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What language did the Bronze Age Tarim people speak?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·Part of Where did the people buried in the earliest Tarim Basin cemeteries come from?·3 answers·0·0 following
Three answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.

Where it stands

Three answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Three are still possible.

Why it matters

The mummies were long tied to the Tocharian languages recorded in the basin about AD 500-1000. The 2021 authors leave open whether the Tarim founders spoke a form of proto-Tocharian, while proposing that Afanasievo migrants may have brought Tocharian to Dzungaria⁠[1].

Answers 3

Evidence: 1 against
Still possible
An unrelated local language, now lost, later replaced.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: 1 for
Still possible
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

History

  1. Di Cosmo puts forward: an early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start.
  2. Zhang et al. puts forward: an unrelated local language, now lost, later replaced.
  3. Zhang et al.: no genetic link to Afanasievo, the group usually tied to Tocharian, in the founders.Against: An early form of Tocharian, adopted from neighbours or spoken from the start.
  4. Zhang et al.: the founders were a genetically isolated local population.For: An unrelated local language, now lost, later replaced.
  5. Asked on this site
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