Buried in sands: environmental analysis at the archaeological site of Xiaohe cemetery, Xinjiang, China.

Palynomorphs extracted from the mud coffins and plant remains preserved at the archaeological site of Xiaohe Cemetery (Cal. 3980 to 3540 years BP) in Lop Nur Desert of Xinjiang, China were investigated for the reconstruction of the ancient environments at the site. The results demonstrate that the Xiaohe People lived at a well-developed oasis, which was surrounded by extensive desert. The vegetation in the oasis consisted of Populus, Phragmites, Typha and probably of Gramineae, while the desert surrounding the oasis had some common drought-resistant plants dominated by Ephedra, Tamarix, Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae. This present work provides the first data of the environmental background at this site for further archaeological investigation.