The Bronze Age Xiaohe culture (ca. 1950–1400 BCE) is renowned for its distinctive funerary practices and exceptional organic preservation, largely due to its location in a hyperarid environment. Burials feature boat-shaped coffins, cattle remains, and paddle and mooring post-like grave markers.

The Xiaohe site contains three types of burials. Type 1, which is the most abundant, is characterized by burials with wooden coffins placed in pits dug into the sand. These coffins are typically narrow and straight, transitioning into a more curved shape. The head of the coffin typically has an erect pole.

The second type, of which there are only four, contains only female bodies and is characterized by a clay shell outside the wooden coffin.

The final type is a unique rectangular structure with a triangular entrance. It is covered in multiple layers of cattle skin and topped with layers of cattle skulls. Despite being characterized as a third burial type, no human bones have been recovered from this site, possibly indicating that it may have had a different function.