25.05.2007 / 14:29 European man found in ancient Chinese tomb, study
reveals

NEW YORK. May 25. KAZINFORM. 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 foundþ

"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, Kazinform quotes National
Geographic News.

The research shows that Yu Hong arrived in Taiyuan approximately 1,400
years ago and most probably married a local woman.

Carvings found in the tomb depict scenes from his life, showing him to
have been a chieftain of the Central Asian people who had settled in China
during the Sui dynasty (A.D. 580 to 618).

The carvings suggest that his grandfather and father lived in northwest
China's Xinjiang region and were nobles of the Yu country for which he is
named.

...

Yu Hong (d. 592 [C.E.]) was a high-ranking member of a community of Sogdians who had settled on the northern border of China at the beginning of the fourth century. While barely in his teens, Yu Hong began his career in the service of the most powerful nomadic tribe at the time, known as the Ruru, and was posted as an emissary to several countries, including Iran.
... Note that this was the man's female lineage, his mtDNA. His Y might tell a different story. ...

The tomb is a single chamber grave built with bricks and with a sloping passage leading to it. It is a plain square with arched sides. The relics include a white marble coffin, octagonal white marble columns and a stone sculpture of the heads of people offering a sacrifice. The most valuable aspect is the relief patterns on the base and four sides of the coffin, with color or gilt painting. The decorative figurines, costumes, fittings, vessels, flowers and birds in the patterns bear a strong flavor of Central Asian culture.

　　 This tomb is so far the only archaeological find in the Central Plains region that reflects Central Asian culture. It is also the only one to have been excavated in a scientific way and with an accurate chronological record. It is rich in relics and has been well preserved. It is of great significance in the study of the cultural exchanges between China and Western countries during the Northern Dynasties and the Sui period, studies of the Silk Road and studies of the history of Jinyang City.