Ebook: Bronze Age Languages of the Tarim Basin

Expedition. — 2010. — Volume 52, number 3 — pp. 44-53."The earliest accounts of the Tarim Basin depict a society whose linguistic and ethnic diversity rivals the type of complexity one might otherwise encounter in a modern transportation hub. The desert sands that did so much to preserve the mummies, their clothes, and other grave goods also preserved an enormous collection of documents, written on stone, wood, leather, or—employing that great Chinese invention—paper. A German expedition to the Tarim Basin in the early 20th century returned with texts in 17 different languages."