Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SogdiansNorthernQiStellae550CE.jpgOkay, so apparently Blogger things my blog is a spam blog...interesting. Anyways, onto blogging about The Silk Road. What I found interesting in this chapter was the information and photographs relating to Cherchen burials. Talk about, getting buried in style. The way these bodies were mummified was remarkable too. You can sort of make out how the person looked like when they were living. One of the mummified Cherchen men photographed on page 62 has round eye sockets, a beard, and long reddish hair. This specific man was most likely to have migrated in about 2000 BC. from somewhere east of the Caspian Sea. The language they spoke was Tocharian, which was a language that many resemblances to Latin. These mummies were found in the area of Loulan which is currently an area used by China to test atomic bombs in the open air. The area of Loulan served as a major staging post on the 'middle' silk road to the Sogdians. The Sogdian's language which was related to Altaic became the most common language along the trade route of the silk road. The Sogdians were also responsible for the movement of religions like Manicheism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism eastwards along the Silk Road. Chinese stories also depict the Sogdians as born traders. The Sogdians learned to trade from the age of 5 until they turned 12 which was when they were sent to do business in a neighbouring state. Now, how cool is that? Being 12 years old and going out in the world making it by your business skills which you learned from the age of 5 - 12....That's all for today....Until next time....
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