mumie, fotografi, photograph

Söderbom with the mummy from grave 10. The Sven Hedin expedition 1933-35, Sinkiang
Photo Folke Bergman 1934
"Grave 10 is situated near the southern bank of Qum-darya some few kilometres above our main camp, i. e. about 20 km. to the west of Yardang-bulaq and close to a small lake called Yarliq-kol. The coffin had fallen out of a yardang.... the hollowed-out poplar trunk that formed the coffin had then been a little broken up by Ördek, the corpse being thus partly exposed. The hollow trunk was 2 m. long, and the open ends had been closed with oval lids made to match the openings and fastened by small converging dowels. All knot holes in the wood were filled with plugs. The inside of this primitive coffin was lined with thick felt. I had the impression that the felt was a lining for the coffin rather than a wrapping for the dead. The body was that of an old man measuring only 1.48 m. It was mummified; only a part of the skull had lost its skin. On the left side of the back of the head a tuft of grey hair was twisted into a knot behind the ear. The incisors were much worn, the lower molars were missing, and in the upper jaw there were thirteen teeth in all. The skull was rather small, and seemed to be dolichocephalic.

The mummy was dressed in a long coat of yellow-brown undyed silk of the same twill weave all over, and lined with coarse cotton fabric in tabby weave. The overlapping front part was laid to the left, though it was made to be fastened with a ribbon on the right side below the sleeve. The long sleeves reached down over the hands. On the left side there is an open slit f ram the lower edge to the waist." (Bergman 1939:55)