Scientists Have Discovered the World’s Oldest Known Mummies in Asia

Scientists revealed they have discovered the world’s oldest known mummies.

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science on Sept. 15 states that researchers found “smoke-dried” mummies between 4,000 to 12,000 years old in various sites across Southeast Asia and China. 

By contrast, mummies found in Egypt typically date back to about 4,500 years ago, and mummies from northern Chile — typically considered some of the oldest on earth — date back to approximately 7,000 years ago, per the study’s authors.

The bodies were found in “tightly crouched or squatting postures, sometimes with indications of post-mortem dismemberment.” This differs greatly from the more widely known “extended supine burial postures,” or bodies that are buried lying flat on their backs.

The scientists believe that smoking the remains before burial allowed for the “contortion” of the bodies found at the burial sites, noting that the positioning of many of the mummies appeared “impossible to achieve” without “extraordinary” outside intervention.

The burial methods found at the sites ​​were “once widespread in Indigenous Australian societies” and “are still practiced today in some regions of the New Guinea Highlands,” per the study.

The study’s authors also stated that the bodies were mummified artificially by smoking the remains over fire for an extended period of time. Mummies from other regions, by contrast, mummified naturally over a period of weeks or even years.

Some of the bodies also showed signs of charring on certain parts of the skeleton, which further supports the theory that the remains were exposed to fire pre-burial, per the researchers.

One of the study’s lead authors, Hsiao-chun Hung of Australian National University, called the findings “remarkable” while speaking to Science News.

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“The fact that smoke-dried mummification spread across such a vast area and endured for more than 12,000 years among Indigenous groups is remarkable,” she told the outlet. 

Hung said she hopes to next study burial sites in Asia dating as far back as 20,000 years ago to see if she and her colleagues discover similar findings, per Science News.