PDA

View Full Version : "European" Man Found in Ancient Chinese Tomb, Study Reveals


AliBabaIncorporated
05-26-2007, 12:14 AM
"The tomb containing Yu Hong's remains ... also contains the remains of a woman of East Asian descent." Goddamn sellouts even 1,400 years ago!

In all seriousness, this guy was likely indigeneous to Central Asia and migrated east a bit, not a "European" ...

European Man Found in Ancient Chinese Tomb, Study Reveals
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070524-china-dna.html

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News
May 24, 2007

Human remains found in a 1,400-year-old Chinese tomb belonged to a man of European origin, DNA evidence shows.

Chinese scientists who analyzed the DNA of the remains say the man, named Yu Hong, belonged to one of the oldest genetic groups from western Eurasia.

The tomb, in Taiyuan in central China, marks the easternmost spot where the ancient European lineage has been found (see China map).

"The [genetic group] to which Yu Hong belongs is the first west Eurasian special lineage that has been found in the central part of ancient China," said Zhou Hui, head of the DNA laboratory of the College of Life Science at Jilin University in Changchun, China.

Hui led the research, which will be published in the July 7 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Mixed Cultures

The tomb containing Yu Hong's remains has been undergoing excavation since 1999.

It also contains the remains of a woman of East Asian descent.

The burial style and multicolor reliefs found in the tomb are characteristic of Central Asia at the time, experts say.

The people pictured in the reliefs, however, have European traits, such as straight noses and deep-set eyes.

"The mixture of different cultures made it difficult to confirm the origin of this couple, and the anthropologists also could not determine the race of these remains, owing to the partial missing skulls," Hui said.

To learn more about the history of the couple, Hui's team studied their mitochondrial DNA, a type of DNA inherited exclusively from the mother that can be analyzed to track human evolution.

Dimeron
05-26-2007, 10:16 AM
Could be an ambassador or noble from Persia or Arab. There were tons of them back in the days.

If I remember correctly, the last Persian prince, before the Arab took over fled to China, and basically got a minor title in the Chinese court.

Banana
05-26-2007, 10:40 AM
Just what Neo-Nazi groups need to say they created the Asian empires. Currently, they don't have any real explanation to prove how Asians are inferior.

This will help them out in that area. Hehe.

SunWuKong
05-26-2007, 11:13 AM
this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. that period of time was right before the Tang dynasty, a period of western expansion and trade with Central Asia and the Middle East.

Paradox
05-26-2007, 11:28 AM
They would most likely be ancient Tocharians which are eastern european tribal groups who were existance in xinjiang and lived amongst the asian tribes at the time. This is hardly news. I remember watching a special on the european looking mummines in Asia once. it was a good documentary but co-opted by racist propaganda. At the end some white supremacist shitbag burned in david duke's website.

Thanol
05-26-2007, 12:38 PM
It sounds like they only tested for mtDNA, so the guy could have been of mixed descent and same with the woman.