Scientists have discovered mummies in China and Southeast Asia that may be the oldest in the world.
A study published in the journal PNAS examined 54 pre-Neolithic burials from 11 archaeological sites and ancient tombs in China, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The remains, which ranged from 4,000 to 12,000 years old, were discovered and appear to have been cremated during a mummification ritual, making some of them older than the oldest mummies previously found in Egypt, which date back 4,500 years.
The bodies were found in a crouched or hunched position and bore burn marks indicating that the remains had been smoked over a fire before burial as part of the mummification process.
“Smoking likely had spiritual, religious or cultural significance that went far beyond simply slowing down the decay process,” said Xiao-chun Hung, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University and lead author of the study.
“The main difference from the mummies we usually think of is that these ancient smoked bodies were not sealed in containers after the process, and therefore their preservation typically lasted only a few decades to a few hundred years,” Hung said.
X-ray diffraction was used to assess whether the bones had been exposed to heat; many skeletons showed signs of direct combustion.
“We can't say for sure whether smoking a body was originally intended as a method of preservation. Perhaps ancient people discovered smoking accidentally, as a byproduct of some ritual practice, or perhaps they first discovered smoking animal meat and then applied it to the dead,” she added.
Until the recent discovery of these mummies, the oldest mummies were found in Peru and Chile.
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