China's Mystery Mummies
Film Summary
High Definition
52:00 mins
Civilizations & History
/ Science & Nature
Asia
Brief Summary
CHINA’S MYSTERY MUMMIES More than 1000 years before any known contact between the East and West, hundreds of mummies, many with Caucasian features, were buried in a Chinese desert. China’s Mystery Mummies goes on a unique, forensic journey to determine who these people were and where they came from. The Tarim Basin in Western China is an arid, forbidding landscape long thought to be one of the natural barriers that enabled the East to develop separately from the West. But a remarkable archaeological find by a Chinese expedition in 1978 – a series of mummies, many with Caucasian features – called into question theories about East/West migration. The mummies remained in a regional museum, all but hidden for a decade, until Victor Mair, an expert on ancient Chinese texts, chanced upon them and realised their importance. Examining their clothes and the artefacts buried near them provided some clues about their origin, but it wasn’t until 2007 when Spencer Wells – National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and director of National Geographic’s Genographic Project – went on a mission to use advanced DNA-analysing technology that we began to decode the mummies’ genetic identities. The desert conditions of the Tarim Basin provided natural mummification, which helped prevent rotting and disintegration. This programme helps put the significance of these mummies into perspective. The wool cloth, for example, demonstrated that sheepherding, which originated in the Fertile Crescent, had progressed eastward. And bronze implements buried in the same vicinity as the dead proved that this technology already existed in the area, possibly before it reached the Chinese. But where did these people come from? The weave in many of their garments, recognisable as plaid, suggested a European origin, but definitive answers were elusive. While the physical evidence provided many clues, it raised as many questions as it answered. The investigation then looked to DNA analysis, which offered more promise of determining the origin of these enigmatic mummies. In 2007 the Chinese government allowed Wells’ team a limited opportunity to examine the mummies, with the hope of finding useable DNA samples. China’s Mystery Mummies details the scientists’ efforts to locate DNA samples within leathery inner tissue that had not degraded over the millennia. The scientists were ultimately able to extract enough material to yield some tantalising theories. The genetic trial suggested that far from being an isolated outpost, this section of the Tarim Basin was constantly inhabited for some 1700 years until around 300 BC. Preliminary results also hinted that these people came from all over the map: Europe, Mesopotamia, India and elsewhere.
Year Filmed: 2007
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