Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
Quote:More info on other clothes in same find. Smart fur coat!
Moi,
Thanks for the link. I had retrieved the coat photo by Joy Zhou a few months ago. It was described as a "child's" coat. This stuff coming out of the Tarim can really help steppe/Sarmatian reenactors. I can post the pic, if anyone wants me to. The boots are even more interesting. They are not from the same graves, perhaps newer. Here are the original boots. Notice the stich line connecting the uppers... and also, the soles turn upward at the toes:
[attachment=10099]Tarimboots.jpg[/attachment]
And here's a pic of the boots I wear as Alanus. These were made for me in Ukraine. They have a few similarities to the Tarim pair, a similar traversing seam and upturned toes. :-)
[attachment=10100]DSC_0126.JPG[/attachment]
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
Indeed, steppe archers were formidable. As more experiments are being made, as more archers become expert in ancient methods, we discover complete revelations. Back to the subject at hand, here is a photo of Cherchen Man, who lived in the Takla Makan just before 1,000 BC.
[attachment=10139]cherchen_man.jpg[/attachment]
He was well over 6 feet tall and wore facial tattoos. His socks were made from multicolored felt, and his over-the-knee boots were dyed white and made from deerskin. These boots, and the boots I pictured in a post above, negate the "interpretive" illustrations we often see in Osprey books... which always show short "Scythian" boots with a retaining strap.
Like I said, these steppe folks were Cool. And here is a fragment of woven Tarim material. Look familiar? Something like Scottish tartans that became so popular in the 19th century?
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
Quote:He was well over 6 feet tall and wore facial tattoos.
Happen to have a close-up pic of facial tattoo on that man. Also a young child found around the same gravesite. Extremely well preserved and boy they loved their coloured clothing. Items beside infant are drinking horn & sheep's teat baby bottle.
[attachment=10141]tarimcloseup.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=10142]Tarimbaby.jpg[/attachment]
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
Thanks for the pics. What! No scraggly furs? After all, these steppe people were BARBARIANS! :woot:
The Tarim finds have changed our notions of how these people lived. Here's some real High Fashion from the same location-- the mummy and a reconstruction:
[attachment=10143]XiaoheBeauty.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=10144]BeautyofXiaohe.jpg[/attachment]
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
More goodies!
Here is the "smart coat" that Moi mentioned earlier. Looks like sheep leather with natural wool lining inside.
I think WWII fighter pilots copied this design. :grin:
[attachment=10147]Furcoat.jpg[/attachment]
And here is a photo of reenactors staging the burial of Cherchen Man. The tall hat is similar to those worn by the Saka, who would emerge a half millennium later as the western neighbors of these "proto-Tokarians." Again we see colorful socks and comfortable boots.
Alanus, have you read 'The Mummies of Urumchi' by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. She writes about the Tarim mummies but her focus is on the weaving patterns used in the well preserved clothing, blankets and even their tents. To back up what you say that Scythians/Saka/Tocharians wore more than just skins and furs she had a picture in her book of one of the garments which was a woollen brocade of Argali sheep standing on a red border found in tomb 4 of Cherchen. A very early depiction of real life art on the cold and lonely steppes.
I got Barber's book when it first came out. Although it concentrates on the clothing and weaving, which she's expert in, the book also gives some history and the connection between these people as ancestors of the Tokarians... or Yue-chi as the Chinese called them. There's another book by Mair and Mallory which probably gives the connection back to Andronovo and Sintashta. That brocade is amazing, when you consider the time period. It's a precursor of the Scytho-Sarmatian "animal style."
Here is what I believe the oldest mummy, close to 1,500BC, called the Loulan Beauty, plus a reconsrution of her facial features:
The Tokarians were instrumental in bringing Buddhism to China, and here is a Tokarian monk, red-haired and blue-eyed. Strange thing about the Buddha, his early followers called him the Sakyamuni, which translates to "the Saka monk." There's a neat fantasy movie on the Tarim and Silk Road, with some scenes shot in what looks like the Ili River Valley. It's called Warriors of Heaven and Earth. I think I'm in it as a great character-- Old Diehard.
