Tarim

Ancient Rome and China were on opposite sides of the world as far as both civilizations were concerned. Although both cultures were aware of each other’s existence because of the Silk Road, each considered the other to be a distant rumor. To the Chinese, the Romans were simply barbarians beyond the civilized world with whom they had trade relations. To the Romans, the Chinese were just barbarians living beyond the civilized world that happened to have valuable trade goods such as silk. However, recent discoveries of mummified remains in the Xinjiang province of China have led to speculation that there might have been more contact between China and the West than is generally assumed. These mummies are not intentionally mummified