We think of mummies as being Egyptian, because the ancient Egyptians raised mummification to an art beginning about 4500 years ago. But the deliberate drying of a dead body to keep it from decomposing is much older. Mummification took place in Chile's Atacama Desert, where the conditions are very dry, some 7,000 years ago. But now we have evidence of mummification in Europe as far back as 8,000 years ago.
In the 1960s, archaeologists uncovered a Mesolithic burial site in Portugal, and discovered dozens of bodies. Portuguese archaeologist Manuel Farinha dos Santos was part of that excavation, and took pictures of the bodies. His undeveloped film was only discovered after his death in 2001. A study of the resulting photographs reveal that one body had been treated after death in a way that would dry the body out. The limb joints were flexed beyond what a living body can do, but the bones were not separated. The body was dried, but the condition of the ground around it indicated that no shrinkage had occurred after burial. Scientists hypothesize that this body may have been dried in order to more easily transport it from a distance to be buried at this particular site. There is evidence that other bodies from the same burial site may have been mummified.
Mummies in Europe are rare because of the humidity. Read the process this one went through to become completely dried at Live Science. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Peyroteo-Stjerna et al/European Journal of Archaeology)
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