- In 1996, skeletal remains were found in Washington state that were dated to around 9,000 years old, known as Kennewick Man. This and other ancient discoveries are providing evidence that some of the earliest inhabitants of North America were Europeans who migrated over a land bridge from Eurasia.
- Further evidence comes from over 100 naturally mummified European corpses found dating from 4,000-8,000 years ago in the Tarim Basin region of western China, showing these people had a Nordic appearance.
- Genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that during the Upper Paleolithic, white Europeans lived not just in Europe but in a band stretching across northern Asia, and may have introduced basic technologies to ancient China like
- In 1996, skeletal remains were found in Washington state that were dated to around 9,000 years old, known as Kennewick Man. This and other ancient discoveries are providing evidence that some of the earliest inhabitants of North America were Europeans who migrated over a land bridge from Eurasia.
- Further evidence comes from over 100 naturally mummified European corpses found dating from 4,000-8,000 years ago in the Tarim Basin region of western China, showing these people had a Nordic appearance.
- Genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that during the Upper Paleolithic, white Europeans lived not just in Europe but in a band stretching across northern Asia, and may have introduced basic technologies to ancient China like
- In 1996, skeletal remains were found in Washington state that were dated to around 9,000 years old, known as Kennewick Man. This and other ancient discoveries are providing evidence that some of the earliest inhabitants of North America were Europeans who migrated over a land bridge from Eurasia.
- Further evidence comes from over 100 naturally mummified European corpses found dating from 4,000-8,000 years ago in the Tarim Basin region of western China, showing these people had a Nordic appearance.
- Genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that during the Upper Paleolithic, white Europeans lived not just in Europe but in a band stretching across northern Asia, and may have introduced basic technologies to ancient China like
- In 1996, skeletal remains were found in Washington state that were dated to around 9,000 years old, known as Kennewick Man. This and other ancient discoveries are providing evidence that some of the earliest inhabitants of North America were Europeans who migrated over a land bridge from Eurasia.
- Further evidence comes from over 100 naturally mummified European corpses found dating from 4,000-8,000 years ago in the Tarim Basin region of western China, showing these people had a Nordic appearance.
- Genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that during the Upper Paleolithic, white Europeans lived not just in Europe but in a band stretching across northern Asia, and may have introduced basic technologies to ancient China like
Mark Deavin In July 1996 two students wading in the Columbia River at Kennewick, Washington, stumbled across the skeletal remains o a middle!aged "uro#ean male$ %t irst anthro#ologists #resumed they had discovered a #ioneer who had died in the late 1&''(s$ )ut radiocarbon dating subse*uently showed that the skeleton was a remarkable 9,+'' years old$ In act, ,Kennewick -an, is the latest in a series o ancient skeletal discoveries which are giving rise to the theory that some o the earliest inhabitants o .orth %merica were "uro#eans who migrated rom the "urasian continent via a land bridge in the )ering /ea near the end o the last Ice %ge, about 10,''' years ago$ 1r$ Robert )onnischen, director o the Center or the /tudy o the 2irst %mericans at 3regon /tate 4niversity, believes that ,Kennewick -an, hel#s cast doubt on the accuracy o the term ,#aleo!Indian,, which is usually used to describe this #eriod o %merican #rehistory$ ,-aybe some o these guys were really 5ust #aleo!%merican,, he admits$ 3 course, such acts #ose a ma5or challenge to the 6olitically Correct version o history, which #romotes the idea that White %mericans shameully stole their country rom its su##osed Indian owners$ .ot sur#risingly, thereore, attem#ts have been made to #revent the acts about ,Kennewick -an, rom being made #ublic$ "ncouraged by the Clinton government, %merican Indians have made a claim on the skeleton using a 199' 2ederal law intended to #rotect their grave sites$ 7heir declared intention is to bury it immediately in a secret location and #revent urther scientiic e8amination and 1.% testing$ 9owever, eight 4$/$ anthro#ologists, who claim that the Indians and the 2ederal government ear the im#lications o the discovery, began a legal battle in 3ctober 1996 to #revent the secret burial rom taking #lace$ In act, ,Kennewick -an, is an im#ortant addition to the growing body o evidence which suggests that during the #eriod o the 4##er 6aleolithic, between about 1',''' and +:,''' years ago, Whites ; i$e$, men indistinguishable rom modern "uro#eans ; lived not only in "uro#e, but also in a band stretching across northern %sia to the 6aciic$ In /iberia and other eastern regions they were eventually dis#laced and absorbed by -ongoloid #eo#les, although isolated #ockets o "uro#ean genes have survived in northern %sia until this day$ 7he mi8ed!race %inu #eo#le o Ja#an are an e8am#le$ 7he credibility o this theory has been dramatically strengthened in recent years by the remarkable discovery o more than 1'' naturally mummiied "uro#ean cor#ses, ranging rom 0,<'' to <,''' years old, in the 7arim )asin region o western China$ %ma=ingly well #reserved by the arid climate in the area, the mummies give evidence o a .ordic #eo#le with an advanced culture, s#lendidly attired in colorul robes, trousers, boots, stockings, coats, and hats$ In one large tomb the cor#ses o three women and one man were discovered$ 7he man, about :: years old at death, was about si8 eet tall and had yellowish brown hair that was turning white$ 3ne o the better #reserved women was close to si8 eet tall, with yellowish!brown hair dressed in braids$ >Image? @in5iang AChinese 7urkestanB, largest #rovince in China, site o the 7arim )asin mummies$C Items ound with the bodies included ur coats, leather mittens, and an ornamental mirror, while the woman also held bags containing small knives and herbs, #robably or use as medicines$ %t Cherchen, on the southern edge o the 7aklamakan 1esert, the mummiied cor#se o an inant was ound, #robably no more than three months old at the time o death, wra##ed in brown wool and with its eyes covered with small, lat stones$ .e8t to the head was a drinking cu# made rom a bovine horn and an ancient ,baby bottle, made rom a shee#(s teat that had been cut and sewn so it could hold milk$ 3ne male mummy even had traces o a surgical o#eration on his neck, with the incision being sewn u# with horsehair stitches$ >Image? 7all, blond "uro#ean, buried +,''' years ago in western China$ 7he mummiied bodies o do=ens o his kinsmen have been disinterred in the same area$C /everal "uro#ean mummies had in act already been ound in the 7arim )asin area early in this century, one o which was reminiscent o a Welsh or Irish woman, and another o a )ohemian burgher$ %ll were dressed in ine clothing, including 5aunty ca#s with eathers stuck in them that bore a striking resemblance to al#ine headgear still worn in western "uro#e today$ )ut these earlier discoveries, not much more than 0,''' years old, were dismissed as the bodies o isolated "uro#eans who had ha##ened to stray into the territory and so were regarded as being o no cultural or historical signiicance$ Indeed, modern scholars, attuned to 6olitically Correct historical ashion, have tended to down#lay evidence o any early trade or contact between China and the West during this #eriod, regarding the develo#ment o Chinese civili=ation as an essentially homegrown aair sealed o rom outside inluences$ %ny diusion o #eo#le and culture, moreover, was held to have been rom east to west, with the "uro#eans being civili=ed by the Chinese$ 7he very eminent #rehistorian Dordon Childe, or e8am#le, in 19:& summed u# "uro#ean #rehistory as being the story o ,the irradiation o "uro#ean barbarism by 3riental civili=ation$ >1C )ut the latest mummy inds in the 7arim )asin region are too numerous, too ancient, and too revealing to dismiss in this way$ -ost im#ortant, they have hel#ed to reo#en the debate about the role which "uro#eans #layed in the origins o civili=ation in China, with some archeologists again beginning to argue that "uro#eans might have been res#onsible or introducing into China such basic items as the wheel and the irst metal ob5ects$ 7his is actually reairming theories that were advocated at the beginning o the century, but which were subse*uently buried in an avalanche o 6olitical Correctness$ In 1910, or e8am#le, the distinguished Cambridge scholar %$C$ 9addon noted in The Wanderings of Peoples the #ossibility that the #rogressive element o the old Chinese civili=ation was due to the migration o a semi!cultured #eo#le rom the west$ .ow, according to 1r$ 9an Kang8in, a #hysical anthro#ologist at the Institute o %rcheology in )ei5ing, the skeletal and mummiied evidence clearly #oints to the act that the earliest inhabitants o the 7arim )asin region were White #eo#le related to the Cro!-agnons o 6aleolithic "uro#e$ 7his theory is su##orted by 1r$ Eictor -air, a s#ecialist in ancient %sian languages and cultures at the 4niversity o 6ennsylvania, who stimulated the ma5or search which ound the mummies$ 9e has emerged as the main advocate o the theory that large grou#s o "uro#eans were #resent in the 7arim )asin long beore the area(s #resent inhabitants, suggesting that 7urkic s#eakers did not move into the area until about the eighth century )$C$ /ubse*uently, he believes, the newcomers dis#laced the "uro#eans, although the ma5or ethnic grou# in the area today, the 4ygur, includes #eo#le with unusually air hair and com#le8ions$ %ctually, evidence o a now!e8tinct Indo!"uro#ean #eo#le who lived in central %sia has long e8isted$ Known as 7ocharians, they are described more accurately as %rsi, which is cognate with /anskrit arya and 3ld 6ersian ariya, meaning ,%ryan,? ,that which is noble or worthy$, 7heir language, which has similarities to the Celtic and Dermanic branches o the Indo!"uro#ean tree, is recorded in manuscri#ts dated between the si8th and eighth centuries %$1$, and solid evidence or its e8istence can be ound as ar back as the third century$ 1es#ite the act that 7ocharian manuscri#ts are ound only or the later #eriod, linguists have isolated occasional 7ocharian words embedded in manuscri#ts written in Dandhari 6rakrit, a northwest Indian vernacular that served as the administrative language or large #arts o the 7arim )asin during the third through the ith centuries$ %lso, the 7ocharians were earlier known as the Fue=hi Aor Ru=hiB, to whom reerences occur in Chinese te8ts as early as the ith century )$C$, within the time rame o the 7arim )asin mummies$ 7he 7ocharians are vividly dis#layed in ancient wall #aintings at Ki=il and Kumtura Anear the modern Chinese city K(u!ch(e, in the 7ien /han -ountains north o the 7arim )asinB as aristocratic "uro#eans, with red or blond hair #arted neatly in the middle, long noses, blue or green eyes set in narrow aces, and tall bodies$ 7he Fue=hi rom the irst century )$C$ also are de#icted in striking #ainted statues at Khalchayan Awest o the /urkhan River in ancient )actriaB$ 7hey too are shown to be "uro#eans with long noses, thin aces, blond hair, #ink skin, and bright blue eyes$ It is known rom historical sources that during the second century )$C$ the Dreater Fue=hi moved rom northwest China to 2erghana and )actria, which lie on the ar side o the 6amirs$ 2rom there they moved south across the 9indu Kush into %ghanistan and the northern #art o the Indian subcontinent, where they ounded the mighty Kushan em#ire$ 7he latter, in turn, e8tended its #ower back into the 7arim )asin and with it s#read )uddhism, which eventually reached China$
"The new finds are also forcing a reexamination of old Chinese books that describe historical or legendary figures of great height, with deep-set blue or green eyes, long noses, full beards, and red or blond hair !cholars have traditionally scoffed at these accounts, but it now seems that they may be accurate" "#ictor Mair$ 3ne hy#othesis gaining increasing su##ort is that the migration o these Indo! "uro#eans began with their invention o wheeled wagons$ Working with Russian archeologists, 1r$ 1avid W$ %nthony, an anthro#ologist at 9artwick College in .ew Fork, has discovered traces o wagon wheels in :,'''!year!old burial mounds on the ste##es o southern Russia and Ka=akhstan$ 7his line o investigation has a direct bearing on the *uestion o the "uro#ean mummies in China because tri#artite disk wheels similar in construction to those ound in western %sia and "uro#e during the third and second millennium )$C$ have been ound in the Dobi 1esert, northeast o the 7arim )asin$ /imilarly, s#oked wheels dating to the early second millennium )$C$ have been unearthed at a site nearby$ -ost researchers now agree that the birth#lace o horse!drawn vehicles and horse riding was in the ste##es o 4kraine, rather than in China or the .ear "ast$ %s 1r$ %nthony and his colleagues have shown through microsco#ic study o ancient horse teeth, horses already were being harnessed in 4kraine 6,''' years ago$ %lso, wooden chariots with elaborate, s#oked wheels have been shown to date to around 0,''' )$C$ in the same area$ In com#arison, chariots do not a##ear in China until some &'' years later$ Ritual horse burials similar to those in ancient 4kraine also have been e8cavated in the 7arim )asin, as well as remains o wagon wheels made by doweling together three carved, #arallel wooden #lanks$ Wagons with nearly identical wheels are known rom the grassy #lains o 4kraine as ar back as +,''' )$C$ % number o artiacts recovered rom the 7arim )asin mummy burials have #rovided im#ortant evidence or early horse riding$ 7hese include a wooden bit and leather reins, a horse whi# consisting o a single stri# o leather attached to a wooden handle, a wooden cheek #iece with leather stra#s, and a #added leather saddle o e8*uisite workmanshi#$ 7his seems to conirm that the mummies belonged to a mobile, horse!riding culture that s#read rom the #lains o eastern "uro#e$ It also su##orts the growing belie o archeologists that the s#read o Indo!"uro#ean genes, culture, and language may be linked to the gradual s#read o horse riding and the technology o horse!drawn vehicles rom their origins in "uro#e 6,''' years ago$ 7hese discoveries have e8tremely im#ortant conse*uences or understanding the origins o Chinese civili=ation, since the chariot has now been demonstrated to have entered China only around the middle o the second millennium )$C$, at roughly the same time that bron=e metallurgy and writing develo#ed there$ 7he evidence suggests, thereore, that wagons and chariots were introduced into China rom the west by Indo!"uro#eans$ It also shows that the "uro#ean #enetration o China did not begin with the o#ening o the transcontinental /ilk Road trade route that history books usually #lace in the second century )$C$, but at least 0,''' years earlier at the turn o the .eolithic and )ron=e %ges, when the whole o "urasia became culturally and technologically interconnected by migrating "uro#eans$
Waves o migration over a #eriod o at least G,''' years A&,''' )$C$!1,''' )$C$B carried %ryans rom a homeland north o the )lack /ea into western "uro#e, northern India, western China, and .orth %merica Avia the )ering /traitB$ %ctually, as early as 19:1 the Derman archeologist Robert 9eine!Deldern sought to show a series o similarities between the metalwork o "uro#e and China around &'' )$C$ 9is evidence included horse gear, two!edged swords, socketed a8es, and s#earheads, which he believed originated in the 9allstatt and Caucasus metallurgical centers$ %rguing that a ,6ontic -igration, had taken #lace rom "uro#e across %sia, he suggested that the 1ongson culture o south China could best be e8#lained as the result o inluences carried directly rom "uro#e during the 9th and &th centuries )$C$ >0C 7wo years later the well known Russian archeologist /$ I$ Rudenko noted the e8istence o mummies with "uro#ean eatures in the royal tombs o 6a=yryk in the %ltai mountains, dated to the :th and <th centuries )$C$ 7his evidence was subse*uently added to by John 9askins o the 4niversity o 6ittsburgh, who argued that the Fueh!chih Aan ancient Chinese name or the 7ochariansB o the 6a=yryk region o the %ltai might have been related to the Celts o continental "uro#e$ /igniicantly, the 7arim )asin mummies have #rovided urther evidence which su##orts 9eine!Deldern(s theory$ /ome o the grave goods ound with the mummies strongly suggest a connection with the ,socketed celt hori=on,, ty#iied by socketed bron=e celts Aa8es which have bent wooden handles inserted at the end o##osite the bladeB and other distinctive bron=e ob5ects, such as knives with =oomor#hic handles$ 7he ,socketed celt hori=on, is dated roughly 1,&'' to 1,''' )$C$ stretching across "uro#e and correlates well with certain acets o a horse! riding and chariotHcart culture which em#hasi=ed hunting with com#osite bows and #erha#s crossbows$ 7hus, new credence has been given to #reviously ignored and ridiculed theories or the origins and develo#ment o civili=ation in China$ In light o the new evidence, "dwin 6ulleyblank o the 4niversity o )ritish Columbia recently argued that "uro#ean inluence may have been an im#ortant actor in the uniication o the Chinese states and the establishment o the irst centrali=ed Chinese em#ire by Ch(in /hih 9uang 7i in the year 001 )$C$ 9e #oints to the e8ternal arrival on the Chinese ste##e rontier o the military techni*ue o mounted archery, irst e8#licitly mentioned in Chinese sources in the year +'G )$C$ In the west mounted archery a##ears with the /cythians, closely related to the Celts, who are irst mentioned in .ear "astern sources around &'' )$C$ and whose way o lie is described at length by the Dreek historian 9erodotus$ Ironically, it was the techni*ue o mounted archery that deined the classic nomadism that dominated the "uro#ean ste##e and made #ossible the great ste##e em#ires o the @iongnu, the 7urks, and the -ongols that later terrori=ed "uro#e$ 6ulleyblank eectively suggests that "uro#ean technology was co#ied by the Chinese and turned against its original inventors$ Indeed, a suggestive analogy to the s#read o mounted archery eastward to the borders o China can be seen in the way in which the ac*uisition o horses by the Indians rom the /#aniards in -e8ico and their use in warare transormed the Dreat 6lains o .orth %merica rom the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries$ 7his theory o -ongoloid imitation is also relected in the many words o Indo!"uro#ean origin in the earliest known layers o /initic languages$ 7hese include words or ,horse,, ,track,, ,cart,, ,wheel,, and ,cow, and suggest urther that it was "uro#eans who brought these things into China$ 7e8tile sam#les rom the late second millennium )$C$ ound in the 7arim )asin graves also #rovide evidence o the diusion o "uro#ean technological so#histication to China$ 3ne ragment was a wool twill woven with a #laid design which re*uired looms that have never beore been associated with China or eastern Central %sia at such an early date$ Irene Dood, a s#ecialist in te8tile archeology at the 4niversity o 6ennsylvania, has conirmed that the #laid abric was virtually identical stylistically and technically to te8tile ragments ound in %ustria and Dermany at sites rom a somewhat later #eriod$ 1r$ "li=abeth J$W$ )arber, a linguist and archeologist at 3ccidental College in Ios %ngeles and the author o Prehistoric Textiles A6rinceton 4niversity 6ress, 1991B, conirms that the Chinese did not use and did not even know twill, but obtained knowledge o the weave rom the West, and only ater the 9an #eriod$ /igniicantly, there a##ear to be many connections between the 7arim )asin mummies and the :,''' year old ,Ice -an, ound in the %ustrian %l#s in 1991$ 7hese include the ty#e and style o clothing, #ersonal artiacts, solar!religious symbolism, and tattoos or healing and decoration ; as well, o course, as the distinct racial commonality$ 7he evidence, thereore, increasingly seems to conirm a Celtic culture e8tending across "urasia at least <,''' years ago$ %s one academic, James 3#ie, an e8#ert on design motis in ancient rugs and bron=e im#lements, has #ointed out, it is highly signiicant that Celtic endless!knot motis, swastikas, and animal!style decorations have been discovered rom "uro#e, through Iran, to China$ 7he religion o the Celts ; including the /cythians ; was solar, and three! and our! armed swastikas as solar symbols are an omni#resent element in Celtic art$ Iikewise, the 7arim )asin "uro#eans dis#layed a deinite #enchant or s#iral solar symbols, #ainting them on their aces and engraving them on the bridles o their horses$ 7his in itsel suggests that they were .ordics who were and always have been worshi##ers o the sun and sky, and more generally o .ature$ %s 1r$ -ichael 6uett, a historian o "ast %sian civili=ation at 9arvard 4niversity, has argued, the 7arim )asin mummies reveal clear #rocesses o a cultural diusion rom "uro#e outward$ %ll o this su##orts the thesis o the #ioneering archeologist Colin Renrew, who challenged the #reviously acce#ted idea that #rehistoric culture began in the .ear "ast or Central %sia and was only later ,diused, into ,barbarian, "uro#e$ It conirms that the cultural #rere*uisites or civili=ation are much, much older in "uro#e than has been acknowledged, and suggests that ar rom "uro#e being civili=ed rom outside, it was rather the rest o the world, including %sia, which was civili=ed by coloni=ing "uro#eans$ >+C