The Xiaohe 'Little River' Tomb complex refers to a bronze-age burial site located in Lop Nur

Lop Nur

Lop Lake or Lop Nur is a group of small, now seasonal salt lake sand marshes between the Taklamakan and Kuruktag deserts in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China.The lake system into which the Tarim...

, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Xinjiang

Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

 of western China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It is an oblong sand dune, from which more than 30 well-preserved mummies, buried in air-tight ox-hide bags, have been excavated. The entire Xiaohe Tomb complex contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which have been looted by grave robbers.

A local hunter discovered the site in 1910, and later showed Swedish explorer and archeologist Folke Bergman

Folke Bergman

Folke Bergman was a Swedish explorer and archaeologist. He is best known for his discovery of the Xiaohe Tomb complex in Lop Nur, China in 1934.-Primary:...

the site in 1934.

An excavation project began in October 2003, organized by the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute. A total of 167 tombs have been dug up since the end of 2002 and excavations have revealed hundreds of smaller tombs built in layers. In 2006 a coffin wrapped with ox hide in the shape of a boat, containing the remarkably intact mummy of a smiling young woman, was found.

Literature

• Folke Bergman: Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang. Especially in the Lop-Nor Region. (Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the Northwestern Provinces of China under the Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin / Scientific Expedition to the North-Western Provinces of China: Publication 7). Thule, Stockholm 1939.
• Sven Hedin und Folke Bergman: History of an Expedition in Asia 1927–1935. Reports: Publication 25: Part III 1933-1935, Statens Etnografiska Museum, Stockholm 1944.
• Folke Bergman: Travels and Archaeological Field-work in Mongolia and Sinkiang: a Diary of the Years 1927-1934. In: Sven Hedin und Folke Bergman: History of an Expedition in Asia 1927–1935. Part IV: 1933–1935. General reports, travels and field-work. (Reports: Publication 26.), Statens Etnografiska Museum, Stockholm 1945.
• V. H. Mair: The rediscovery and complete excavation of Ördek's Necropolis. In: Journal of Indo-European Studies 34, 2006, No. 3/4, p. 273–318.
• Alfried Wieczorek und Christoph Lind: Ursprünge der Seidenstraße. Sensationelle Neufunde aus Xinjiang, China. Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim. Theiss, Stuttgart 2007. ISBN 380622160X

External links

• Further reading
• Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1741-7007-8-15.pdf