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The Sampul Tapestry while being a unique wall covering it ended up being used in a different way.
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Posted On :
Nov-02-2010
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Article Word Count :
534
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This wall covering tells us a lot about the people and culture of the people.
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One of the most unusual examples of a wall covering discovered was the Sampul Tapestry wall covering (also called the Urumqi Warrier and the Cherchan Man)
Sampul is on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in western China just above Tibet. It is one of the few oases found in the Taklamakan Desert (others being Khotan and Niva)
It was in 1984 in the Tarim Basin along the old Silk Road, while excavating graves (dating back to 2-3 century BCE) near the village of Sampul that a pair of ornamental woolen trousers were discovered. These were cut from a tapestry wall covering that once hung in a royal home and surely one of the most unusual ways to use a wall covering.
The 4 mass graves contained 100 of bodies and each are thought to have been filled at the same time. They all seem to have met a violent death which as led the excavators to theorise that they were massacred after an attack on the village. Along with the trousers they found skirts, mirrors, combs and other tapestry wall covering fragments.
It is not unusual to find such elaborate wall coverings in such a remote place because Sampul was on the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a series of caravan routes through Asia where trade passed along, especially silk which was used to make wall coverings. This particular tapestry wall covering was made of wool.
The tapestry wall covering is of a Greek soldier, who is depicted as a Centaur (half human and half horse) This wall covering is very detailed in its design, as it uses over 24 threads each of a different colour. Unusually the wall covering was fashioned into a pair of trousers, exactly why is not known.
Unusual too is the soldiers features which show his origins not to be of the local area but of Celtic European origin. This has led to many debates as to why he was there or if indeed he was from that area as his DNA shows he was of Celtic origin. The soldiers hair is brown with a reddish hint and has grey in it denoting his middle age.
His facial features are also Celtic with a long nose and high cheekbones. He was about 6 feet tall and was buried in a red tunic and the tartan trousers. He was buried with 3 women and a baby and the are amazingly better preserved than Egyptian mummies.
Who he was, if he was famous or a king is not known but the tapestry wall covering he turned into a pair of trousers are very unusual. Whether the wall covering just happened to be lying around or he stole it is not known but he might have just liked the colour or designs on it.
It might just have been he used the wall covering just because it was the best thing to hand to keep warm.
Whatever the reason, I cannot imagine using the many types of modern wall covering we have to hand now and getting Burtons to run me up a suit in them.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_The Sampul Tapestry while being a unique wall covering it ended up being used in a different way._40185.aspx
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Author Resource :
Printed Space print Digitally Bespoke Wallpaper on a number of Wall coverings.
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Keywords :
Vinyl Floor Covering, Wall Murals, Wall Mural, Wallpaper Murals, ,
Category :
Arts and Entertainment
:
Arts and Entertainment
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