The Yanghai Tombs (also spelled Yang-Hai) are located in the desert Turpan Basin of Shanshan County, Turpan District, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of northwest China. Yangshai lies at the base of the Fire or Flaming Mountains (Huoyan Shan) and the foothills of the Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan), on the edge of an oasis that has drawn people for thousands of years. Yangshai is about 30 km southeast of the main site of Turfan (sometimes called Turpan).
The tombs are grouped into three localities: Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3. The localities are really artificial: the cemetery is one big location, measuring some 54,000 square meters (or about 600,000 square feet) in area. The people buried in the tombs were nomadic pastoralists of the Subeixi culture, one of many Steppe Societies who roamed the deserts and steppes of central Eurasia from Ukraine to China.
Dates on the Yanghai Tombs range between ca. 3000 and 2600 years ago. The dry conditions of the region have led to excellent preservation, making mummies of the dead and preserving other organic materials in quite astonishing condition. Excavations of many of the individual tombs have shed light on the plants used by the people buried in the tombs.
Cannabis in Room 90
In Room 90 of Group 1, a male of approximately 40 years in age was buried. Grave goods in his tomb suggested he was an elite personage: most of the goods were connected with horsemanship, although there was also a musical instrument, bows and arrows and some wooden cups.
A lidless leather basket found near the man's head, measuring 31 centimeters (12 inches) in height and 24 cm (10 in) in diameter, was filled with excellently preserved fruits, leaves and shoots. A wooden bowl, 21 cm (8 in) in height and 36 cm (14 in) in diameter was found to contain the same: analysis for the 789 gm (~28 ounces) of plant material, returned was marijuana or hemp (Cannabis sativa L.). Cannabis is believed to be indigenous to central Asia: is was recovered from the Pazyryk Barrow of the Scythians steppe society. The hemp was radiocarbon dated to 2475+/- 30 years RCYBP (or about 2,495 calendar years ago [abbreviated cal BP]).
Analysis of sheep coprolites from Room 90 suggest that sheep spent part of the year in the mountain meadows, and part in the arid conditions of the Turpan region.
Grapevines in Room 2069
Room 2069 in Group 2 contained three stacked burials. The lowest was a child, the upper two were adult males. The burials were covered by leaves and branches of various plants, dominated by Euphrates poplar and willow. However, one of the plants included in the covering was a stem of a grapevine, dated to 2245+/-35 RCYBP (~2485 cal BP). Analysis of the wood structure suggests this grapevine is Vitus vinifera L, the grapes used in making wine. Although there are grapes in China, V. vinifera is native to western Eurasia between the Mediterranean and Caspian seas. The earliest likely domesticated V. vitus comes from Hajji Firuz in Iran, 5400-5000 BC.
Capers in Room 213
Room 213 of Group 2 contained a single adult male. Grave goods buried with the man included a bow, several arrows, a piece of sculptured board and five pottery jars. One jar contained common millet; another contained both Cannabis sativa and Capparis spinosa L (capers). Dates on the caper remains returned radiocarbon dates of 2620+/35 RCYBP (2750 cal BP). A total weight of 45.24 gm (~2 oz) capers were recovered from this jar.
The earliest domesticated caper varieties are from Abu Hureyra in Syria. The nearest other identification of capers in the world so far is Jeitun in Turkmenistan, 2700 km west of Yanghai.
European Stoneseed in Rooms 23 and 81
Rooms 23 and 81 in Group 1 each contained a large wooden tub. The lidless tub in Room 23 was 15.6 cm (~6 in) in diameter and 17.5 cm (7 in) in height; that of Room 81 was 16 cm (6 in) in diameter and 23.8 cm (9 in) in height. Both were cylindrical, and the exteriors of both were decorated with brick red paint and an arrangement of white ovoid fruits glued in a row of triangular patterns near the tub mouth.
The fruits were identified as European stoneseed (Lithospermum officinale L.). The fruit from Room 23 were radiocarbon dated to 2550+/-40 RCYBP (2725 cal BP). L. officinale is native all over Europe and Asia, including the central Asia not far from Turpan, and they were important to the Gumelnitsa culture of central Europe (ca for their medicinal value and their use as beads.
Archaeology at Yanghai
The Yanghai Tombs were discovered in the early 1970s by local Turpan villagers, and they were excavated through the early 21st century. Much of the publication in English has been focused on the analysis of the hundreds of mummies and thousands of artifacts recovered from the tombs. More than 500 tombs were excavated in 2003 alone, under the direction of E.G. Lu, with support from the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology and the Bureau of Cultural Relics of Turpan Prefecture.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Steppe Societies, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Ghosh R, Gupta S, Bera S, Jiang H-e, Li X, and Li C-S. 2008. Ovi-caprid dung as an indicator of paleovegetation and paleoclimate in northwestern China. Quaternary Research 70(2):149-157.
Jiang H-E, Li X, Zhao Y-X, Ferguson DK, Hueber F, Bera S, Wang Y-F, Zhao L-C, Liu C-J, and Li C-S. 2006. A new insight into Cannabis sativa (Cannabaceae) utilization from 2500-year-old Yanghai Tombs, Xinjiang, China. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 108(3):414-422.
Jiang H-E, Zhang Y-B, Li X, Yao Y-F, Ferguson DK, Lü E-G, and Li C-S. 2009. Evidence for early viticulture in China: proof of a grapevine (Vitis vinifera L., Vitaceae) in the Yanghai Tombs, Xinjiang. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(7):1458-1465.
Jiang H-E, Li X, Ferguson DK, Wang Y-F, Liu C-J, and Li C-S. 2007. The discovery of Capparis spinosa L. (Capparidaceae) in the Yanghai Tombs (2800 years b.p.), NW China, and its medicinal implications. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 113(3):409-420.
