Pictures: Death-Cult Mummies Inspired by Desert Conditions?
Preserved by one of Earth’s driest climates, a long-buried corpse in Chile’s Atacama Desert retains centuries-old skin, hair, and clothing.
Naturally dehydrated corpses like this probably inspired the region’s ancient Chinchorro people to actively mummify their dead, scientists speculate in a new study. The practice, researchers suggest, took off during a time of natural plenty and population growth, when the Chinchorro were better able to innovate and develop culturally.
Living in fishing villages along the coasts of Chile and Peru, the Chinchorro had begun mummifying skeletons by 5050 B.C., thousands of years before the Egyptians. Archaeologists have long wondered how the practice—and a related cult of death—arose, with some speculating it had been imported from the notably wetter Amazon Basin (regional map).
Related Post
The entire tomb is filled with signs and symbols that mention Queen Nefertiti and after some time passed and linguistic experts managed to decipher the stories told here, the team was baffled.
The mystery of the Solar Temple of Abu Gurab and its “Star Gate” comes to light
Thuya, the mother of Queen Tiye, left a monumental legacy by becoming the grandmother of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.
The oldest traditions lead us to believe that blacks were the first inhabitants of Mexico.
The REAL face of King Tut: The pharaoh had feminine hips, clubfoot, and protruding teeth according to the ‘virtual autopsy,’ which also revealed that his parents were brother and sister.
The “oldest gold of humanity” was found in the Varna necropolis, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast