More than 170 skeletons of ancient people unearthed in Turpan city of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will be transported to Jilin University soon for further archaeological research, according to Xu Dongliang, deputy head of the technological protection institute under the Academy of Turpan Studies.

The skeletons, dating to from 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, were excavated from the Shengjindian village tomb complex in Shengjin township and the Jiayi village tomb complex in Yar township.

Xu said that the skeletons were buried in different styles of tombs.

Research on the skeletons will help reveal the migration habits and lifestyle of the ancient nomads and the relations among different races, Xu added.

For example, earlier research on the skeletons revealed a male adult wearing a false left leg, which is centuries earlier than the earliest known prostheses before the discovery, Xu said.

Jilin University, located in Changchun, Jilin province, owns one of the country’s leading labs for molecular archaeology. Through the cooperative effort, archaeologists will get more information from the skeletons. Experts in the research center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University will use modern technological methods, including DNA detection, geological and pathological tests to analyze the samples.

The cooperation of research will last for about one year.