Genetically Isolated, Culturally Cosmopolitan
November 4, 2021 2:29 AM Subscribe
Bronze Age Tarim mummies aren't who scientists thought they were
In a new study, an international team of researchers has determined the genetic origins of Asia’s most enigmatic mummies - the Tarim Basin mummies in western China. Once thought to be Indo-European speaking migrants from the West, the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies are revealed to be a local indigenous population with deep Asian roots and a taste for far-flung cuisine [PDF].
In a new study, an international team of researchers has determined the genetic origins of Asia’s most enigmatic mummies - the Tarim Basin mummies in western China. Once thought to be Indo-European speaking migrants from the West, the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies are revealed to be a local indigenous population with deep Asian roots and a taste for far-flung cuisine [PDF].
I was not expecting such a festive hat!
posted by inexorably_forward at 5:18 AM on November 4, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by inexorably_forward at 5:18 AM on November 4, 2021 [9 favorites]
I'm mostly interested in why the portraits look so much like icons.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:26 AM on November 4, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:26 AM on November 4, 2021 [1 favorite]
MetaFilter: I was not expecting such a festive hat!
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:55 AM on November 4, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:55 AM on November 4, 2021 [14 favorites]
No, more like piecing together a depiction of modern society from a printout of a single MetaTalk thread.
"Valid in both rural and urban settings, for early twenty-first century hominids, the unit of exchange was the 'twenty bucks'"
posted by lalochezia at 6:59 AM on November 4, 2021 [39 favorites]
buried with a piece of cheese in case you get peckish in the afterlife?!?! "hard same" as those folks probably never, ever said.
posted by LegallyBread at 8:34 AM on November 4, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by LegallyBread at 8:34 AM on November 4, 2021 [6 favorites]
Riffing on lalochezia's comment, I would like to invite you all to my dissertation defense 3000 years from now on the impact of chronic wasting disease in cervidae on currency dynamics in early twenty-first century hominid societies: Does Anyone Have Twenty Bucks?
posted by All hands bury the dead at 10:42 AM on November 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by All hands bury the dead at 10:42 AM on November 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
LegallyBread: "buried with a piece of cheese in case you get peckish in the afterlife?!?! "hard same" as those folks probably never, ever said."
Eponysterical!
posted by chavenet at 11:12 AM on November 4, 2021
Eponysterical!
posted by chavenet at 11:12 AM on November 4, 2021
« Older Top 13 Cities in the World for Bicyclists | Together in Electric Dreams Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
It would be like future archeologists trying to piece together a depiction of modern society from the server containing the MetaFilter archive.
No, more like piecing together a depiction of modern society from a printout of a single MetaTalk thread.
But still, what fascinating findings.
posted by Kattullus at 5:12 AM on November 4, 2021 [5 favorites]