Beauty of Loulan

Common card · No. 306378

The Beauty of Loulan (楼兰美女; c. 1845 BC - c. 1800 BC), also Beauty of Krorän or Loulan Beauty, is the preserved dead body of a woman who lived in the Xinjiang region in what is now China. Due to her excellent state of conservation, she is one of the most famous Tarim mummies. Exceptionally well-preserved by the elements, the body was discovered in 1980 by Chinese archaeologists alongside several other mummies. The body is not of Chinese appearance, leading to the popular belief that the woman was of Uyghur origin. The Chinese government barred study of the mummies, but samples were smuggled out of the country and tested to find evidence of European ancestry in 1993. These findings were corroborated by further studies by Chinese researchers in 2007 and 2009. The mummy has since been displayed in museums.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Eric Feng, CC BY-SA 4.0