written, illustrated and compiled
by
Phoenix & Arabeth
©1997-2003
[excerpts from Volume One:]
TATTOOED MUMMIES OF CENTRAL ASIA
Mummies have been found in Central Asia! Though these curious
Caucasian mummies in the deserts of western China were first discovered
by Western archaeologists in the early 20th century, they were considered
anomalies---perhaps just ancient travelers or immigrants. Over the past
thirty years Chinese archeologists have unearthed hundreds more of these
mummified Caucasoids (as well as abundant skeletal remains amounting to
thousands of ancient individuals) in the Tarim basin of Central Asia. The
Tarim is in the huge Taklamakan desert in the western Chinese province of
Xinjiang, formerly known as eastern Turkestan.
Today the ancient Chinese texts which speak of legendary tall people with
red hair and green eyes (formerly denigrated as mere "myths") are being
reinterpreted. They are not just imaginary tales as has been assumed until
recently, but they tell of the very real Tocharian-branch Indo-European
people, relatives of the Celts and Scythians, who possibly controlled the
Silk Road during Middle and Egyptian New Kingdom times, and down to
the Classical Greek era. They certainly would have been involved in the
transmission of technology and culture between East and West at a very
early date.
The time span of the Central Asian Caucasoids is from 2500 BC to 400
B.C. The location is within a few hundred miles of the Altai "Scythian"
burials which date from approximately 500-300 BC. There is definitly
some connection here. There is also a connection between the Taklamakan
people and the Crimean Scyths, the Celts and the Picts. They likely
influenced the "indigenous" tattooing of the tribal peoples of India, and
possibly are antecedent to the Jomon culture of Japan (ancestors of the
tattooed Ainu). There is credible evidence that some of the tattooing tribes
of northern Asia migrated eastward to become certain tribes in the
Americas as well.
As early as 1986 it was reported in world news sources that some of these
mummies bore tattoos in "geometric" patterns. Thus far images of these
tattoos have not been published in any accessible form. Victor Mair did an
all too brief special for Nova on the mummies, but none of the tattoos were
shown.
The Chinese central government does not support publication or
dissemination of information about the Caucasian attributes of these
people. Also tattooing has been illegal in China since the time of Emperor
Qin ['Chin'], about 200 BC.
The Tribal Bible Volume One presents images of all the "Chinese" Caucasian mummy
tattoo patterns currently known and lots more information about them then you are
reading here. We have been assisting the archaeologists in the research on these people
and have the very latest data on their tattoos.
THE ALTAIC SCYTHIANS
[excerpt from Vol. 1]
The most stunning example of ancient pictorial
tattooing is the heavily tattooed Scythian chieftain,
the "godfather of the Tribal Tattoo," discovered by
Russian archeologists in Siberia near the
Mongolian and Chinese borders in 1947. The
mummy was unearthed from a kurgan burial
mound at Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains and was
dated to ca. 500 BC, though archaeologist James
Mallory (author of In Search of the IndoEuropeans) believes he is more properly dated to
about 300 BC.
The chieftain was preserved as an "ice-cube"
because water leaked into the kurgan and froze
immediately and permanently. His arms, shoulders
and parts of his torso and one leg were covered
with unique bold blackline tribal animal motifs.
They have stylistic echoes of Persian, Assyrian,
Indian art and particularly strong parallels in the
Zhou (Chou) Dynasty and Warring States periods
of Chinese art.
This clearly defined and strongly developed style,
which has been dubbed "Animal Style", was used
for centuries on fabric, wood and metal artifacts
produced across the vast expanse of the steppes
which the Scyths (and their various tribal relations)
roamed and ruled. It influenced the art of the Celts
and the Goths as well as the Chinese.
The tattooed chieftain was of Mongolian stock in a
predominantly Caucasian tribe. He was a great
warrior with many kills. Each tattoo doubtlessly
indicated another enemy slain (as the Spanish noted
was the case amongst the Aztec warriors). This is
reflected in modern American culture, where gunfighters cut notches in their pistol grips, fighter
pilots paint kill emblems on their cockpits, and
army personnel wear ribbons on their chest.
A horse-worshiping nomadic people, the Scythians
are thought to have ranged from the Altai in the
East to the Crimea/Pontus region in the West. They
were well known to the ancient Greeks. The
Persians and Chinese called them the "Sakas."
Herodotus gives extensive descriptions of them
including their burial customs. Most of these
accounts, long thought to have been solely the fruit
of Herodotus' fevered imagination, have been
shown to be quite accurate by the science of
Archaeology.
The Scythians' centers of culture revolved around
sacred initiation and burial sites. They sometimes
conquered and plundered major city-states and
kingdoms (notably of China and Mesopotamia, and
even fought with the New Kingdom Egyptians).
They, and their descendants, held sway throughout
central Asia for over 2,500 years (probably from
2100 BC to ca. 1000 AD) until the rise of the
Mongols.
They generally spurned agriculture and permanent
construction or architecture. Their nomadic herding
culture was horse-centered and they exploited
abundant natural surface deposits of gold. The
impressive Scythian burials nearly always contain
gold artifacts and ornaments (if they have not been
plundered previously when excavated).
Another very similarly tattooed frozen body was
discovered nearby at Ukok in 1994, this one a
twenty-five year old woman, a "warrior-priestess"
who had several tattoos in an identical style. Buried
in splendor with her horse, this woman seems to
have been a living archetype of Epona, the EuroCeltic horse-goddess. One of her tattoos is so
similar to one of the chieftan's as to have been
applied by the same artist, or one working from the
same pattern. Considering that possibility is what
makes the following real interesting:
The Scythians used the first transfer patterns,
2500 years ago. Close scrutiny of a felt silhouette
cut-out from Pazyryk, found by Rudenko in 1947,
reveals it to be an identical match with one of the
tattoos on the famous warrior found the same year.
[Felt artifact published in The Ancient Art of
Northern Asia by Anatoly I Martynov, fig. 69 (5),
p. 197] This ram with reversed hind-quarters
(considered a Scythian artistic convention to
represent a dead animal) is on his upper right arm.
No doubt the felt was impregnated with vegetable
dye, applied and allowed to stain the skin with the
image by direct wet transfer. This pattern making
craft is seen today in the Chinese folk art of paper
cut silhouettes, many of which are still represent
the ever popular animal motifs. The felt silhouette
was found in the same mound as the tattooed chief.
Another very important fact about the tattooed
chieftan is that his penis was tattooed. The Soviets
never published this information, but it was
revealed by one Russian archaeologist from that dig
in a private conversation with a very diligent and
highly respected American researcher, an expert on
the Scythians. There are no pictures of his penile
unit unfortunately, but Lyle Tuttle assures us that
he has seen the mummy and the words "My Name"
are tattooed on its prick in Scythian. Sure, Lyle.
The Scythians did not have a written language!
[excerpts from Volume
One:]
TATTOOED MUMMIES OF CENTRAL ASIA
Mummies have been found in Central Asia! Though these curious
Caucasian mummies in the deserts of western China were first discovered
by Western archaeologists in the early 20th century, they were considered
anomalies---perhaps just ancient travelers or immigrants. Over the past
thirty years Chinese archeologists have unearthed hundreds more of these
mummified Caucasoids (as well as abundant skeletal remains amounting to
thousands of ancient individuals) in the Tarim basin of Central Asia. The
Tarim is in the huge Taklamakan desert in the western Chinese province of
Xinjiang, formerly known as eastern Turkestan.
Today the ancient Chinese texts which speak of legendary tall people with
red hair and green eyes (formerly denigrated as mere "myths") are being
reinterpreted. They are not just imaginary tales as has been assumed until
recently, but they tell of the very real Tocharian-branch Indo-European
people, relatives of the Celts and Scythians, who possibly controlled the
Silk Road during Middle and Egyptian New Kingdom times, and down to
the Classical Greek era. They certainly would have been involved in the
transmission of technology and culture between East and West at a very
early date.
The time span of the Central Asian Caucasoids is from 2500 BC to 400
B.C. The location is within a few hundred miles of the Altai "Scythian"
burials which date from approximately 500-300 BC. There is definitly
some connection here. There is also a connection between the Taklamakan
people and the Crimean Scyths, the Celts and the Picts. They likely
influenced the "indigenous" tattooing of the tribal peoples of India, and
possibly are antecedent to the Jomon culture of Japan (ancestors of the
tattooed Ainu). There is credible evidence that some of the tattooing tribes
of northern Asia migrated eastward to become certain tribes in the
Americas as well.
As early as 1986 it was reported in world news sources that some of these
mummies bore tattoos in "geometric" patterns. Thus far images of these
tattoos have not been published in any accessible form. Victor Mair did an
all too brief special for Nova on the mummies, but none of the tattoos were
shown.
The Chinese central government does not support publication or
dissemination of information about the Caucasian attributes of these
people. Also tattooing has been illegal in China since the time of Emperor
Qin ['Chin'], about 200 BC.
The Tribal Bible Volume One presents images of all the "Chinese" Caucasian mummy
tattoo patterns currently known and lots more information about them then you are
reading here. We have been assisting the archaeologists in the research on these people
and have the very latest data on their tattoos.
THE ALTAIC SCYTHIANS
[excerpt from Vol. 1]
The most stunning example of ancient pictorial
tattooing is the heavily tattooed Scythian chieftain,
the "godfather of the Tribal Tattoo," discovered by
Russian archeologists in Siberia near the
Mongolian and Chinese borders in 1947. The
mummy was unearthed from a kurgan burial
mound at Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains and was
dated to ca. 500 BC, though archaeologist James
Mallory (author of In Search of the IndoEuropeans) believes he is more properly dated to
about 300 BC.
The chieftain was preserved as an "ice-cube"
because water leaked into the kurgan and froze
immediately and permanently. His arms, shoulders
and parts of his torso and one leg were covered
with unique bold blackline tribal animal motifs.
They have stylistic echoes of Persian, Assyrian,
Indian art and particularly strong parallels in the
Zhou (Chou) Dynasty and Warring States periods
of Chinese art.
This clearly defined and strongly developed style,
which has been dubbed "Animal Style", was used
for centuries on fabric, wood and metal artifacts
produced across the vast expanse of the steppes
which the Scyths (and their various tribal relations)
roamed and ruled. It influenced the art of the Celts
and the Goths as well as the Chinese.
The tattooed chieftain was of Mongolian stock in a
predominantly Caucasian tribe. He was a great
warrior with many kills. Each tattoo doubtlessly
indicated another enemy slain (as the Spanish noted
was the case amongst the Aztec warriors). This is
reflected in modern American culture, where gun-
fighters cut notches in their pistol grips, fighter
pilots paint kill emblems on their cockpits, and
army personnel wear ribbons on their chest.
A horse-worshiping nomadic people, the Scythians
are thought to have ranged from the Altai in the
East to the Crimea/Pontus region in the West. They
were well known to the ancient Greeks. The
Persians and Chinese called them the "Sakas."
Herodotus gives extensive descriptions of them
including their burial customs. Most of these
accounts, long thought to have been solely the fruit
of Herodotus' fevered imagination, have been
shown to be quite accurate by the science of
Archaeology.
The Scythians' centers of culture revolved around
sacred initiation and burial sites. They sometimes
conquered and plundered major city-states and
kingdoms (notably of China and Mesopotamia, and
even fought with the New Kingdom Egyptians).
They, and their descendants, held sway throughout
central Asia for over 2,500 years (probably from
2100 BC to ca. 1000 AD) until the rise of the
Mongols.
They generally spurned agriculture and permanent
construction or architecture. Their nomadic herding
culture was horse-centered and they exploited
abundant natural surface deposits of gold. The
impressive Scythian burials nearly always contain
gold artifacts and ornaments (if they have not been
plundered previously when excavated).
Another very similarly tattooed frozen body was
discovered nearby at Ukok in 1994, this one a
twenty-five year old woman, a "warrior-priestess"
who had several tattoos in an identical style. Buried
in splendor with her horse, this woman seems to
have been a living archetype of Epona, the EuroCeltic horse-goddess. One of her tattoos is so
similar to one of the chieftan's as to have been
applied by the same artist, or one working from the
same pattern. Considering that possibility is what
makes the following real interesting:
The Scythians used the first transfer patterns,
2500 years ago. Close scrutiny of a felt silhouette
cut-out from Pazyryk, found by Rudenko in 1947,
reveals it to be an identical match with one of the
tattoos on the famous warrior found the same year.
[Felt artifact published in The Ancient Art of
Northern Asia by Anatoly I Martynov, fig. 69 (5),
p. 197] This ram with reversed hind-quarters
(considered a Scythian artistic convention to
represent a dead animal) is on his upper right arm.
No doubt the felt was impregnated with vegetable
dye, applied and allowed to stain the skin with the
image by direct wet transfer. This pattern making
craft is seen today in the Chinese folk art of paper
cut silhouettes, many of which are still represent
the ever popular animal motifs. The felt silhouette
was found in the same mound as the tattooed chief.
Another very important fact about the tattooed
chieftan is that his penis was tattooed. The Soviets
never published this information, but it was
revealed by one Russian archaeologist from that dig
in a private conversation with a very diligent and
highly respected American researcher, an expert on
the Scythians. There are no pictures of his penile
unit unfortunately, but Lyle Tuttle assures us that
he has seen the mummy and the words "My Name"
are tattooed on its prick in Scythian. Sure, Lyle.
The Scythians did not have a written language!