Are you here with the living? Are you back with the dead?

[sovay]

The dead who were buried in boats, among sex and sand:

As the Chinese archaeologists dug through the five layers of burials, Dr. Mair recounted, they came across almost 200 poles, each 13 feet tall. Many had flat blades, painted black and red, like the oars from some great galley that had foundered beneath the waves of sand.

"A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets."

Comments

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Fascinating story, yes. I remember the Tarim Basin mummies from the last time they impinged on the public consciousness, roundabouts ten or fifteen years ago. (I remember once having the strangest feeling that some of them in the photographs looked familiar, whatever that might mean.)

The boat-shaped coffins and the sexual symbolism in this particular cemetery are an interesting wrinkle. I might have to see if I can finagle access to some of the current archaeological journals, to see what's being said about them.

[sovay]

The boat-shaped coffins and the sexual symbolism in this particular cemetery are an interesting wrinkle. I might have to see if I can finagle access to some of the current archaeological journals, to see what's being said about them.

Let me know if you find anything of interest. I've read very little about the Tarim mummies in general.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you find anything of interest. I've read very little about the Tarim mummies in general.

Will do.

I'm a slight bit unsure about whether and to what degree my access to my latest university's library resources still holds true, but I'm intending to have a look. I'd hope that at the very least I could get to some of the older journal articles through JSTOR or the like.