The Bronze Age mummies found in China’s Taklamakan Desert decades ago were NOT travelers from the West but part of an ancient Ice Age Asian population. Credi
An international team of researchers from Jilin University, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Seoul National University of Korea, and Harvard University have sequenced genomes of thirteen of the earliest known Tarim Basin mummies, dating to circa 2,100 to 1,700 BCE, and five individuals dating to circa 3,000 to 2,800 BCE, from the neighboring Dzungarian Basin. This is the first genome-scale study of prehistoric populations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The genomic study reveals that the Tarim Basin mummies were genetically isolated since their genomes showed no admixture with other Holocene groups, although neighboring Dzungarian Basin mummies showed genetic mixing. However, proteomic analyses of their dental calculus reveal they were aware of neighboring cultures, cuisines, and technologies.
DNA study of Tarim Basin mummies reaches new conclusions about origin of these Western-looking people mysteriously buried in boats in the Chinese desert.
Genomic analysis of the Tarim Basin mummies indicates they were direct descendants of Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), a group that largely disappeared by the end of the last Ice Age.
Genomic study reveals an indigenous Bronze Age population that was genetically isolated but culturally cosmopolitan. In a new study, an international team of researchers has determined the genetic origins of Asia's most enigmatic mummies - the.