# An early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start.

> Still possible: An early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/answers/ANS0D90EACR756H/an-early-form-of-tocharian-adopted-from-neighbours-or-spoken  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Tarim Basin mummies (Xiaohe)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies)[What language did the Bronze Age Tarim people speak?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/questions/QST0D90E3ST5JQ5/what-language-did-the-bronze-age-tarim-people-speak)Answer

Answer · Tarim Basin mummies (Xiaohe)

# An early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start.

An early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start.

**Still possible** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** Its tests haven't settled it: none pieces of evidence for, one against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Later Tarim populations that spoke Tocharian descend in part from the Xiaohe horizon.

## What would rule it out

- Proof that Tocharian arrived in the basin only in the first millennium BC with steppe migrants.

## Evidence none for · 1 against

[No genetic link to Afanasievo, the group usually tied to Tocharian, in the founders.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/evidence/EVD0D90EAMJ53PS/no-genetic-link-to-afanasievo-the-group-usually-tied-to)

Supported

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[What language did the Bronze Age Tarim people speak?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/questions/QST0D90E3ST5JQ5/what-language-did-the-bronze-age-tarim-people-speak)

Part of [Where did the people buried in the earliest Tarim Basin cemeteries come from?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/tarim-mummies/questions/QST0D90E32C1HN0/where-did-the-people-buried-in-the-earliest-tarim-basin)

Open3 answers, none ahead

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). An early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start. [Answer ANS0D90EACR756H]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D90EACR756H
```

Key

**ANS** 0D90EACR756H

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

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