Unearthed Tang dynasty tomb shows mural of blond ‘Westerner’

A Tang dynasty tomb, discovered during a hillside road reconstruction project in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, in 2018 but only publicly revealed in June, reportedly features a mural depicting a “Westerner” man with blonde hair and a beard.

The painting is among several murals found on the walls of the single brick chamber tomb, which Chinese archaeologists believe belonged to a 63-year-old man who died in 736 AD, during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). “Based on his facial features and outfit style, we can identify him as a ‘Westerner,’ likely a Sogdian from Central Asia,” Victor Xiong, a professor of history at Western Michigan University who was not involved in the discovery, told LiveScience, referring to the ancient Iranian civilization of Sogdia, which corresponds to modern-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.