Beauty of Loulan

The "Beauty of Loulan" (also "Beauty of Krorän"). Museum exhibit and detail of the face, Xinjiang Museum.[1][2]
The mummy was excavated at the eastern end of the Tarim Basin, in Loulan.

The Beauty of Loulan (楼兰美女), also Beauty of Krorän or Loulan Beauty, is the preserved dead body of a woman who lived around 1800 BCE in the Xinjiang region of 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 government of China barred study of the mummies, but samples were smuggled out of the country and tested to find evidence of European ancestry in 1993 [citation needed]. These findings were corroborated by further studies by Chinese researchers in 2007 and 2009. The mummy has since been displayed in museums.

  1. ^ Anderson, Matthew (2012). "The "Silk Roads" in Time and Space: Migrations, Motifs, and Materials" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers: 96–97.
  2. ^ "Beauty of Kroran (Book description)".