Xiaohe Cemetery

Common card · No. 418282

The Xiaohe Cemetery (Chinese: 小河墓地; pinyin: Xiǎohé mùdì, lit. 'little river cemetery'), also known as Ördek's Necropolis, is a Bronze Age site located to the west of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang, Western China. It contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which were looted by grave robbers before archaeological research could be carried out. The Gumugou cemetery slightly to the north is also considered as part of the Xiaohe culture. The cemetery resembles an oblong sand dune. From it the remains of more than 30 people, the earliest of whom lived around 4,000 years ago, have been excavated. The bodies, which have been buried in air-tight ox-hide bags, are so well-preserved that they have often been referred to as the "Tarim mummies". The Xiaohe remains have attracted considerable attention, particularly because of their "Caucasoid" appearance. Analysis of the Xiaohe population's genetic makeup has revealed that they represented a genetic bottleneck, essentially derived from Ancient North Eurasians...

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