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2d ago

Oldest Known Human Mummification Found in Southeast Asia, Study Says

Researchers report bone chemistry consistent with prolonged low‑heat smoke‑drying, indicating deliberate preservation by hunter‑gatherers.

Image
Image
Left: Middle-aged woman at the Liyupo site in southern China who was smoke-dried prior to burial. Note: Bone fragments belonging to a second individual have been digitally removed from the lower left corner; Right: Modern hyper-flexed, smoke-dried mummy of the Dani people, kept in a private household in the Baliem Valley of Wamena, Jayawijaya Regency, Papua (Indonesia).

Overview

  • The peer‑reviewed study, published September 15 in PNAS, analyzed 54 individuals from 11 sites within a broader dataset of 95 crouched burials across southern China and Southeast Asia.
  • Laboratory tests using X‑ray diffraction and Fourier‑transform infrared spectroscopy detected heat‑altered bone microstructures consistent with extended smoke exposure at low temperatures.
  • Most dated cases fall between roughly 12,000 and 4,000 years ago, with the oldest tested specimen over 11,000 years and additional Vietnamese finds reported near 14,000 years though not all were directly tested.
  • Bodies were interred in tightly crouched or hyper‑flexed postures with minimal disarticulation, supporting desiccation prior to burial rather than decay of fresh cadavers.
  • Ethnographic parallels in the New Guinea Highlands and among some Indigenous Australian groups suggest cultural continuity, while outside experts call for stronger direct dating, broader sampling, and resolution of higher‑temperature signals.