Tocharians and the Tarim Mummies
Illll r ~ TOC"'~"'T"«,", ""ltlcm"nl5dndc<"",~[i"'()f'hc:SibaculfUre.3nE..lyBronz<Asecul,ure fmd ,heir ongm. in word. f'om Gnndhlrl (rhe language of ASok.·, II I who«phy.i"allYpeWOUld3ppeortc,hc:Mongolo1d,lntheS<lmererri,ory m,criptlom) of thelnd century BCtO rhe4,hcenrury AD, where we would lare, expectthe Yuc>hi. The only wa~ we can d'5<1W Yuozhi Tochnn.n'pocinli.ts.regener.llyre!uc,an,ro.dm",har,h.",wa. 11,1 "",<l<,end tbe name over much hro.der area. of ,heT.tlrn and Turpan any flow of Indo-Iranian vocabulary Into Tochan.n e.rlier than the !>,,,,n' ,han 'he h..ro",:,,1 record,aUow. We.re engaged In mOl'mgMme. 1" millenmum Be,. mnewhen words such as Tochanan A porat, Tocha"an r aero" a map wlIhou, any evid=of 'he people. If 'he Chine.., histo,,,,s Bperel'a",,'ruayhavebeenborrowedfmmKlmelranlanlanguage(wehnd had never mtnnoned rhe YueUl1 on the bord... of Ch,n., noorchacologi" O,serle fariit 'axe')_ Tochari.:!n al,o employs a word for 'oron' (A ancu, B i wouldhavehadtheshgh'''''reasonropo'lUlarc,heirexiSfenco TheYue,h, "ricUIlIO) whICh 'Ome compare wah .imilar word, .uch os O..otic ~~d4n "re'ghosr.".uromonedupbyh"rorian,rorormentarchaeolosm,.'Weh.ve 'stU:I'.While.u,hev,deoceeanonlybeemployedpo.invely,i.o.i,cannor no need to look for ghost>; we have the remain' of ",.1 ~ople w!th ade"", demonstrate'h.t~on..c..didnotexl..,rhe",ha~beenfewto.ugge",ha, ,omeeviden"eof,hn,m.to,ia]cuJEbre. ,hoancestorso[,hoTochar""uW<:relndo>econ",,,with,ho,,lndo-lranian netghboun;beforec.l000--500ac.Togobackanyearlierrake.u,inroone Lingui.ticPrehi.wry oflh.mostd"pured~<ea.ofTocharian"udies is iu The prec<ding,enrenc.
[Show full text]