Lolli Jacobsen

Barber describes the mummies found at Urumchi, Loulan and Cherche, located in the Tarim Basin, Central Asia. She focuses on the textiles found on these mummies and compares them with the tartan found on mummies found in ancient salt mines near Salzburg, Austria. The types of materials, weaves, types of looms, as well as the origin and spread of weaving technology is examined, and compared with neighbouring cultures. The world these ancient people inhabited is examined in an attempt to piece together their history and peculiar Western connections, both from what Barber personally observed and from the testimony of others who explored the Silk Road centuries earlier. Linguistic clues are also examined, as well as (then) newly discovered scripts and thus languages dubbed Tokharian. The historical movement of various groups of people are examined, taking into account the physical geography and changing climate of the area. Barber provides a riveting historical adventure during which an exotic and relatively unknown world is gradually revealed. The book contains numerous maps and many colour photographs.

This is an informative and interesting book that examines where various people making their home in the Tarim Basin came from, how they lived, their movements, their associations to the East (China) and West (Europe, Near East), and what eventually happened to them. Barber has an easy-going writing style that manages to remain professional but not dull or boring. ( )

I would recommend reading the hardback version rather than the paperback..the maps and photos are reduced to the point of uselessness. And some of the maps weren't that great to begin with.

That said, this is a highly readable account. The detailed analysis is a visual one - based on close observation of how textiles were made and fashioned into garments. It does not contain a forensic analysis of the bodies themselves.

It is a shame the book is being sold as a 'mystery' with the (possible) blue -eyed, tartan- weaving folk presented (by the publisher, not the author)as some kind of lost tribe of Celts. It is an interesting account in its own right and the preservation of the textiles and the features of the mummies is amazing enough without a need to sensationalise. ( )

A Weaver looks at the mummies being found in Western China. A great book on the history of weaving, or rather, the evolution of weaving. ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2007/09/mummies-of-urumqi.html ( )