The stash was dis\u00adcov\u00adered in Xin\u00adjiang, the Cen\u00adtral Asian province of Chi\u00adna which is cul\u00adtur\u00adally Uighur (a Mus\u00adlim, Tur\u00adkic-speak\u00ading group) today, but in those times was inhab\u00adited by the blond, blue-eyed Tokhar\u00adi\u00adans, who spoke an Indo-Euro\u00adpean lan\u00adguage. To this day, many of the Uighurs are blond and blue-eyed, though they also show East Asian fea\u00adtures, so the old\u00ader Tokhar\u00adian genes sur\u00advive in them. The stash was found with the skele\u00adtal remains of a male of high social sta\u00adtus of an esti\u00admated age of 45 years, whose accou\u00adtrements includ\u00aded bri\u00addles, archery equip\u00adment, a kon\u00adgou harp, and oth\u00ader mate\u00adri\u00adals sup\u00adport\u00ading his iden\u00adtity as a shaman.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been fas\u00adci\u00adnated by the Tokhar\u00adi\u00adans, the east\u00adern-most exten\u00adsion of the Indo-Euro\u00adpean speak\u00ading peo\u00adples, who once dom\u00adi\u00adnated Cen\u00adtral Asia. They played a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant role in the trans\u00admis\u00adsion of Bud\u00addhism from India to Chi\u00adna. Some appear to have been Manichaeans, as well. They were not mere illit\u00ader\u00adate nomads: they were a thriv\u00ading urban com\u00admer\u00adcial peo\u00adple. Their writ\u00adten lan\u00adguage sur\u00advives in many texts pre\u00adserved by the dry desert air, most\u00adly Bud\u00addhist scrip\u00adtures, but also include monastery cor\u00adre\u00adspon\u00addence and accounts, busi\u00adness doc\u00adu\u00adments, car\u00ada\u00advan per\u00admits, med\u00adical and mag\u00adi\u00adcal texts, and a love poem. Sur\u00adpris\u00adingly the Tokhar\u00adian fam\u00adily shows more resem\u00adblance to the far dis\u00adtant Celtic fam\u00adily than the near\u00ader Indic fam\u00adily of Indo-Euro\u00adpean. The bur\u00adial dates from a peri\u00adod before the arrival of Bud\u00addhism, when the Tokhar\u00adi\u00adans prob\u00ada\u00adbly fol\u00adlowed a shaman\u00adis\u00adtic faith in which mar\u00adi\u00adjuana played a sacred or div\u00adina\u00adtory role.<\/p>\n
The cities of the Tokhar\u00adi\u00adans lie buried in the sands of a remote and life\u00adless desert, near the cours\u00ades of lost rivers and with\u00adered orchards. Read\u00ading any\u00adthing about them gives you a pleas\u00adant H. Rid\u00ader Hag\u00adgard feel\u00ading. To know that they appre\u00adci\u00adated a good toke adds to the pleasure. Image: \u201cTochar\u00adian donors\u201d, pos\u00adsi\u00adbly the \u201cKnights with Long Swords\u201d of Chi\u00adnese accounts, depict\u00aded with light hair and light eye col\u00ador and dressed in Sas\u00adsan\u00adian style. This is a 6th cen\u00adtury AD<\/span> fres\u00adco, from Qizil in Xin\u00adjiang. Graph\u00adi\u00adcal analy\u00adsis reveals that the third donor from left is per\u00adform\u00ading a Bud\u00addhist Vitar\u00adka Mudra gesture.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cana\u00addian Press car\u00adried an item about the pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion of this paper, which was sub\u00adse\u00adquently picked up by oth\u00ader news agen\u00adcies. The folks at CP<\/span> appar\u00adently scan the Jour\u00adnal of Exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adtal Botany on a reg\u00adu\u00adlar basis. Good on them. The discovery \u2026<\/p>\n![\"08-12-08](\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/08-12-08-READ-17001.-Ethan-B.-Russo-et-al.-Phytochemical-and-Genetic-Analyses-of-Ancient-Cannabis-from-Central-Asia-article.jpg\")
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