Elizabeth W. Barber: The Mummies of Urumchi [1999] hardback

The story of the discovery and excavation of a group of perfectly preserved mummies buried around 1000 BC in Chinese Turkestan. An element of mystery pervades the book, as it did the project. Firstly all the mummies are intact, some of them with their internal organs preserved. Secondly, they are Caucasian, which turns upside down the theories that before the Chinese, the Mongols lived in that part of the world. This was the greatest textile find outside of Egypt and it is the textiles which reveal one of the most astounding connections in this case: one of the fabrics found on the site is a plaid, similar enough in weave and colour to relate this population to Ancient peoples in the region of Austria.