Case file · Sacred site
Chinchorro mummies, Arica
The Chinchorro fishing people of the Atacama coast artificially mummified their dead from about 5000 BCE, two millennia before Egypt, making them the oldest known artificial mummies in the world.
5,000 BCE · -18.48, -70.31 · status: official
The account
They took bodies apart, reinforced them with sticks and reeds, covered them with clay and painted them black or red, giving masks to their faces. They mummified men, women, children and foetuses alike. The settlements and mummification sites were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.
The sceptical view
A documented archaeological practice; the meaning of the elaborate treatment is still debated.