today tartan is mostly associated with scotland; however, the earliest evidence of tartan is found far afield from britain. according to the textile historian e. j. w. barber, the hallstatt culture of central europe, which is linked with ancient celtic populations and flourished between the 8th and 6th centuries bc, produced tartan-like textiles. some of them were discovered in 2004, remarkably preserved, in the hallstatt salt mines near salzburg, austria. textile analysis of fabric from the tarim mummies in xinjiang, northwestern china has also shown it to be similar to that of the iron age hallstatt culture. tartan-like leggings were found on the "cherchen man", a 3,000 year-old mummy found in the taklamakan desert. similar finds have been made in central europe and scandinavia.