DNA tests reveal 1st foreign worker in China

XI'AN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists have discovered the remains of what may prove to be the country's first foreign worker -- an early European who labored on the mausoleum of China's first emperor.

The discovery was made after DNA tests on human remains from one of the laborers' tombs surrounding the mausoleum of Qingshihuang, in northwestern Shaanxi Province, which was built more than 2,200 years ago.

Archaeologists found the foreign remains among 121 shattered human skeletons in a tomb about 500 meters from the famous museum housing the life-sized terracotta warriors and their horses and weapons.

The discovery means that contacts between the people in east Asia and those in what is now central Asia actually began a century earlier than the previously supposed Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) period, said Duan Qingbo, head of the Qinshihuang Mausoleum Excavation Team under the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage.

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Anyone have a clue about this lost civilization in china. I always heard people say that germanic looking people live in chinas north-west corner in Xinjiang. Some say it was a lost roman army and some say it was a off-shot of the Goths in germany

Could be early contact with Europe.

Just as likely is that this man was a member of any number of caucasian steppes peoples. The Celts, Slav, Germans, etc, were only one corner of a huge migration of people sharing the same basic ethnic and cultural ties - what I term "kilts and cattle" cultures spread pretty far from their origin point near the Caspian Sea. Most were later subsumed by horse-oriented cultures from the east Siberian / Mongolian reaches.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
Could be early contact with Europe.

Just as likely is that this man was a member of any number of caucasian steppes peoples. The Celts, Slav, Germans, etc, were only one corner of a huge migration of people sharing the same basic ethnic and cultural ties - what I term "kilts and cattle" cultures spread pretty far from their origin point near the Caspian Sea. Most were later subsumed by horse-oriented cultures from the east Siberian / Mongolian reaches.

Interesting, but maybe misleading.

Yes, I would agree completely with the Caucasian Aspects coming from the Steppes but would tend to not involve some of those noted.

The Celts, it can be argued, ARE NOT From this region, but expanded from Emerald Ilses, into Europa. (I personally thought as you had, previously, but with Science now dismissing the Linkage through genetics, it seems this is unlikely.) But that's another Topic.

There is the Altai, which inhabited the Black Sea region that seem to be a very Ancient people. They have a "History" that includes the Huns, going back to (In my estimate) pre-flood times.

Whether these are Caucasians, I am not certain, but they ultimately have a fair amount of Caucasian Blood in them now.

As you noted they had mobility, and this is back in the 1800's BC or further.

They have continued interactions with China, and actually makeup a major portion of the Ruling Class History of China.

en.wikipedia.org...

Definitions
The term Wu Hu was first used in Cui Hong's Shiliuguochunqiu, which recorded the history of the five tribes' ravaging Northern China from the early 4th century to the mid 5th century. Wu Hu means "five nomadic groups", hence the alternative "Five Hu." The most accepted composition of Wu Hu included five nomadic tribes: Xiōngnú (匈奴, sometimes identified with the Huns), Xiānbēi (鮮卑), Dī (氐), Qiāng (羌), and Jié (羯) although different groups of historians and historiographers have their own definitions.

Collective term for nomads
After later historians determined that more than five nomadic tribes took part, Wu Hu has become a collective term for all non-Chinese nomads residing in North China at the time. The time at which the ravages occurred is called The Period of Wu Hu (五胡時代) or the Wu Hu Chaos in China (五胡亂華, literally "Five Hú Wreak-havoc-on China"). States founded by Wu Hu were called the Sixteen Kingdoms.

Han definition for Xiongnu
Traditional historians interpreted Hu as barbarians; some further stretched this obsolete analogy to equate Hu with the Xiongnu. Others objected to such similarities, stating that Wu Hu were substantially civilized before the turmoil of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Xiongnu was in fact the most powerful non-Chinese ethnic group neighboring the Chinese Han Dynasty therefore the Han simply referred to them as the Hu (the non-Chinese or the barbarian). Both terms were used concurrently. Nevertheless, Hu later became the collective term for non-Chinese ethnic groups and was often preceded by Chinese numerals and characters such as Wu (five) and Zhu (numerous). A diplomatic message in Han Shu defined Hu as the proud son of heaven (天之驕子) (Chapter 94).

"It can be said" the Xiongnu are the Huns or part of those under the Rulership of the Huns, at various points in the Past.

The notation above is an interesting comment. A diplomatic message in Han Shu defined Hu as the proud son of heaven (天之驕子) (Chapter 94).

Hu, the proud son of heaven. So this is what describes the Hu, according to a Han Shu Diplomatic Message.

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com...
So Hu is also regarded as a Person, and is refered to as a "Son of Heaven" which dates some generations prior to 1800 BC, (this becomes clear, progressing forward in the Geneology though his Grandchildren)

Advancing from this Unique person, noted in the Geneology, are many names that a familiar both in the Asian Realm as well as in Euro Enlightened Community today. But thats another topic.

Here is a name that would be a familiar person in China. Chungvi, 1st King of the Xiongnu Dynasty. Thats 1800 BC.

Liu Pang (EMPEROR) of HAN DYNASTY (CHINA), is part of this family line as well. Here is about the 400 BC

And this line flows right through Atilla and on.

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com...

Here a Site about the Huns in general. (I've never seen this Service previously)

bvio.ngic.re.kr...

.......Their Xiong (匈) rulers, first mentioned as a family in 1766 BC in the story of Chunwei and the fall of the Xia dynasty, may be the ancestors of the later, better-known (to western scholars) Huns, though not all scholars agree. Korean legend takes the stand that an alliance of northern Altaic tribes under a "Huan" ruler from 7193 BC pre-dated the establishment of China.........

Another Link here, was to the White Hun's, which are part and parcel of this family line.

bvio.ngic.re.kr...

There are many interesting lines throughtout here as well.

So, in a General Sense, I find it amazing, these bones are the first to have noted this unique attribute, (European Genetic Markers) I am sure there will be more finds like this in the future.

Ciao

Shane

You have voted Shane for the Way Above Top Secret award