The Yanbulaq culture (Ch: 焉不拉克文化 or 焉布拉克文化, Yanbulake wenhua, 1100–500 BCE) was an ancient culture based on the tombs of the Yanbulaq Cemetery (Chinese 焉不拉克古墓群, Pinyin Yānbùlākè gǔmùqún or焉不拉克墓地, Yānbùlākè mùdì , English Yanbulaq Cemetery) located on the northern hills of the Qumul Basin, in Yizhou District,

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, China. It was a Bronze Age culture, or an early Iron Age culture. The cemetery at Yanbulaq contained 29 mummies which dated from 1100 to 500 BCE, 21 of which are Asian—the earliest Asian mummies found in the Tarim Basin—and the remaining 8 are of the same Caucasian physical type as found at Qäwrighul. These later and eastern "

Tarim mummies The Tarim mummies are a series of Mummy, mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from Tarim Basin#Early periods, 1800 BCE to the first centuries BCE, with a new group of individuals recently dated to betw ...

" represented both "Caucasoid" and "Mongoloid" remains, indicating contact between newly arrived western nomads and agricultural communities in the east. The

Yuezhi The Yuezhi were an ancient people first described in China, Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defea ...

may have been positionned around the

Shirenzigou culture The Shirenzigou culture (, ca. 410–190 BCE), also referred to as Dongheigou (), or Heigouliang-Dongheigou (黑沟梁-东黑沟), is an archaeological culture from the Shirenzigou site in Barkol County, to the east of the Tarim Basin. Skeletal ...

area, between the

Subeshi culture The Subeshi culture (; 1100–100 BCE), also rendered as Subeishi culture or Subeixi culture, is an Iron Age culture from the area of Shanshan County, Turfan, Xinjiang, at the eastern edge of the Tarim Basin. The Subeshi culture contributes some ...

to their west, the Yanbulaq culture to their east, the aftermaths of the

Chemurchek culture The Chemurchek culture (Ch:切木尔切克, ''Qièmùěrqièkè''; Ru: Чемурчекская культура), also called Khemtseg, Hemtseg, Qiemu’erqieke, Shamirshak (2750–1900 BCE), is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of western Mo ...

to the north, and a wide desertical area to south about a thousand kilometers away from the Central Plains of China. It may also have had contacts with the painted pottery Bronze Age cultures in the

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

and

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

regions. Archaeological finds of iron knives suggest that the Yanbulaq culture, as well as the

Shajing culture The Shajing culture (Ch: 沙井文化, 800/700–100 BCE), is an ancient Iron Age culture in the area of Gansu, to the northwest of the Central Plains of China. The village of Shajing is about 250 km northwest of Wuwei, while the village of ...

further south, may have been instrumental in the transmission of iron technology to China. The Yanbulaq culture waned after 500 BCE. The site has been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (5-189) since 2001 .

References

Sources

* Zhang Ping (among others): “Xinjiang Hami Yanbulake mudi” (The Yanbulake Cemetery in Hami, Xinkiang). Kaogu xuebao 1989, No. 3, pp. 325–362 + plates 7–14. English summary p. 362. Han Kangxin: Xinjiang). Kaogu Xuebao 1990, No. 3 *

External links

* Li Shuicheng
A Discussion of Sino-Western Cultural Contact and Exchange in the Second Millennium BC Based on Recent Archeological Discoveries.
Abstract (English)
Mummies from Qumul
{{Neolithic cultures of China Archaeological sites in China