The Tarim mummies are a group of preserved bodies found in the Tarim Basin, which is now part of Xinjiang, China. These mummies date back to around 1800 BCE to the first centuries BCE, with some recently found to be from about 2100 to 1700 BCE. The earliest Tarim mummies belonged to a population that practiced both farming and herding. Around 2000 BCE, they lived in an area that was once a freshwater environment but has since turned into a desert.

A study by Zhang et al. (2021) found that mummies from 2135 to 1623 BCE had a high level of ancestry from Ancient North Eurasians (about 72%) and smaller amounts from Ancient Northeast Asians (about 28%). These people had no detectable ancestry from the Western Steppe region. They formed a genetically separate group that adopted farming and herding practices from nearby cultures, which helped them live and thrive near the changing river oases of the Taklamakan Desert. These mummies were long thought to be Proto-Tocharian-speaking herders, possibly related to the Afanasievo or BMAC cultures. However, the earliest Tarim Basin cultures seem to have developed from a genetically isolated local population.

A later study by Zhang et al. (2025) examined a Late Bronze Age site in the far west of the Tarim Basin, dated to 1600–1400 BCE. The people living there mostly descended from the Sintashta and Andronovo populations, with some ancestry from BMAC (10%) and Tarim_EMBA (12%). Nearly all individuals in this group belonged to the Y-DNA haplogroup R-M17.

Mummies from the Iron Age (1st millennium BCE), such as those of the Subeshi culture, show similarities to the Saka (Scythian) Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains, especially in weapons, horse gear, and clothing. These mummies may be the ancestors of the Tocharians. More recent mummies from Qumul (Yanbulaq culture, 1100–500 BCE) are the earliest in the Tarim Basin to show "Mongoloid" features, as well as others with "Europoid" characteristics.

Archaeological record

At the start of the 20th century, European explorers like Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq, and Sir Aurel Stein described finding dried-out bodies during their searches for ancient artifacts in Central Asia. Since then, many more mummies have been discovered and studied, with many now on display in Xinjiang’s museums. Most of these mummies were found in the eastern part of the Tarim Basin, near areas like Lopnur, Subeshi, Turpan, Loulan, and Kumul, or along the southern edge of the basin near Khotan, Niya, Cherchen, and Qiemo.

According to Mallory & Mair (2000), the oldest Tarim mummies, found at Qäwrighul and dated to 2135–1939 BCE, were studied using skull measurements and classified as a group called "Proto-Europoid." This group is most similar to Bronze Age people from southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the Lower Volga. Later research by Hemphill & Mallory (2003) found that these early mummies did not closely match European-related groups but formed their own unique group, different from the Steppe pastoralists of the Andronovo and Afanasievo cultures or the people of the Western Asian BMAC culture. Later mummies showed connections to groups like the Andronovo, BMAC, or Han people, suggesting different groups moved into the Tarim Basin over time.

Some notable mummies include the tall, red-haired "Chärchän man" or "Ur-David" (1000 BCE), his son (1000 BCE), a 1-year-old baby with brown hair under a red and blue felt cap, and two stones over its eyes; the "Hami Mummy" (c. 1400–800 BCE), a "red-headed beauty" found in Qizilchoqa; and the "Witches of Subeshi" (4th or 3rd century BCE), who wore black felt conical hats with flat brims. At Subeshi, a man was found with signs of a surgery on his abdomen, sewn with stitches made of horsehair.

Many mummies were preserved well because of the desert’s dryness, which dried out their bodies. These mummies often had Caucasian-like physical features, with hair that remained intact, ranging in color from blond to red to dark brown, and was generally long, curly, and braided. Their clothing and textiles suggest shared techniques with early Indo-European or basic textile methods. The "Chärchän man" wore a red twill tunic and tartan leggings. Textile expert Elizabeth Wayland Barber noted similarities between the tartan-style cloth and fragments found in Austrian salt mines linked to the Hallstatt culture. Because of the dry conditions and excellent preservation, tattoos have been found on mummies from several sites, including Qäwrighul, Yanghai, Shengjindian, Shanpula, Zaghunluq, and Qizilchoqa.

Some textiles found with the mummies resemble early European types, as they closely match fragments from Austrian salt mines dating to the second millennium BCE. Anthropologist Irene Good noted that the woven diagonal twill pattern suggests the use of a complex loom and described the textile as "the easternmost known example of this weaving technique."

The Yanbulaq cemetery contained 29 mummies dating from 1100 to 500 BCE. Twenty-one of these mummies had a "Mongoloid" appearance, which was the first time this type was found in the Tarim Basin. The other eight mummies showed the same "Europoid" physical traits found at Qäwrighul.

Genetic studies

In 2007, the Chinese government permitted a National Geographic Society team led by Spencer Wells to study the DNA of mummies. Wells successfully extracted DNA from the internal tissues of the mummies. Scientists found enough DNA to suggest that the Tarim Basin was continuously inhabited from 2000 BCE to 300 BCE. Early results showed that the people who lived there did not all come from one place but instead had origins in Europe, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and other regions not yet identified.

A 2008 study by Jilin University found that the Yuansha population had genetic connections to modern populations in South Central Asia, the Indus Valley, and the ancient Chawuhu population.

Between 2009 and 2015, scientists analyzed the remains of 92 individuals from the Xiaohe Tomb complex for Y-DNA and mtDNA markers. Genetic tests showed that the maternal lineages of the Xiaohe people came from both East Asia and West Eurasia, while all paternal lineages came from West Eurasia. The mtDNA haplogroup C found in the Tarim mummies is linked to Southeast Siberian groups like the Udeghe and Evenks, not East Asian groups, which carry different subclades of mtDNA C.

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the Xiaohe people revealed haplogroups such as H, K, U5, U7, U2e, T, and R, which are now common in West Eurasia. Other haplogroups, like B5, D, and G2a, are common in East Asia. Haplogroups C4 and C5 are found in Central Asian or Siberian populations, while M5 and M are typically found in South Asia.

In 2010, Li et al. found that 11 out of 12 males studied belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup R1a1a-M198, which is now most common in Northern India and Eastern Europe. One male belonged to the rare Y-DNA paragroup K* (M9) from Asia.

The location where this genetic mixing occurred is unknown, but it is likely in southern Siberia.

In 2021, Jilin University analyzed 13 individuals from the Tarim Basin, dated to around 2100–1700 BCE. Two individuals belonged to Y-haplogroup R1b1b-PH155/PH4796, and one belonged to Y-haplogroup R1-PF6136.

In 2025, Zhang et al. studied a Late Bronze Age site in the far west of the Tarim Basin, dated 1600–1400 BCE. Nearly all individuals had Y-DNA haplogroup R-M17. One late Iron Age individual had Y-DNA haplogroup Q1a2.

mtDNA samples from the Late Bronze Age Tarim Basin included haplogroups H27e, H11b, U4a1, U4c1, T2b34, N1a1a1a1, H5b, U2e3, U5b2a1a2, U4a2, H91, W1-T119C, U2e1e, T2d, U5a1b1, R1b1, H6a1a, HV14, T2a1b1, and R1b*. mtDNA samples from the late Iron Age included haplogroups A+T152C!+T16362C and A2d1.

A 2021 study on Early Bronze Age Tarim mummies (13 mummies, including 11 from Xiaohe Cemetery, dated 2135–1623 BCE) found they were most closely related to the Ancient North Eurasians, particularly the Afontova Gora 3 specimen (AG3). The Tarim_EMBA mummies had 72% ancestry from AG3 and 28% from Ancient Northeast Asians. Beifang Tarim_EMBA mummies had 89% Xiaohe-like ancestry and 11% ANA ancestry. These mummies are considered the best representatives of the Ancient North Eurasians.

Comparisons showed that Early Tarim mummies from Xiaohe ("Tarim_EMBA1") had the strongest genetic connection to Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers in the Altai Mountains (5500–3500 BCE). Altai hunter-gatherers can be modeled as a mix of Tarim_EMBA1 and Ancient Paleo-Siberians, while Tarim_EMBA1 can be modeled as a mix of Altai hunter-gatherers and AG3.

Genetic studies also found that groups in Central Asia and Xinjiang have ancestry linked to the Early Bronze Age Tarim mummies. The Tajik people show the strongest connection to the Tarim_EMBA mummies, though their main ancestry comes from Bronze Age Steppe pastoralists.

In 2025, Zhang et al. studied a Late Bronze Age site in the far west of the Tarim Basin, dated 1600–1400 BCE. Its inhabitants mostly descended from the Sintashta and Andronovo populations, with 10% ancestry from BMAC and 12% from Tarim_EMBA. By the late Iron Age, Andronovo-related ancestry was no longer present in the region.

Posited origins

Mallory and Mair (2000) suggest that at least two groups of people with "Caucasian" physical traits moved into the Tarim Basin. They link these groups to the Tocharian and Iranian (Saka) branches of the Indo-European language family. However, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, a professor of archaeology and linguistics, warns that assuming the mummies spoke Tocharian may be incorrect. She points out that there is a gap of about 1,000 years between the mummies and the recorded Tocharians, explaining that people can change languages without altering their physical appearance.

Ronald Kim, a linguistics professor, argues that the differences between known Tocharian languages suggest that Proto-Tocharian must have existed about a millennium before the Tocharians were recorded. This timeline matches the time when the Tarim Basin culture was active in the region.

In 1995, Mair claimed that the earliest mummies in the Tarim Basin were exclusively "Caucasoid" or "Europoid." He noted that East Asian migrants arrived in the eastern parts of the Tarim Basin around 3,000 years ago, while the Uyghur people arrived around the year 842. Mair’s team suggested that these populations may have traveled to the region through the Pamir Mountains about 5,000 years ago.

Mair also stated that new discoveries are causing scholars to reconsider ancient Chinese texts that describe tall figures with blue or green eyes, long noses, beards, and red or blond hair. These descriptions were often dismissed in the past, but recent findings suggest they may be accurate.

Mair and Mallory’s research has faced criticism for possibly supporting ideas linked to white supremacy and Nazism. Many mummies do not have "European" features, and physical traits alone cannot determine migration patterns. Mallory has since distanced himself from earlier associations with racist writings.

There are also cultural, genetic, and physical connections between the mummies and modern Uyghurs. However, Uyghur physical traits have been classified inconsistently as "European," "Mongoloid," or "Caucasoid" (classifications now considered outdated by anthropologists). Traditional Uyghur clothing-making methods, especially felting, are not well studied in relation to the clothing found on the mummies.

In 1995, Mair wrote that he hoped to display some mummies in museums in the United States and Europe, allowing people to see what their ancestors might have looked like. This idea was criticized for emphasizing a European connection and supporting Chinese nationalist goals over those of the Uyghurs.

B. E. Hemphill’s analysis of skull measurements (as reported by Larsen and Schurr) questions whether the Tarim Basin population was European. Hemphill found that the earlier Tarim population formed a distinct group with closer ties to the Indus Valley civilization, while the later Tarim population was more similar to people from the Oxus River valley.

Han Kangxin, who studied the skulls of 302 mummies, found that the earlier Tarim Basin population was most similar to people from the Afanasevo culture (north of the Tarim Basin) and the Andronovo culture (spanning Kazakhstan and Central Asia). Mallory and Mair (2000) linked the earliest Bronze Age settlers of the Tarim and Turpan basins to the Afanasevo culture. This culture, which existed from about 3500 to 2500 BCE, had connections to Indo-European cultures in the Eurasian Steppe but predates the Andronovo culture (2000–900 BCE), which is associated with Indo-Iranian languages.

Mair noted that for the first 1,000 years after the "Loulan Beauty" mummy, the only people in the Tarim Basin were Caucasoid. East Asian people began arriving in the eastern parts of the basin about 3,000 years ago, and the Uyghur people arrived after the fall of the Orkon Uyghur Kingdom in modern-day Mongolia around the year 842.

Hemphill and Mallory (2003) identified a different physical type in mummies from Alwighul (700–1 BCE) and Krorän (200 CE) compared to earlier mummies from Qäwrighul (1800 BCE) and Yanbulaq (1100–500 BCE). They found no strong evidence of Steppe-related influences in these remains.

The study concluded that the early inhabitants of Qäwrighul were not closely related to people from the Afanasievo or Andronovo cultures of the Steppe or the urban centers of the Oxus civilization in Bactria. Instead, the people of Alwighul and Krorän were most similar to populations from the Eastern Mediterranean. This connection may indicate changes in regional interactions in Central Asia around the early second millennium BCE. No evidence supports the idea that Steppe populations significantly influenced the Tarim Basin during the Bronze Age.

Despite similarities between Afanasievo and Andronovo artifacts and those from Xinjiang, all analyses show a clear separation between Steppe populations and the Tarim Basin people.

Mair’s work has been criticized by anthropologists like Zimmer, Schurr, and Thornton. Zimmer noted that while Mair’s research raises important questions, his emotional enthusiasm led to hasty conclusions. He warned that mixing physical anthropology with human history can fuel racism.

Zhang et al. (2021) proposed that the "Western-like" features of the earlier Tarim mummies could be explained by…

Historical records and associated texts

The Western Regions, also known as Hsi-yu in Chinese (Xīyù in pinyin), refer to the lands west of Yumen Pass in China. This area was historically recognized from the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE and included regions such as the Tarim Basin and Central Asia.

Some groups living in the Western Regions were described by Chinese records as having full beards, red or blond hair, deep blue or green eyes, and high noses. Chinese sources note that city-states in the Tarim Basin reached their strongest political power between the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. However, this may reflect increased Chinese influence in the region after the Kushan Empire fell.

The term "Rouzhi" may have been used as early as the 7th century BCE by the Chinese philosopher Guan Zhong. However, his writings are often believed to have been written later. Guan Zhong mentioned a group called Yuzhi or Niuzhi, who lived in the northwest and supplied jade to China from the Yuzhi mountains in Gansu.

After suffering major defeats by the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BCE, a group of the Rouzhi moved to Bactria, where they founded the Kushan Empire. By the 1st century CE, the Kushan Empire had grown significantly and may have taken control of parts of the Tarim Basin.

The differences between two Tocharian languages—Tocharian A (also called Ārśi-käntwa) and Tocharian B (Kuśiññe, meaning "of Kucha")—and the lack of evidence for these languages beyond the Tarim suggest that a shared, earlier language called proto-Tocharian existed in the Tarim Basin during the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. Written records in Tocharian languages date from the 3rd to 9th centuries CE, with the earliest known written evidence from the 6th century CE.

Although the Tarim Basin mummies were found about 2,000 years before the Tocharian texts, their shared location and connections to Western Eurasia have led scholars to believe they may be related to the Tocharian peoples.

Arguments for cultural transmission from West to East

The presence of people who spoke Indo-European languages in the Tarim Basin around 2000 BCE could, if proven, show that early cultural exchanges happened between Indo-European and Chinese groups. Some experts think that techniques like chariot warfare and bronze-making might have been brought to the east by these Indo-European nomads. Mallory and Mair also mention that before about 2000 BCE, very few metal items were found in China. These items were simple and strangely already made of mixed copper, which raises questions about their origin.

Scholars are still debating whether bronze technology spread from China to the West or if early bronze-making in China was influenced by cultures from the western steppes. So far, evidence suggests the latter is more likely. However, the culture and technology in the northwest Tarim Basin were less advanced than in eastern China, such as in the Yellow River region (Erlitou culture, around 2070–1600 BCE) or the Majiayao culture (around 3100–2600 BCE), which were the earliest known bronze-using cultures in China. This suggests that the northwest region did not use copper or other metals until the Shang dynasty introduced bronze technology around 1600 BCE. The earliest bronze artifacts in China were found at the Majiayao site (between 3100 and 2700 BCE), and from there, the Chinese Bronze Age began. Bronze-making in China started during the Erlitou period, which some historians link to the Shang dynasty.

Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the earlier Xia dynasty. The US National Gallery of Art describes the Chinese Bronze Age as the time between about 2000 BCE and 771 BCE, starting with the Erlitou culture and ending with the fall of the Western Zhou dynasty. While this gives a clear timeline, it does not fully explain the continued importance of bronze in Chinese history. Since bronze was discovered much later in China than in Mesopotamia, it might have been brought in from the West. However, there is also evidence that bronze-making developed independently in China.

Zhang Qian, a Chinese official who traveled to Bactria and Sogdiana in 126 BCE, was the first to report on many regions west of China. He noticed Greek influences in some kingdoms and named Parthia "Ānxī" (安息), a way of writing "Arshak," the name of the founder of the Parthian dynasty. Zhang Qian described Parthia as an advanced civilization that grew grain and grapes, made silver coins, and produced leather goods. He compared Parthia’s development to the cultures of Dayuan in Ferghana and Daxia in Bactria.

It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers valued jade highly. More than 750 jade items found in the tomb of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty, discovered by Zheng Zhenxiang, came from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the middle of the first millennium BCE, the Yuezhi people traded jade, with the main buyers being rulers of agricultural China.

Famous mummies

The Princess of Xiaohe (Chinese: 小河公主) was found and named by archaeologists from the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology at Xiaohe Cemetery Tomb M11, 102 kilometers west of Loulan, Lop Nur, Xinjiang in 2003. She had reddish brown hair and long eyelashes. She was wrapped in a white wool cloak with tassels and wore a felt hat, a string skirt, and fur-lined leather boots. Wooden pins and three small pouches of ephedra were placed with her. Twigs and branches of ephedra were also placed beside her body. She is not displayed in any museum permanently.

The Beauty of Loulan (also called the "Loulan Beauty" or the "Beauty of Krorän") is the most famous of the Tarim mummies, along with the Cherchen Man. She was discovered in 1980 by Chinese archaeologists while making a movie about the Silk Road. The mummy was found near Lop Nur. She was buried 3 feet underground. Her body was well preserved because of the dry climate and salt in the ground. She was wrapped in a woolen cloth made of two pieces that did not fully cover her body, leaving her ankles exposed. Funerary gifts were placed around her. Scientists believe she lived about 1800 BCE.

The Beauty of Loulan lived around 1800 BCE until she was about 45 years old. She likely died from lung failure after breathing in a large amount of sand, charcoal, and dust. Elizabeth Barber suggests she may have died in winter because of the clothing she wore to stay warm. The rough quality of her clothes and lice in her hair indicate she lived a hard life.

The Beauty of Loulan had auburn hair that was infested with lice. She wore clothing made of wool and fur. Her hood was made of felt and had a feather. She wore rough, ankle-high moccasins made of leather with fur on the outside. Her skirt was made of leather with fur on the inside for warmth. She also wore a woolen cap. Elizabeth Barber believes the clothing used to stay warm suggests she died in winter. The Beauty of Loulan had a comb with four teeth remaining. Barber suggests the comb was used to comb hair and to help weave fabric. She also had a neatly woven bag or soft basket containing grains of wheat.

A 23-poem sequence about the Beauty of Loulan appears in the Canadian poet Kim Trainor’s book Karyotype (2015).

The Yingpan man is a much later mummy from the same area, dating to the 4th–5th century CE. He was dressed in fancy clothes, which suggests he may have been a Sogdian or an important person in the Shanshan Kingdom.

Controversies

In a 2008 article by Ed Wong in the New York Times, it was reported that Mair was not allowed to leave the country with 52 genetic samples. However, a Chinese scientist secretly sent him six of these samples, which were tested by an Italian geneticist.

Since then, China has stopped allowing foreign scientists to study the mummies. As Wong noted, "Even though there are political problems, excavations of the burial sites are still happening."