the map by nomads who kept their fighting spirit. Such was the case with the Tarim Mummy culture, who founded cities at the center of the silk road, only to be levelled by Ughyurs and ulitmately dominated by the Chinese.

Mallory's use of comparitive linguistics to buttress his arguments is fairly ingenious. I would like to see that technique applied to some other area of history besides the Indo European language question. It also helps take the matter out of the world of archeology. I have issues with the discipline of archeology, but that is not a subject for today.

What a great book! I wish there were a similar book on the Pazyryk mummies, but maybe it's still being written. This was written by the man who "discovered" the Tarim Mummies in the museum where they were being stored and brought their existance into the light. They have been studied, but not nearly enough. They seem to still be very closely guarded by the local Chinese government.

This is some very in depth reading which the dedicated aficionado of Silk Road culture will find most satisfying. There is something here for every student of Central Asia History. These guys have spent their careers on the Road. The biblio is complete but the text is not interrupted by a single footnote. Academicians take note!