The Tarim mummies, in the bigger picture, were merely the last breath of the proto-Norse peoples in north-central Asia. I would place the original home of these proto-Norse peoples in about what is modern Kazakhstan; and if we were to follow Bal Gangadhar Tilak's true hypothesis in 'The Arctic Home in the Vedas', then it may have even existed along the Kara Sea in northern Eurasia. It's even conceivable that the ice cap covered part of this northern sea, and some people may have lived above above it. At the least, some people could have lived along this northern coast and would have literally lived slightly above the Arctic Circle. If this were true, then Tilak's hypothesis surrounding the Vedic hymns could be proven true scientifically.
The ice sheet (see map), even at the height of the last ice age, covered the British Isles and about half of central Europe. However, when it reaches about Russia, it directs northward and the Eurasian ice cap ends in the middle of the north coast of Asia. It's very possible that people could, as Tilak hypothesized, have lived up there. Also, the last glacial movement was about fifteen-thousand years after the height of the last ice age. It's very likely that it was comparatively even more habitable then. Another possibility is that they were trapped up there. Look at the map again, there's quite an uneven ice sheet. Regions far north were more habitable than regions further south, and it's possible that an ice sheet may have left a large "island of habitable land" which was enclosed by ice sheets. When the book was published a century ago, many people probably dismissed it because it was too groundbreaking for it's time. In other words, the Tarim mummies were not from northern Europe; they were home. They were the last remnants of the ones who stayed behind. Fifteen or twenty thousand years ago, the proto-Norse or proto-Germanic people may have all lived in a habitable region in northern Eurasia, enclosed by sheets of ice. The Eurasian ice sheet to the west, and the Himalayan ice sheet to the south. If they did live way up there, then we need only to look at the Eskimos for some idea of how they could have survived. Also, there is a lot of meat and fur on a woolly mamoth, a woolly rhinoceros, or a yak; and they were roaming all over that tundra back then. I would guess that those pure proto-Norse were tall, strong, white-skinned, had very light blonde hair, pale blue eyes, straight noses, and generally the physical Scandinavian stereotype. Only much later--amid the melting ice of post-ice age Europe--when they encountered the native Alpine peoples, did more slightly tanner, ash blonde haired, basic-blue eyed people come about; and of course, combinations closer to the Alpines. Still today, we can occasionally see people who are extremely-fair "throw backs." During the 1938–1939 German expedition to Tibet, I believe that they were looking for "The Arctic Home in the Vedas." The Tibet Autonomous Region, which is twice the size of modern Tibet, may have seemed like the most logical area to look at. That highland region was probably largely covered by the Himalayan ice sheet or at least a harsh landscape up to about ten-thousand years ago. I believe that ancient Kazakhstan, and probably north of it, is the logical location of the age old question of where is the location of the original homeland of the Aryan people. However, they weren't "Aryan" then.
The Aryans came about in ancient Persia, when some of the migrating proto-Norse encountered native or migrating true-Mediterranean (not Semitic) peoples. Among many technological advances and spiritual concepts, the Sanskrit language and text developed from these Aryans of ancient Persia. The ancient Swastika, which was originally a solar symbol and spiritual symbol of geometry and mathmatics, was brought by the true-Mediterraneans into ancient Persia. Similar symbols developed in different locations, so I think this is still an unanswered question. It's pretty easy to see how all of this has been so confusing, to so many, for so long. To make it easier to understand, this "Aryan hypothesis" seems to have basically involved only three racial/sub-racial types. Two who were collectively to become "European" at a later incarnation, proto-Norse and true-Mediterraneans, and the native people(s) of India. This was at a time long before Mongol, Semitic, and Turkic expansion. Civilization was founded by true-Mediterraneans in Sumeria, and expanded around the general area of the ancient Middle and Near East. When some of them migrated to the high mountainous plateau of ancient Persia, they encountered some of the proto-Norse migrating from the north. They blended into a special kind of civilization. The science and technology of the true-Mediterraneans, and the language and earth-based spirituality of the proto-Norse. .
The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1900 BCE to 200 CE. Some of the mummies are frequently associated with the presence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin, although the evidence is not totally conclusive. Victor H. Mair's team made the conclusion that the mummies are basically Europoid, likely speakers of an Indo-European language. So how would the people who were to become "the Tarim mummies" fit into this hypothesis? Well, even today--four-thousand years later--it's pretty evident that they are very Germanic-looking in appearance. Their DNA shows that they were, at that point, slightly mixed with Mongols. The bulk of the Mongols showed up in the region about three-thousand years ago. Again, the Aryan hypothesis we were looking at was long before Mongol, Semitic, or Turkic expansion.
Pliny the Elder (Chap XXIV 'Taprobane') reports a curious description of the Seres (in the territories of northwestern China) made by an embassy from Taprobane (Ceylon) to Emperor Claudius, saying that they "exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking", suggesting they may be referring to the ancient Europoid populations of the Tarim Basin:
"They also informed us that the side of their island (Taprobane) which lies opposite to India is ten thousand stadia in length, and runs in a south-easterly direction—that beyond the Emodian Mountains (Himalayas) they look towards the Serve (Seres), whose acquaintance they had also made in the pursuits of commerce; that the father of Rachias (the ambassador) had frequently visited their country, and that the Seræ always came to meet them on their arrival. These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking, having no language of their own for the purpose of communicating their thoughts. The rest of their information (on the Serae) was of a similar nature to that communicated by our merchants. It was to the effect that the merchandise on sale was left by them upon the opposite bank of a river on their coast, and it was then removed by the natives, if they thought proper to deal on terms of exchange. On no grounds ought luxury with greater reason to be detested by us, than if we only transport our thoughts to these scenes, and then reflect, what are its demands, to what distant spots it sends in order to satisfy them, and for how mean and how unworthy an end!" This occurred two-thousand years ago, so apparently at least some of them were Germanic in appearance even at that point. It should be pointed out that while the Tarim mummies are constantly referenced as being "in China," it was not yet "Chinese" three-thousand years ago. Also, just because it is a desert now doesn't mean that it was a desert at the end of the last glacial movement ten-thousand years ago.
Tocharians (Wikipedia) The Tocharians or Tokharians were ancient speakers of Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The Indo-European language of the Tocharians was supplanted by the Turkic languages of the Uyghur tribes about 800 AD.
The Afanasevo culture is a strong candidate for being the earliest archaeological record of speakers of the Tocharian languages.
Tocharian or Tokharian is an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family, formerly spoken in oases on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (now part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China) by the Tocharians. Two branches of Tocharian are known from documents dating from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD:
* Tocharian A (Agnean or East Tocharian; natively ārśi) of Qarašähär (ancient Agni, Chinese Yanqi) and Turpan (ancient Turfan and Xočo); and
* Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian) of Kucha and Tocharian A sites.Prakrit documents from 3rd century Kroran on the southeast edge of the Tarim Basin contain loanwords and names that appear to come from another variety of Tocharian, dubbed Tocharian C. All these languages became extinct after Uyghur tribes expanded into the area. The Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses ties closely into the "Arctic Home in the Vedas" theory, but the time frames don't quite line up, and I don't think it goes back far enough. It's too convenient. I think that Bal Gangadhar Tilak proved that this goes back further in time, and further north. The Kurgan hypothesis (see map) is the one which seems to tie in a lot of loose ends, especially in the area of the Indo-European languages, but I would still agree more with Tilak. .
Just to give some background--part fact, part theory--the proto-Norse during the last Ice Age, lived approximately in what is today Iran. That land looked very different 25,000 years ago. There was an ice cap a mile high above the 45 or 50 degree latitude in the northern hemisphere. Now if you look on a map, that would make "ancient Iran" and the surrounding territory into something of an Alaska! A totally different environment: dim, cold, mountainous, wooded. A harsh land of wood and snow, with whoolly rhronoceros, mammoth, and lion. These proto-Norse were not specifically "European" then; although this is part of "the Indo-European story." "Apparently the belief (earth-based/month-birth classification system) is mainly a Norse conception, since it was the Nordic peoples, of all the ancients, who most clearly expressed their ideas in Nature. Some authorities assert that it comes from the East, whence comes all mystical lore. But since modern scholars now prove the Norse tribes to have migrated from Asia, originally, there may easily be a common origin of ideas. Certain it is that, far away in the dim ages of our nation's (UK) dawning, when wandering Aryan tribes, said to have come originally from the plain of Iran, in Central Asia, swarmed over and settled in Northern Europe, they found their ideas of God in Nature." --Margaret Baillie-Sanders (UK), 'Your Birthday Month and You', 1932 Numerous authors and researchers--including Guido von List--who studied and wrote about subject matter basically dealing with Odinic-type spiritual traditions, eventually drifted off to other cultures to the south and east, and to India. It's as if there's a loose concept that the roads to all pre-Christian spiritual traditions, of the "earth island" and beyond, lead to ancient India. Some people believe that there once existed "mystery schools" which once tied together ancient wisdom from England to India. I don't believe that; but I think there could have been geographically smaller spiritual tie-ins between east and west, and which vibrated outward over thousands of years. .
The Aryans came about in ancient Persia, when some of the migrating proto-Norse encountered native or migrating true-Mediterranean (not Semitic) peoples. Among many technological advances and spiritual concepts, the Sanskrit language and text developed from these Aryans of ancient Persia. The ancient Swastika, which was originally a solar symbol and spiritual symbol of geometry and mathmatics, was brought by the true-Mediterraneans into ancient Persia. Similar symbols developed in different locations, so I think this is still an unanswered question. It's pretty easy to see how all of this has been so confusing, to so many, for so long.
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