In 2011 I traveled to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia to view an exhibit about mummies from the Tarim Basin of China. The Beauty of Xiaohe was resting in a case swaddled in her robe and hat. I was astonished by her profound presence. She is one of many mummies to have been discovered in the Tarim Basin, a dry barren area of Western China. Her Caucasian features are pronounced and the preservation of her flesh, hair and eyelashes is mesmerizing. I stood there looking at this shell of a woman, immaculately preserved by nature, her flesh of powdered leather stretched tautly across her bones. She was regal within her silence, consumed by death, but whispering a message I could still hear.
