For the Chinese archaeologist who stumbled on them, it was the discovery of a lifetime: In one tomb, a priestess, tall and blond, with exquisite hands- and unmistakenably European features. Nearby were red-bearded mummies with fine tartan clothing and feathers in their caps. What were these people doing in China’s Takla Makan desert 3,000 years ago? Silent for centuries, the voices of the mysterious mummies of China are beginning to be heard. These eerily lifelike specimens, perfectly preserved by the desert sands, are revealing startling new information about the contact between East and West in the ancient world- evidence so provocative the current Chinese regime is struggling to keep it under wraps. Set off on a journey along the Old Silk Road as scientists search for clues: Dancing fertility figures etched in rock, identical to images found in Bulgaria and the Ukraine. A remote cave lined with drawings of the Tocharians- descendents of the mummy people?- shown with red hair and blue eyes and words in a European script. It’s a jolting journey through time that leads to a captivating question: Could a lost European people have breached China’s fabled isolation some 1,000 years earlier than anyone thought?