"The Mummies of Urmuchai"

Paper Summary:

This paper briefly describes the archaeological find of Elizabeth Wayland Barber and her team of fellow archaeologists along the rim of the Tarim Basin, also known as the 'Silk Road'. The paper then critically reviews Barber's book about the find, "The Mummies of Urmuchai" and the conclusions Barber drew, based on the evidence she gathered, about the geographical origins and practices of the mummies of Urmachai.

From the Paper:

"The Chinese archeologists who uncovered the gravesite at Cherchen were at first unaware of what they had found. These graves contained extremely tall, apparently Caucasian bodies that were later dated as over 3,500 years old, despite the fact that they were so well preserved. This preservation was not entirely by design, although the corpses were painted with yellow lines that were intended to have preservative qualities. The extraordinary preservation was also accomplished by luck and happenstance-the graves had been cut into a salt bed that speeded the process of desiccation, or preservation by packing in salt."

More papers on "The Mummies of Urmuchai":

• Book Review # 66714 : "The Mummies of Urumchi"
• Analytical Essay # 49319 : "The Mummies of Urumchi"
• Research Paper # 109505 : "The Mummies of Urumchi, China"

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