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Very early tartan?
Came across a strange historical footnote while poking around, and I wonder what folks here might know of it.
Apparently, near the turn of (this) century, mummies were disinterred from the Uighur area of the Gobi Desert. This would appear not to be in any way relevant to a kilt forum. However, the discovering archaeologists described Cherchen Man this way: "His hair had been 'reddish brown flecked with grey, framing high cheekbones,' he had an 'aquiline, long nose, full lips and a ginger beard,' and was wearing 'a red twill tunic and tartan leggings.' The mummy is also described as looking 'like a Bronze Age European,' or even mores specifically, like 'a Celt.' [Wikipedia]."
The naturally mummified gentleman's remains were discovered in the company of corpses of a woman and a child. They apparently lived around 1,000 BCE.
So... was this early tartan-sporting fella a Scot, a Tatar... or an Irishman? :wink:
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Celts in China 5000 Years Ago
Here's an interesting article: http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/artic...es-of-the-gobi
Apparently there's pretty good evidence that Celts, and other European peoples, made their way to China as long as 5000 years ago.
Interesting!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Celtic Croft
Great summary article. Thanks!
I was intrigued by the question posed near the end: did Celts migrate to the Tarim Basin area thousands of years ago ... or FROM there? :?
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This topic has been discussed quite a bit on this forum. Not only this particular find but all the other silk road mummies that have been found.
The most recent discussion from back in February may be found here. - http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...hlight=Mummies
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Celtic Croft
Apparently there's pretty good evidence that Celts, and other European peoples, made their way to China as long as 5000 years ago.
If one goes back 5,000 years it would be impossible to prove that 'Celts' existed, that any group of people were speaking a 'Celtic' language. Our oldest written Indo-European language only goes back c3500 years, Hittite.
5,000 years ago is around when we think Proto-Indo-European breaking up into its daughter languages.
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So long as there has been weaving in any form, it would be difficult to imagine that repeating patterns of threads would not be considered. The human mind operates on patterns, and in fact patterns are the basis of all mathematics. Its various forms and sub-disciplines are all just ways to use known patterns to achieve a faster calculation.
I used to teach all of my math classes on the basis of pattern, and once the kids got that idea, they could do an awful lot of very advanced math. Similarly, a weaver is an artist using the patterns of the mind and the joy of colour perception in the eye to create something pleasing rather than something random.
Having said that, the various clues are always tantalizing!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OC Richard
If one goes back 5,000 years it would be impossible to prove that 'Celts' existed, that any group of people were speaking a 'Celtic' language. Our oldest written Indo-European language only goes back c3500 years, Hittite.
5,000 years ago is around when we think Proto-Indo-European breaking up into its daughter languages.
Fair point, linguistically speaking (pun not intended). It seems, however, that the mummies' ethnic identification was based first upon their phenotypic characteristics and the artifacts surrounding them (clothing, grains, hats, etc.), which were later confirmed by DNA testing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Ashton
This topic has been discussed quite a bit on this forum. Not only this particular find but all the other silk road mummies that have been found.
The most recent discussion from back in February may be found here. - http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...hlight=Mummies
Thanks! Poking through it now.
Cheers,
Jack
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