"mummies on view"

Industrial development in northwest China has gradually unearthed a surprising past -- a 4,000-year-old civilization of farmers and herders with European, rather than Asian, ancestry.

These ancient people eked out a living in the arid lands north of Tibet now known as the Tarim Basin.

Chinese construction crews have found mummies nearly every year over the last three decades. Three of the mummies will be on view at Santa Ana's Bowers Museum as part of the exhibition "Secrets of the Silk Road: Mystery Mummies from China," which opens Saturday.