Two interesting rereleases from the Sino-Platonic Papers Series

In the January 2011 issue of the Sino-Platonic Papers two interesting rereleases from October 1988 resp. May 2004


The New Old Mummies from Eastern Central Asia: Ancestors of the Tocharian Knights Depicted on the Buddhist Murals? Some Circumstantial Evidence
By: Ulf Jaeger GronaulWestfalen, Germany

Since the leading archeologist of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Wang Binghua of Uriimchi, and his Uyghur colleagues have discovered and excavated Bronze Age and Early Iron Age European-Caucasoid mummies at Qizilchoqa near Qumul (Hami) and other parts of the region starting in 1978, these mummies came to the attention of Prof. Dr. Victor Mair of the University of Pennsylvania. Two decades have passed since that time, but at the beginning of the nineties Prof. Mair initiated a major, cooperative research project centering on themummies and their culture. As a result, an international group of scholars is now working on these sensational finds. Already it is clear that larger parts of the early history of China,of the ancient Silk Roads, and even of Eurasia have to be written completely anew. At thepresent moment, it is not certain what this new picture of Eurasia's early history / prehistory will look like. For this reason, many scholars and students of archeology and history met at the University of Pennsylvania for an international congress (April 19th - 21st, 1996) to discuss the results of their studies..................................



The Secret History of the Mongols and Western Literature
By: John J. Emerson

Of all the peoples of the world, the Mongols of Chinggis Qan are among the strangest to Western civilization - a warlike Asian people without agriculture, cities, or writing. However, three episodes in the Secret History of the Mongols can be matched with comparable episodes in western literature. The significance of this kind of cultural comparison is uncertain; perhaps here I am merely using my anecdotes as a convenient literary hook on which to hang,my reflections on the relationship between the peoples of the steppe and those of Western Europe. I call these three stories "The Rainstone", "The Proud Princesses", and "The Jealous Bloodbrother".......................................