The Princess of Xiaohe (Chinese: 小河公主) or Little River Princess was found in
2003 at Xiaohe Cemetery in Lop Nur, Xinjiang. She is one of the Tarim mummies,
and is known as M11 for the tomb she was found in. Buried approximately 3,800
years ago, she has European and Siberian genes[1][2] and has white skin and red
hair. She is unusually well preserved, with clothes, hair, and eyelashes still intact.
Her body was not embalmed before death, but mummified naturally due to the
climate and burial method.
The Princess has red hair and long eyelashes, with some facial features more similar
to Indo-Europeans than modern people of the region she was found in, such as high
cheekbones and pale skin.[failed verification] She seems to be smiling slightly. She was
152 cm (5 ft 0 in) tall.[6] She was buried wearing a white felt hat, a white wool cloak
with tassels, and string skirt, with fur-lined leather boots on her feet. She had a red
rope necklace and a bracelet with one jade bead on her right arm. She was buried
with wooden pins and three small pouches of ephedra. Twigs and branches of
ephedra were placed beside the body. Wheat and millet grains, strings made from
the tendons of animals, and animal ears were spread over her body. A
wooden phallic object was placed between her breasts. Like the other mummies in
Xiaohe Cemetery, she was buried in a boat-shaped coffin with a standing wooden
pole above it.[7] Her grave had not been disturbed since her burial when it was found
by archeologists in 2003.[6]
Chunks of cheese were found on her neck and chest, possibly as food for the
afterlife. Archeologists were initially unsure what the clumps on her body were.
However, a 2014 study led by Andrej Shevchenko showed that it was cheese. The
cheese found on the mummies in this cemetery is the oldest preserved cheese in
the world, likely made with a kefir starter.[8][9] Her entire body and boots were also
coated in a white substance, likely also a dairy product but so far of unknown
origin.[6]
In 1939 a remarkable discovery was done by the Swedish archaeologist Bergman
Folke. A set of tombs were found in the Xinjiang Province known as the Xiaohe
Tombs. However, for the 60 years to follow the tombs were forgotten until 2000
when a researcher, head of the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Institute found the tombs again. It wasn’t until 2005 that the excavations were
complete.
The size of the area is unprecedented. So far there have been 330 tombs found in
multiple different layers. The Xiaohe tombs include adults and children as well as 15
intact mummies. About half of the tombs were looted by grave robbers. It is the first
time anywhere on Earth that so many mummies have been found.
The coffins were made of wood and shaped like boats, buried upside down, which
is similar to the Egyptian concept of the boat to take the Pharaohs to the land of the
‘Gods’.
This Original Piece of art can be found at OmniHum Gallery, Equipped with Sky Heart Technology
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