4000 Year old "sex cemetary" found in Tibet: Possible European Origin

Just found this story, thought it was pretty cool, apologies if posted before.

In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air.

The cemetery lies in what is now China's northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang, yet the people have European features, with brown hair and long noses. Their remains, though lying in one of the world's largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god's mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of procreation.

Here's the link for ya: 4000 Year old Mummies in Tibet

Anyways, goes on to say that the mummies were buried in boats and with possessions including, silks, masks and the like. It's all pretty sweet imagining what could be an unknown civilization in the middle of the desert, especially considering how they don't seem to match any known tribes in the region.

They seem to believe that the reason for all the sexual imagery was due to the harsh surroundings bringing about a high infant mortality rate so a hell of a lot of procreation was necessary to ensure survival.

I just don't understand why they would leave Europe and then decide to settle in one of the harshest deserts in the world, any ideas at all?

I guess one question I would ask re: why, would be, how long has the place BEEN a desert?

If it's a relatively new one (geologically of course lol), perhaps the land was quite a bit more fertile then than now?


Just thinking aloud

reply to post by Jomina


You took the words right out of my mouth Jomina.

Many early European cultures were avid explorers, either through necessity (lack of available food or game) or for expansionist reasons.

The Phallus was a potent symbol of fertility and to an extent, power among ancient tribal peoples, and still is to this day in certain parts of the world.

It wasn't an object of ridicule or meant to mean something that titillates the 'fancy' so to speak, but a powerful symbol of both birth, and more appropriately in these cases, where they are used as grave makers or adornments, as a symbol of re-birth.

Interesting find, thanks OP.

good question but there is still people in ethiopa so who knows why people move to areas like that.

why do people do alot of the things they do i often think about.

why do they sit on the couch watching cougartown letting their life pass them by?
why to people say our team lost, when they dont play sports and look like they would have a hard time making it off a couch let alone across a field or ice.

why does anything, do anything?

That is a good point mate, after looking it up, the area has been a desert for a very long time, well before 4000 years ago. Also, the preservation by dry air would probably mean it was a constant while they were settled there, but wow, I didn't even think about that till you mentioned it lol.

Yeah indeed the Europeans were avid explorers, it pretty great thinking they made it that far and established a fairly well off tribe in the middle of hell. But The materials and whatnot they found at the site, I don't think would be readily available there, so I'm guessing they were heavy traders, though why there's no record of them is a mystery.

Yes, the male and female sexual imagery has been misconstrued these days and made something to giggle at... I like that the women have the better graves and seem to have been higher in society, and also how the males and females were buried in opposing symbols, as if there was a harmony between them, which I'm sure must have been pretty rare in those days.

Perhaps while the area was always a desert there was some kind of massive oasis out there, that has since dried up, hopefully further excavations will turn up more on these mysterious people...

European features doesn't mean necessarily European origin (in the way that they left Europe and a few years down the road they end up buried somewhere in Tibet). Do we have skin samples that preserved the pigment of their skin?

There was a place (actually the place is still there) that spawned some migrations around that time (~2000 BC) and the people that inhabited it were not of what we'd call Asian appearance. It is the area where Sarianidi conduct most of his excavations, roughly north of Afghanistan and extending both east and west/southwest of that, the area where the Aryans came from before they entered India. Judging by many ethnic groups in the region, I'd say European features such as those described do occur among groups in that area. Maybe they were a splinter group that headed east but didn't make it?