DNA Results for the Taklamakan/Urumqi Mummies

[Stevo]

Since pointy hats were mentioned associated with both Celts and Tocharians, I thought you all might be interested in some of the grave finds from the burial mound of the 6th-century B.C. Celtic chieftain at Hochdorf, near Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemberg, in Southwestern Germany.

Note the pointy hat.

Here is an illustration of the inner burial chamber.

Here is the home page of the web site dedicated to the Hochdorf chieftain's grave mound.

[lgmayka]

That was my point; that the celts belonged to a culture that was widely distributed over europe and asia. Call the culture indo-european if you like. The celts certainly did not call themselves "celts" until recently.

The distinction is important to me because genetically, everyone associates Celts specifically with R1b. And yet, the famous Mongolian necropolis from more than 2000 years ago had an R1a individual. From such evidence one might reasonably infer that Indo-Europeans reached as far east as Mongolia, but not that the Celts specifically did.

Of course, one could easily imagine a productive Bronze Age R1b culture producing interesting goods in Europe, teamed with a highly mobile and entrepreneurial R1a culture that transported and traded those goods far into Asia.

[Stevo]

Grave #69 in the Egyin Gol Mongolian necropolis contained an individual who could have been R1b, although he might have been an N, as well (R1b scored 32 in Athey's Predictor; N scored 31). The body in Grave #70 scored only 25 for R1a, although no other y-haplos had scores that were close.

Still, I agree with you that the Tocharians were not Celts. They were Indo-Europeans like the Celts and spoke a centum language with certain Celtic affinities, just as Italic has Celtic affinities but was not itself Celtic.

I also do not believe the Celts were genetically homogeneous. Most of them may have been R1b, but that is far from certain.

[Hando]

1) The tartan weave is almost universal:

http://www.kilts.biz/kilt_stories/who_says_a_tartan_is_just_for_scots.html

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Any place where the people have the ability to weave cloth is likely to have some kind of tartan.
The latest unexpected place I have discovered tartans being used is Africa. The warriors of the Masai people, called Moran, are frequently outfitted with bright red tartan.
...
Tartan truly is an ancient art form, which can be found the world over.
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Thanks and I agree with you. Altho, now I wonder if someone will counter argue that the Moran of the Masai are somehow related to the Celtic/Irish sir name Moran!

[rainbow]

Thanks and I agree with you. Altho, now I wonder if someone will counter argue that the Moran of the Masai are somehow related to the Celtic/Irish sir name Moran!

I won't argue about it but I thought of the Celtic Moran too.
And why does a Scottish drummer wear a leoaprd skin? lol
Was there some sort of African-Scottish cultural exchange? How, and when?

[Hando]

Has anyone been to Tarim Basin?

Hi, I am planning a trip to the Tarim Basin. I want to see the sites where these mummies were dug up. Like Loulan etc. However, I think I might have read somewhere that this is nigh impossible, due to sensitive high security nuclear plant areas. Is this true? Does anyone have any advice or recommendations?
I plan to visit Tadjikistan first. I want to cross over into Xinjiang from the Pamirs in Tadjikistan. It would be lovely to do so on camel back, but I would gladly settle for taking a jeep across the border, if that is feasible....

[Hando]

Also, when scientists/scholars talk about the Ural-Altaic area, what exactly do they mean? The land mass between the Ural mountains and the Altaic mountains is vast and thus not specific enough. I ask this question because it has been said that Koreans originate from the Ural-Altaic region...