Ancient Hindu Civilization: Aryans:

Culture Bearers to China

Mark Deavin
In July 1996 two students wading in the Columbia River at
Kennewick, Washington, stumbled across the skeletal
remains o a middle!aged "uro#ean male$ %t irst
anthro#ologists #resumed they had discovered a #ioneer who had died in the late
1&''(s$ )ut radiocarbon dating subse*uently showed that the skeleton was a
remarkable 9,+'' years old$ In act, ,Kennewick -an, is the latest in a series o
ancient skeletal discoveries which are giving rise to the theory that some o the
earliest inhabitants o .orth %merica were "uro#eans who migrated rom the
"urasian continent via a land bridge in the )ering /ea near the end o the last Ice
%ge, about 10,''' years ago$ 1r$ Robert )onnischen, director o the Center or
the /tudy o the 2irst %mericans at 3regon /tate 4niversity, believes that
,Kennewick -an, hel#s cast doubt on the accuracy o the term ,#aleo!Indian,,
which is usually used to describe this #eriod o %merican #rehistory$ ,-aybe
some o these guys were really 5ust #aleo!%merican,, he admits$
3 course, such acts #ose a ma5or challenge to the 6olitically Correct version o
history, which #romotes the idea that White %mericans shameully stole their
country rom its su##osed Indian owners$ .ot sur#risingly, thereore, attem#ts
have been made to #revent the acts about ,Kennewick -an, rom being made
#ublic$ "ncouraged by the Clinton government, %merican Indians have made a
claim on the skeleton using a 199' 2ederal law intended to #rotect their grave
sites$ 7heir declared intention is to bury it immediately in a secret location and
#revent urther scientiic e8amination and 1.% testing$ 9owever, eight 4$/$
anthro#ologists, who claim that the Indians and the 2ederal government ear the
im#lications o the discovery, began a legal battle in 3ctober 1996 to #revent the
secret burial rom taking #lace$
In act, ,Kennewick -an, is an im#ortant addition to the growing body o
evidence which suggests that during the #eriod o the 4##er 6aleolithic, between
about 1',''' and +:,''' years ago, Whites ; i$e$, men indistinguishable rom
modern "uro#eans ; lived not only in "uro#e, but also in a band stretching
across northern %sia to the 6aciic$ In /iberia and other eastern regions they were
eventually dis#laced and absorbed by -ongoloid #eo#les, although isolated
#ockets o "uro#ean genes have survived in northern %sia until this day$ 7he
mi8ed!race %inu #eo#le o Ja#an are an e8am#le$
7he credibility o this theory has been dramatically strengthened in recent years
by the remarkable discovery o more than 1'' naturally mummiied "uro#ean
cor#ses, ranging rom 0,<'' to <,''' years old, in the 7arim
)asin region o western China$ %ma=ingly well #reserved by
the arid climate in the area, the mummies give evidence o a
.ordic #eo#le with an advanced culture, s#lendidly attired in
colorul robes, trousers, boots, stockings, coats, and hats$ In
one large tomb the cor#ses o three women and one man were
discovered$ 7he man, about :: years old at death, was about
si8 eet tall and had yellowish brown hair that was turning
white$ 3ne o the better #reserved women was close to si8 eet
tall, with yellowish!brown hair dressed in braids$ >Image?
@in5iang AChinese 7urkestanB, largest #rovince in China, site
o the 7arim )asin mummies$C
Items ound with the bodies included ur coats, leather
mittens, and an ornamental mirror, while the woman also
held bags containing small knives and herbs, #robably or use
as medicines$ %t Cherchen, on the southern edge o the
7aklamakan 1esert, the mummiied cor#se o an inant was
ound, #robably no more than three months old at the time o
death, wra##ed in brown wool and with its eyes covered with
small, lat stones$ .e8t to the head was a drinking cu# made
rom a bovine horn and an ancient ,baby bottle, made rom a
shee#(s teat that had been cut and sewn so it could hold milk$
3ne male mummy even had traces o a surgical o#eration on
his neck, with the incision being sewn u# with horsehair
stitches$ >Image? 7all, blond "uro#ean, buried +,''' years
ago in western China$ 7he mummiied bodies o do=ens o his
kinsmen have been disinterred in the same area$C
/everal "uro#ean mummies had in act already been ound in
the 7arim )asin area early in this century, one o which was
reminiscent o a Welsh or Irish woman, and another o a )ohemian burgher$ %ll
were dressed in ine clothing, including 5aunty ca#s with eathers stuck in them
that bore a striking resemblance to al#ine headgear still worn in western "uro#e
today$ )ut these earlier discoveries, not much more than 0,''' years old, were
dismissed as the bodies o isolated "uro#eans who had ha##ened to stray into the
territory and so were regarded as being o no cultural or historical signiicance$
Indeed, modern scholars, attuned to 6olitically Correct historical ashion, have
tended to down#lay evidence o any early trade or contact between China and the
West during this #eriod, regarding the develo#ment o Chinese civili=ation as an
essentially homegrown aair sealed o rom outside inluences$ %ny diusion o
#eo#le and culture, moreover, was held to have been rom east to west, with the
"uro#eans being civili=ed by the Chinese$ 7he very eminent #rehistorian Dordon
Childe, or e8am#le, in 19:& summed u# "uro#ean #rehistory as being the story
o ,the irradiation o "uro#ean barbarism by 3riental civili=ation$ >1C
)ut the latest mummy inds in the 7arim )asin region are too numerous, too
ancient, and too revealing to dismiss in this way$ -ost im#ortant, they have
hel#ed to reo#en the debate about the role which "uro#eans #layed in the origins
o civili=ation in China, with some archeologists again beginning to argue that
"uro#eans might have been res#onsible or introducing into China such basic
items as the wheel and the irst metal ob5ects$ 7his is actually reairming theories
that were advocated at the beginning o the century, but which were subse*uently
buried in an avalanche o 6olitical Correctness$ In 1910, or e8am#le, the
distinguished Cambridge scholar %$C$ 9addon noted in The Wanderings of
Peoples the #ossibility that the #rogressive element o the old Chinese civili=ation
was due to the migration o a semi!cultured #eo#le rom the west$
.ow, according to 1r$ 9an Kang8in, a #hysical anthro#ologist at the Institute o
%rcheology in )ei5ing, the skeletal and mummiied evidence clearly #oints to the
act that the earliest inhabitants o the 7arim )asin region were White #eo#le
related to the Cro!-agnons o 6aleolithic "uro#e$ 7his theory is su##orted by 1r$
Eictor -air, a s#ecialist in ancient %sian languages and cultures at the 4niversity
o 6ennsylvania, who stimulated the ma5or search which ound the mummies$ 9e
has emerged as the main advocate o the theory that large grou#s o "uro#eans
were #resent in the 7arim )asin long beore the area(s #resent inhabitants,
suggesting that 7urkic s#eakers did not move into the area until about the eighth
century )$C$ /ubse*uently, he believes, the newcomers dis#laced the "uro#eans,
although the ma5or ethnic grou# in the area today, the 4ygur, includes #eo#le
with unusually air hair and com#le8ions$
%ctually, evidence o a now!e8tinct Indo!"uro#ean #eo#le who lived in central
%sia has long e8isted$ Known as 7ocharians, they are described more accurately
as %rsi, which is cognate with /anskrit arya and 3ld 6ersian ariya, meaning
,%ryan,? ,that which is noble or worthy$, 7heir language, which has similarities
to the Celtic and Dermanic branches o the Indo!"uro#ean tree, is recorded in
manuscri#ts dated between the si8th and eighth centuries %$1$, and solid
evidence or its e8istence can be ound as ar back as the third century$
1es#ite the act that 7ocharian manuscri#ts are ound only or the later #eriod,
linguists have isolated occasional 7ocharian words embedded in manuscri#ts
written in Dandhari 6rakrit, a northwest Indian vernacular that served as the
administrative language or large #arts o the 7arim )asin during the third
through the ith centuries$ %lso, the 7ocharians were earlier known as the Fue=hi
Aor Ru=hiB, to whom reerences occur in Chinese te8ts as early as the ith century
)$C$, within the time rame o the 7arim )asin mummies$
7he 7ocharians are vividly dis#layed in ancient wall #aintings at Ki=il and
Kumtura Anear the modern Chinese city K(u!ch(e, in the 7ien /han -ountains
north o the 7arim )asinB as aristocratic "uro#eans, with red or blond hair #arted
neatly in the middle, long noses, blue or green eyes set in narrow aces, and tall
bodies$ 7he Fue=hi rom the irst century )$C$ also are de#icted in striking
#ainted statues at Khalchayan Awest o the /urkhan River in ancient )actriaB$
7hey too are shown to be "uro#eans with long noses, thin aces, blond hair, #ink
skin, and bright blue eyes$ It is known rom historical sources that during the
second century )$C$ the Dreater Fue=hi moved rom northwest China to 2erghana
and )actria, which lie on the ar side o the 6amirs$ 2rom there they moved south
across the 9indu Kush into %ghanistan and the northern #art o the Indian
subcontinent, where they ounded the mighty Kushan em#ire$ 7he latter, in turn,
e8tended its #ower back into the 7arim )asin and with it s#read )uddhism,
which eventually reached China$

"The new finds are also forcing a reexamination of old Chinese
books that describe historical or legendary figures of great
height, with deep-set blue or green eyes, long noses, full
beards, and red or blond hair !cholars have traditionally
scoffed at these accounts, but it now seems that they may be
accurate" "#ictor Mair$
3ne hy#othesis gaining increasing su##ort is that the migration o these Indo!
"uro#eans began with their invention o wheeled wagons$ Working with Russian
archeologists, 1r$ 1avid W$ %nthony, an anthro#ologist at 9artwick College in
.ew Fork, has discovered traces o wagon wheels in :,'''!year!old burial
mounds on the ste##es o southern Russia and Ka=akhstan$ 7his line o
investigation has a direct bearing on the *uestion o the "uro#ean mummies in
China because tri#artite disk wheels similar in construction to those ound in
western %sia and "uro#e during the third and second millennium )$C$ have been
ound in the Dobi 1esert, northeast o the 7arim )asin$ /imilarly, s#oked wheels
dating to the early second millennium )$C$ have been unearthed at a site nearby$
-ost researchers now agree that the birth#lace o horse!drawn vehicles and
horse riding was in the ste##es o 4kraine, rather than in China or the .ear "ast$
%s 1r$ %nthony and his colleagues have shown through microsco#ic study o
ancient horse teeth, horses already were being harnessed in 4kraine 6,''' years
ago$ %lso, wooden chariots with elaborate, s#oked wheels have been shown to
date to around 0,''' )$C$ in the same area$ In com#arison, chariots do not
a##ear in China until some &'' years later$ Ritual horse burials similar to those
in ancient 4kraine also have been e8cavated in the 7arim )asin, as well as
remains o wagon wheels made by doweling together three carved, #arallel
wooden #lanks$ Wagons with nearly identical wheels are known rom the grassy
#lains o 4kraine as ar back as +,''' )$C$
% number o artiacts recovered rom the 7arim )asin mummy burials have
#rovided im#ortant evidence or early horse riding$ 7hese include a wooden bit
and leather reins, a horse whi# consisting o a single stri# o leather attached to a
wooden handle, a wooden cheek #iece with leather stra#s, and a #added leather
saddle o e8*uisite workmanshi#$ 7his seems to conirm that the mummies
belonged to a mobile, horse!riding culture that s#read rom the #lains o eastern
"uro#e$ It also su##orts the growing belie o archeologists that the s#read o
Indo!"uro#ean genes, culture, and language may be linked to the gradual s#read
o horse riding and the technology o horse!drawn vehicles rom their origins in
"uro#e 6,''' years ago$
7hese discoveries have e8tremely im#ortant conse*uences or understanding the
origins o Chinese civili=ation, since the chariot has now been demonstrated to
have entered China only around the middle o the second millennium )$C$, at
roughly the same time that bron=e metallurgy and writing develo#ed there$ 7he
evidence suggests, thereore, that wagons and chariots were introduced into
China rom the west by Indo!"uro#eans$ It also shows that the "uro#ean
#enetration o China did not begin with the o#ening o the transcontinental /ilk
Road trade route that history books usually #lace in the second century )$C$, but
at least 0,''' years earlier at the turn o the .eolithic and )ron=e %ges, when the
whole o "urasia became culturally and technologically interconnected by
migrating "uro#eans$

Waves o migration over a #eriod o at least G,''' years A&,''' )$C$!1,''' )$C$B carried %ryans
rom a homeland north o the )lack /ea into western "uro#e, northern India, western China, and
.orth %merica Avia the )ering /traitB$
%ctually, as early as 19:1 the Derman archeologist Robert 9eine!Deldern sought
to show a series o similarities between the metalwork o "uro#e and China
around &'' )$C$ 9is evidence included horse gear, two!edged swords, socketed
a8es, and s#earheads, which he believed originated in the 9allstatt and Caucasus
metallurgical centers$ %rguing that a ,6ontic -igration, had taken #lace rom
"uro#e across %sia, he suggested that the 1ongson culture o south China could
best be e8#lained as the result o inluences carried directly rom "uro#e during
the 9th and &th centuries )$C$ >0C
7wo years later the well known Russian archeologist /$ I$ Rudenko noted the
e8istence o mummies with "uro#ean eatures in the royal tombs o 6a=yryk in
the %ltai mountains, dated to the :th and <th centuries )$C$ 7his evidence was
subse*uently added to by John 9askins o the 4niversity o 6ittsburgh, who
argued that the Fueh!chih Aan ancient Chinese name or the 7ochariansB o the
6a=yryk region o the %ltai might have been related to the Celts o continental
"uro#e$
/igniicantly, the 7arim )asin mummies have #rovided urther evidence which
su##orts 9eine!Deldern(s theory$ /ome o the grave goods ound with the
mummies strongly suggest a connection with the ,socketed celt hori=on,, ty#iied
by socketed bron=e celts Aa8es which have bent wooden handles inserted at the
end o##osite the bladeB and other distinctive bron=e ob5ects, such as knives with
=oomor#hic handles$ 7he ,socketed celt hori=on, is dated roughly 1,&'' to 1,'''
)$C$ stretching across "uro#e and correlates well with certain acets o a horse!
riding and chariotHcart culture which em#hasi=ed hunting with com#osite bows
and #erha#s crossbows$
7hus, new credence has been given to #reviously ignored and ridiculed theories
or the origins and develo#ment o civili=ation in China$ In light o the new
evidence, "dwin 6ulleyblank o the 4niversity o )ritish Columbia recently
argued that "uro#ean inluence may have been an im#ortant actor in the
uniication o the Chinese states and the establishment o the irst centrali=ed
Chinese em#ire by Ch(in /hih 9uang 7i in the year 001 )$C$ 9e #oints to the
e8ternal arrival on the Chinese ste##e rontier o the military techni*ue o
mounted archery, irst e8#licitly mentioned in Chinese sources in the year +'G
)$C$ In the west mounted archery a##ears with the /cythians, closely related to
the Celts, who are irst mentioned in .ear "astern sources around &'' )$C$ and
whose way o lie is described at length by the Dreek historian 9erodotus$
Ironically, it was the techni*ue o mounted archery that deined the classic
nomadism that dominated the "uro#ean ste##e and made #ossible the great
ste##e em#ires o the @iongnu, the 7urks, and the -ongols that later terrori=ed
"uro#e$
6ulleyblank eectively suggests that "uro#ean technology was co#ied by the
Chinese and turned against its original inventors$ Indeed, a suggestive analogy to
the s#read o mounted archery eastward to the borders o China can be seen in
the way in which the ac*uisition o horses by the Indians rom the /#aniards in
-e8ico and their use in warare transormed the Dreat 6lains o .orth %merica
rom the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries$ 7his theory o -ongoloid
imitation is also relected in the many words o Indo!"uro#ean origin in the
earliest known layers o /initic languages$ 7hese include words or ,horse,,
,track,, ,cart,, ,wheel,, and ,cow, and suggest urther that it was "uro#eans who
brought these things into China$
7e8tile sam#les rom the late second millennium )$C$ ound in the 7arim )asin
graves also #rovide evidence o the diusion o "uro#ean technological
so#histication to China$ 3ne ragment was a wool twill woven with a #laid design
which re*uired looms that have never beore been associated with China or
eastern Central %sia at such an early date$ Irene Dood, a s#ecialist in te8tile
archeology at the 4niversity o 6ennsylvania, has conirmed that the #laid abric
was virtually identical stylistically and technically to te8tile ragments ound in
%ustria and Dermany at sites rom a somewhat later #eriod$
1r$ "li=abeth J$W$ )arber, a linguist and archeologist at 3ccidental College in Ios
%ngeles and the author o Prehistoric Textiles A6rinceton 4niversity 6ress, 1991B,
conirms that the Chinese did not use and did not even know twill, but obtained
knowledge o the weave rom the West, and only ater the 9an #eriod$
/igniicantly, there a##ear to be many connections between the 7arim )asin
mummies and the :,''' year old ,Ice -an, ound in the %ustrian %l#s in 1991$
7hese include the ty#e and style o clothing, #ersonal artiacts, solar!religious
symbolism, and tattoos or healing and decoration ; as well, o course, as the
distinct racial commonality$
7he evidence, thereore, increasingly seems to conirm a Celtic culture e8tending
across "urasia at least <,''' years ago$ %s one academic, James 3#ie, an e8#ert
on design motis in ancient rugs and bron=e im#lements, has #ointed out, it is
highly signiicant that Celtic endless!knot motis, swastikas, and animal!style
decorations have been discovered rom "uro#e, through Iran, to China$ 7he
religion o the Celts ; including the /cythians ; was solar, and three! and our!
armed swastikas as solar symbols are an omni#resent element in Celtic art$
Iikewise, the 7arim )asin "uro#eans dis#layed a deinite #enchant or s#iral
solar symbols, #ainting them on their aces and engraving them on the bridles o
their horses$ 7his in itsel suggests that they were .ordics who were and always
have been worshi##ers o the sun and sky, and more generally o .ature$ %s 1r$
-ichael 6uett, a historian o "ast %sian civili=ation at 9arvard 4niversity, has
argued, the 7arim )asin mummies reveal clear #rocesses o a cultural diusion
rom "uro#e outward$
%ll o this su##orts the thesis o the #ioneering archeologist Colin Renrew, who
challenged the #reviously acce#ted idea that #rehistoric culture began in the .ear
"ast or Central %sia and was only later ,diused, into ,barbarian, "uro#e$ It
conirms that the cultural #rere*uisites or civili=ation are much, much older in
"uro#e than has been acknowledged, and suggests that ar rom "uro#e being
civili=ed rom outside, it was rather the rest o the world, including %sia, which
was civili=ed by coloni=ing "uro#eans$ >+C