Before the Silk Road

In a remote Chinese desert, scientists have unearthed Caucasian mummies that are thousands of years old. Where did they come from?

China’s Secret Mummies

This program definitely appealed to my love of history. What was really interesting about this was the fact that a previously unnoticed group of people settled in the Tarim Basin of China, along the far western edge, around 3000 years ago. It had always been assumed that East and West had little to no contact with one another this long ago…but the mummies prove otherwise.

If you don’t want to watch the show, this Wikipedia article about the Tarim mummies pretty much sums it up.