China's Mystery Mummies is an American documentary which investigates four mystery mummies found in China, using the latest DNA and genographic techniques to find out if the history books need to be re-evaluated.
The documentary aired in South Africa on DStv's National Geographic channel on Sunday 24 February 2008, at 22h00.
Repeat
Monday 25 February: 04h00
Synopsis
Four bodies, a scattering of clues, a mystery whose solution could rewrite history.
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Spencer Wells, opens an ancient case of missing persons, using the latest advances in DNA technology to determine the origins of a group of enigmatic mummies found in western China.
What he learns may change what we know about the world.
The four individuals were part of a vanished world that existed in western China between 2600 and 4000 years ago - long before Marco Polo or the Silk Road.
Yet these long-buried corpses look European and were found with tools that didn't exist yet in that part of the world.
Who were they? Where did they come from? And how might they have affected the spread of culture and technology in prehistoric times?