Ticket for the Zaghunluq Ancient Mummy Tomb, the world's largest family tomb open to the public, showing some of the fourteen bodies found in this group tomb. These are 2,600 years old Indo-European natural mummies.
The bodies are shown as they were found, with a plexiglass cover replacing the original reed mat and wooden beam tomb roof over the tomb.
The name of the cemetery is from the name of Uyghur village just outside Cherchen / Qiemo, spelled Zaghunluq in the traditional roman spelling for the Uyghur language. See other images in this set for various spellings of the cemetery name.
Neither the settlement of these peoples -- they were most likely semi-nomadic -- nor the site of the much-later Kingdom of Calmadana, a Silk Road caravan oasis for centuries in this area -- has yet been found (although a few small ancient sites have been found nearby). They are still hidden in the sands of the advancing Taklamakan Desert.
Read more about these mummies in the descriptions of other images in
this set:
Sights in Cherchen / Qiemo, Xinjiang, China
or a more detailed description at:
Zaghunluq Ancient Mummy Tomb,
where you will also see other famous ancient mummies which were
excavated at this site.
See maps of the local area and region to orient yourself to where
these mummies are found at:
Maps of Cherchen / Qiemo in Xinjiang, China. Cherchen / Qiemo is about 600 km east of Hotan, site of the famous
ancient Kingdom of Khotan. Both Cherchen / Qiemo and Hotan are in
southern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, between the vast
Taklamakan Desert and the extensive Kunlun Mountains.
See many more images of Cherchen / Qiemo -- including sights, people,
street scenes, hotels, restaurants, and transportation -- in this
Flickr collection:
Collection: Cherchen / Qiemo, Xinjiang, China
Read in depth about visiting Cherchen / Qiemo -- including 50 pages on
sightseeing, transport, lodging, and dining -- at:
Cherchen / Qiemo -- Ancient Mummies and Modern Comforts
(I posted the ticket image because taking photos is not allowed at the site.)
