The ruins unearthed so far cover an area of over 100,000 square meters, filled with the ruins of city walls, residential buildings, palaces,temples, workshops and towers, as well as broken beams and pillars.
The city has an irregular square shape, with the east city wall measuring 333 meters; the south wall, 329 meters; and the west and north walls 327 meters respectively. Archeologists believe there was once a water tunnel running through the city that divided it into two functional parts. The most eye-catching architecture is a woodenBuddhist pagodalocated in the eastern city ruins. This octagonal-shaped pagoda is 10 meters high with a square base and a round top.
In the city center are rows of adobe houses surrounded by piles of wood, with some pieces of timber up to five or six meters in length. On the foundations of some of the houses we can still find traces of red paint. A large amount of historical documents have been discovered among these houses.
Loulan Beauty
The greatest discovery in Loulan is without doubt the Loulan female mummy discovered in 1980. Perfectly preserved, delicate in appearance and with good skin, the relic earned the nickname "Loulan Beauty." Experts confirmed that the woman lived some 3,800 years ago. Later, more of such mummies were excavated also reflecting the region's characteristically dry weather. In 1998, the well-preserved body of an infant that died about 4,000 years ago and the remains of an old man who died more than 1,500 years ago, were also unearthed in the area.
The woman has distinct Caucasian features: light-colored hair and steep nose bridge. The Loulan Beauty has long hair and is only 5.2 feet tall. Archaeologists also found colorful painted and crosshatched coffins that looked like new. Archaeologists believe that the area's residents were both Mongolians and Caucasians. But how the Caucasians came to Western China thousands of years ago and then suddenly disappeared remains a mystery.
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