US EditionPublished • loading... • Updated
The Oldest Mummies in the World May Hail From Southeastern Asia and Date Back 12,000 Years
Analysis of 54 burials across Southeast Asia shows hunter-gatherers practiced smoke-drying mummification for over 10,000 years, with 84% of samples exhibiting heat exposure signs.
- Researchers found the oldest evidence of human mummification in Asia, with an arm bone dating to about 14,000 years ago in northern Vietnam.
- The discovery was made after examining 54 crouched burials from 11 locations dated from roughly 12 millennia to 4 millennia in the past, spanning areas of southern China, northern Vietnam, and Sumatra.
- The study revealed that people prepared their dead by positioning bodies over low-temperature fires to dry remains with smoke before burial, a practice sustained by profound love and spiritual devotion.
- Lead author Dr. Hsiao-chun Hung said the findings push back mummification timelines by thousands of years and reflect a timeless human impulse: "families and loved ones might remain together forever."
- These results imply complex burial traditions among hunter-gatherers, revealing an interplay of technique, culture, and belief in pre-Neolithic Southeast Asia.
Insights by Ground AI
112 Articles
112 Articles
Researchers discover mummies that are even older than the Egyptians. They have been prepared over months above the fire and show the devotion of their relatives.
It's the Oldest Evidence Yet of Human Mummification
Ten thousand years before ancient Egyptians began mummifying their dead, hunter-gatherers in Asia were smoke-drying the bodies of loved ones, a discovery that is rewriting the history of human mummification. Scientists have uncovered what they believe to be the oldest evidence of human mummification—specifically, smoke-dried mummies—in parts of...
·Miami, United States
Read Full ArticleCoverage Details
Total News Sources112
Leaning Left23Leaning Right11Center40Last UpdatedBias Distribution54% Center
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
54% Center
L 31%
C 54%
15%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
