The Mummies of Ürümchi (1999)

A Weaver looks at the mummies being found in Western China. A great book on the history of weaving, or rather, the evolution of weaving. ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2007/09/mummies-of-urumqi.html ( )

Ten years ago I spent a very cold snowy week in Urumchi waiting for my husband to pitch up from the Mongolian border. To while away the time, I went to the local museum which although technically open had all the lighting switched off. After some persuasion, which involved the greasing of palms, I persuaded one of the museum attendants to leave her cosy little room at the entrance and let me follow her through freezing, dark corridors to a gallery where she finally switched on a couple of lights and there, in dusty glass cases, I saw these amazing mummies. I had not known what I was going to see, and had no background information about them, but they were absolutely fascinating, and made me realise just how long the Silk Road had been in existance as one of mankind's great thoroughfares across our globe. A couple of years later this book was published and I fell on it with glee. It helped me understand what I had seen and put it in historical context. Barber is an expert in ancient textiles, so much of the book is devoted to the fabrics found wrapping and clothing the mummies however if anyone is paying a visit to this remote western part of China it is a book well worth reading in advance as it explains so much about the region and it's ancient history. ( )