Indo-Europeans in China over 4,000 years ago

About a year ago, I watched a documentary on how an archaeologist "accidentally" stumbled upon mummies with European features in China.

After years of forensics study, it was found that over 4,000 years ago, people from Europe came towards China and stayed in the Tarim Basin, which is surrounded by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China (map).

However, the Tarim Basin became un-inhabitable for these people, but the irony is, these same harsh conditions actually preserved, i.e. mummified their bodies so, which became their enduring legacy.

When I first learned about the discovery of these Tarim Mummies, my jaw dropped.

I was so amazed at how short our time on Earth is, and what our history has gone through to bring us to our modern state. Their culture endured for 2,000 years. Based on DNA analysis, people from the surrounding regions interacted, and lived amongst each other, pretty much like any multi-cultural metropolitan city.

Also, I was facinated from a genetic point of view. When these people moved away from the Tarim region, they mixed with populations in current day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China.

Is it any wonder that we see some green-eyed Indians. Or some red-headed Afghanis?

Around the same time I learned of the Tarim Mummies, I had just finished watching a Chinese Epic, , which is about a historic-based story of "misfits" who are sent on a mission by Lord Buddha to retrieve scrolls from Western heaven. On their way from China to India, these "misfits" go through various lands and kingdoms. One of these places are inhabited by people with red hair and green eyes.

And, the Mahabharat mentions that Arjun visited this area for Yudhisthira's Rajasuya sacrifice, to show is is worthy of becoming Emperor.

So ancient texts from different cultures have made reference to such a place, only now we have the modern technology to back-up these ancient texts.

 

I'm sure there are mix-up along the journey of several thousands of years. When we write something, and it is read few thousands of years later, it may be interpreted by one person one way, and interpreted a different way by another person. Kind of like the game telephone, where one person whispers a message in another person's ear, and that other person whispers the same message in the next person ear, and so forth. By the time the message gets to the 100th person, the message is totally different!