The Tarim Basin Mummies

Preserved by the extreme desert of the Tarim Basin, these Bronze Age people were buried in boat coffins with felt hats, woven cloaks and even cheese — looking so unexpectedly 'western' that their origins were debated for a century. Their genomes delivered a stunning verdict: they were neither European migrants nor steppe herders, but the last survivors of an Ice Age population that had vanished everywhere else.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies.

Every Ancestrify Global25 report includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances — that is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Tarim Basin Mummies are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about the full G25 analysis.

• 01

  Who were the Tarim Basin Mummies?

  The Tarim Basin Mummies (c. 2100–1700 BCE, Lop Nur, Xinjiang) are one of the Iconic discoveries entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 12 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies".

• 02

  What does "matching" the Tarim Basin Mummies mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

• 03

  Are they my ancestor?

  No — and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

• 04

  How do I see my own distance to the Tarim Basin Mummies?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestrify Global25 report — never sold separately. Order the G25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers — browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• Inuk of Greenlandc. 2000 BCE

• The Minoansc. 2900–1200 BCE

• The Mokrin Necropolisc. 2100–1800 BCE

• The Cetina Culturec. 2200–1600 BCE

• The Kingdom of El Argarc. 2200–1550 BCE

• The Únětice Culturec. 2200–1600 BCE

• Theopetra Cavec. 2250 BCE

• The Old Babyloniansc. 1900–1600 BCE

• The Bell Beaker Peoplec. 2500–2000 BCE

• The Funadomari Jōmon Womanc. 1800–1500 BCE

• The Mycenaeans of Mygdaliac. 1600–1450 BCE

• Mota of the Ethiopian Highlandsc. 2500 BCE