Bronze Age mummy from Xiaohe, Xinjiang

Ref: 081027-6478     Date: 27-10-2008

This mummified woman was excavated from prehistoric cemetery called Xiaohe, located in the Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang (western China). The site dates to the Early Bronze Age, 3980-3540 years BP Cal (that is, around 1800 BC). Her burial garments and goods, not to mention her body, are extraordinarily well preserved because of exceedingly arid environmental conditions. The feathers in her hat are positively pristine. Although the site is now deep in the desert, in earlier times Lop Nur was actually a lake and the people buried here had lived in an oasis.