The mummified remains of a middle-aged man who lived approximately 1,700 years ago were discovered on a stretch of the ancient Silk Road on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
The body was found at a construction site in Manai, Qinghai Province, Northwest China. Now it is kept in the Museum of Ethnology of Haishi-Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Region.
"The body is in good condition and is possibly the oldest and best-preserved mummy found in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau," said museum director Xin Feng.
The body is 1.62 meters tall and perfectly preserved remains of skin and hair. The man is believed to have died at the age of about 40. His face looks calm and his arms are folded over his stomach.
Archaeologists will conduct DNA analysis to determine the man's ethnicity and personality, Xin Feng said, adding that the mummy was found among dried reeds, along with dyed cloth bedding, horse hooves and sheep bones believed to be burial attributes for representatives of the upper strata of society at that time.
Mummies usually form in a very dry environment that prevents the body from decaying. This body was found on the northern edge of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau near the Taklamakan Desert. This route of the ancient Silk Road was not so busy - traders chose it to avoid possible conflicts in the Hexi corridor - a much more famous route.
Mummified bodies have been found many times along the ancient Silk Road in China, as it traverses a wide swath of dry land in today's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Some of these bodies belonged to the Caucasian race, which is evidence of the flourishing of the ancient Silk Road as a global trade route.
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