Exhibition place：Textile Conservation Gallery, CNSM

Exhibition time：2013.4 - 2013.5

In recent years, burial sites in Tarim Basin has warranted numerous scholarly attentions because there are prehistoric mummies excavated. Those mummies have been miraculously preserved in situ because of Xinjiang’s

uniquely dry climate. Excavations of many prehistoric textiles provide us with important clues of prehistoric ocial life.

In the summer of 1934, the Swedish archeologist, Folke Bergman, discovered an important Bronze Age burial ground in the desert about a hundred miles to the west of the fabled ruins Loulan. After Bergman in 1939 published a detailed report on his investigations at the cemetery, the site went unvisited for more than half a century until the year 2000, when it was rediscovered by a Chinese documentary crew. In the three seasons between 2002 and 2005, the Small River Cemetery has been extensively excavated by crew. During that excavation, 167 tombs were excavated, over 30 mummies and thousands of objects were unearthed. It is reasonable to infer from those objects that Small River Cemetery is a typical Bronze Age burial site. And so it was awarded one of the ten most important Chinese burial sites of the year in 2004.

Tombs and funerary deposits in Small River Cemetery has retained their pristine images. The most amazing category of objects is textile, especially woollen textiles and objects made from leathers. The woollen textiles include woollen cloaks, loincloths, felt hats and various woollen cords. Objects made from leathers include leather boots and leather coffin covers. They are all simple, antique and yet exquisite. We can appreciate the aesthetics of the locals from those objects. Meanwhile, there are also some containers, wooden implements and dehydrated foods found. We can image how Small River people live during those periods.