Why do you wear the kilt.

[Thistle Stop]

Bubba,

Do you recall how old, or to what date was attributed to those artifacts? I have a vague memory of reading about it, but I can't recall the details.

As I recall the mummies were something like 3500 years old.

Here's a bit of info:

News article about ancient tartans (Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs...09/tartan.html):

Tartan's Checkered Past Investigated
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Tartan Found in China

Feb. 11, 2004 — Austria's growing movement to lay claim to the invention of tartan holds more weight than a hefty kilt, according to a recent Discovery News investigation that determined tartan likely did originate in the land of Lederhosen, instead of in Scotland.

For the past thirty years, archaeologists have unearthed evidence of ancient tartan in Austria. The country's recent interest in the checkered design, however, is due to one particular find, a remnant of an early Celtic kilt, and some clever public relations by Thomas Rettl, a clothing manufacturer whose business is located near the ancient kilt site.

"It was found not in Scotland but in a place called Molzbichl in Carinthia in Austria," Rettl told the European news service Ananova. "The tartan sample found in Austria was dated to at least 320 years B.C. — over 1,600 years earlier than the oldest Scottish tartan, which was made in 1300 A.D.

Brian Wilton, administrator of the Scottish Tartans Authority, was not certain about the 320 B.C. sample, but he said even earlier dates have been attributed to Austrian tartan.

"I'm not sure what particular piece of tartan Thomas is referring to, but some of the first pieces were found in the old salt mines of Halstatt near Salzburg, and those were dated between 1200 and 400 B.C.," Wilton said.

Elizabeth Barber, professor of linguistics and archaeology at Occidental College, and an expert on early textiles, agreed with Wilton. She said the 320 B.C. tartan is "probably legit."

Barber, however, added that tartan remains found in China "are hundreds of years older."

These tartans, described in Barber's book The Mummies of Urumchi, were found on the mummies of fair-haired, Caucasian travelers who perished in the Talkamakan Desert in Xinjiang, western China. Here the tartan pattern, which consists of stripes of various widths and colors positioned at right angles against a solid color background, was woven into wool garments.

"There is absolutely no way to know for sure why they wore tartans, since they left no written records," Barber told Discovery News. "I have a theory that they were invented for camouflage in hunting, but there is no way to prove that."

The tartan-wearing travelers to Asia probably were Celts who may have come from Central Europe, according to Wilton and Barber, so the finds in China could further support Austria's claim to the fabric design.

"Tartan is an ancient Celtic art form and the Celts roamed throughout Europe and further afield," Wilton explained.

Scotland's often harsh climate may be one reason why archaeologists have yet to find many ancient tartan remains there.

"Now and again samples are discovered that have had the fortune to have been in a very good preserving medium — salt is one, sand is another," Wilton said. "In the climatic conditions of northern Europe, early fabrics just do not survive — apart from the odd one here and there found in a peat bog."

Scotland can lay claim to the use of tartan for clan allegiance and identification, according to Barber. She said tartan's clan symbolism is a relatively recent invention that originated in Scotland in the 1700s.