Far to the east, in the remote Chinese Taklamakan desert, hundreds of kilometers from the nearest settlement, wooden poles protrude from the sand, pointing to an ancient cemetery, which experts estimate is almost 4,000 years old.
The cemetery lies right in the middle of lifeless sand dunes, and over the past millennia, wooden planks have been noticeably frayed by strong winds, although in fact they were once the gravestones of the dead here. Dry summers and cold winters helped keep these ancient bodies in such good condition that their facial features are still quite distinguishable. One of the mummies found even received the very flattering nickname "Beauty of Xiaohe" because she was clearly a very attractive woman during her lifetime. This girl's body was mummified so well that her eyelashes are still preserved in front of her eyes.
The ancient Chinese cemetery was discovered in the early 20th century by a local hunter named Ordek. The Uyghur hunter was just surveying the harsh desert when he suddenly came across a "forest" of wood poles, strewn with human bones and ancient religious artifacts. Ordek decided that ghosts dwell here and hurried away, never returning to this place. Decades later, Swedish explorer and archaeologist Folke Bergman arrived in the region in search of ancient ruins associated with the legendary Silk Road, and the locals advised him to turn to Ordek for help. The hunter explained to the scientist how to find the ancient cemetery, but he himself refused to go there again, fearing spirits. Bergman managed to find this place, and he nicknamed it the Ordek Necropolis after the Uyghur discoverer.
A Swedish archaeologist has unearthed nearly a dozen mummies and about 200 artifacts here. Bergman left a detailed description of his findings in a work entitled Archaeological Research in Xinjiang, especially in the Lop-nor Region (Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang Especially the Lop-nor Region). This book can be found online in digital format. In his work, Bergman noted the unusual shape of the coffins, which resembled inverted boats. Apparently, the dead were placed in coffins, covered with the skins of oxen and buried in the sand along with straw baskets filled with wheat and other grains. Then wooden sticks were stuck into the ground. According to Bergman, the entire cemetery was strewn with wooden figures of people and boards that resembled oars or shovels.
The ancient cemetery was practically forgotten until the Chinese archaeologists returned here in the early 2000s. During this expedition, Eastern scientists found out that Bergman's find was much more outstanding than everyone previously thought. Archaeologists have found hundreds of bodies buried under 5 different layers of soil, including virtually intact mummies, which turned out to be the oldest and best-preserved human remains in the entire Tarim Basin.
“Never before and nowhere in the world have so many mummies been found in one place,” said Idelisi Abuduresule, lead researcher and director of the Xinjiang Institute for Cultural Relics and Archeology.
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Chinese archaeologists have also discovered a huge number of carvings of humans and animals, small wooden masks, and carved male and female genitals. All these findings allowed scientists to look into the mysterious world of the past, shrouded in a special atmosphere of ancient cults and rituals. According to Idelisi Abuduresel, the rich cultural heritage of the Xiaohe tomb is literally incomparable, because nowhere else in the world has anything similar been found.
The Ordek necropolis was later officially named Xiaohe Cemetery after the nearest dry river, but archaeologists prefer to call this place the Small River Cemetery No. 5.
The most interesting thing about this place is that although an ancient cemetery is located in China, the bodies found clearly showed Caucasian features (long noses, light brown and even red hair). Genetic analysis showed that on the maternal side, the ancestors of the Xiaohe mummies came to these lands, both from East Asia and Western Eurasia, and on the paternal side, they were completely Europeans.
Archaeologists believe that before the appearance of this people in the Tarim Basin about 4000 years ago, their ancestors lived in Europe and Siberia. When these people arrived in the territory of modern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Lake Lobnor of the Tarim Depression was already almost dry. The alien people barely made ends meet, and in 400 AD local rivers and lakes dried up completely, leaving behind only a lifeless desert and an ancient cemetery.