[aruanan]

Dang, what mystery?

Sue Andrew, an art historian who is part of the group going to China, said: "We don't know how for sure the symbol travelled to the West but the most likely explanation is they were on the valuable oriental silks brought to Western medieval churches to wrap holy relics, as altar cloths and in vestments."

The design was something the Buddhists came up with ages ago. The conquering hordes of Islam pushed through Buddhist Afghanistan and well into India, picking up the design along the way (their prohibition against graven images notwithstanding). After that it made its way into Europe through both land and sea trade routes.

[blam]

"Dang, what mystery?"

My thoughts were that these folks brought the symbol with them when they went to Halstadt, Austria to visit their kin.

China Mummies