Chinchorro mummies

The Chinchorro mummies are mummified remains of people from the South American Chinchorro culture, found in what is now northern Chile and southern Peru.  They are the oldest examples of artificially mummified human remains.  The oldest are 7,000 years old. The mummies continued to be made until about 1800 B.C.

They were first studied by the Andean archaeologist Max Uhle in 1914.  Today, over 280 mummies have been found.  About 120 of them are kept at the University of Tarapaca museum.  Recently, scientist saw that some of the mummies are melting.  This is because the increased humidity due to climate change has let microbes attack the skin.  Kraul, Chris, 2015, "Mystery of Melting Mummies," Chicago Tribune May 17, p. 29.

Shell mounds and bone chemistry suggest that 90% of the diet of these people was seafood.

 Techniques 

Uhle categorized the types of mummification he saw into three categories: simple treatment, complex treatment, and mud-coated mummies. Since then, other archaeologists refined his classification and now mostly use the following classification of Chinchorro mummification: natural, black, red, mud-coated and bandage mummies.Wise, Karen, 2003, "Chinchorro Mummies," Written in Bones: How Human Remains Unlock the Secrets of the Dead. Toronto: Firefly.  Pp. 166-70. Print. The two most common techniques used in Chinchorro mummification were the black mummies and the red mummies.

References

Other websites
 Chinchorro  Archaeological site in Chile
"Making the Dead Beautiful: Mummies as Art"  Archaeology Magazine
Chinchorro and other mummies
Cultura Chinchorro  Momias Chinchorro


References

Category:Burials