The Beauty of Loulan is the remarkably well-preserved body of a woman who lived around 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.

Discovered on April 1, 1980, near the Silk Road in the Xinjiang region of China, she is one of the Tarim mummies, named after the Tarim Basin where they were found. Her preservation is unique in that it was unintentional—unlike Egyptian mummies, which were embalmed deliberately. Instead, the extreme desert conditions, with intense dryness and high salt content from a nearby salt lake, naturally preserved her body. This arid environment helped retain delicate facial features, such as her eyelashes and even some strands of her hair.

Scientific analysis, including DNA testing, has revealed that she was of mixed ancestry, showing significant European genetic markers, although her people likely migrated from Siberia before settling in the region now known as Xinjiang. Estimates place her age at the time of death between 40 and 48 years, and her height was between 152 and 155 cm (approximately 5 feet). Her preservation offers insight into the lives of ancient people in the Tarim Basin, highlighting not only the diversity of ancient populations in Asia but also the migration patterns that occurred thousands of years ago.