Overview

• A PNAS paper details remains from sites across China and Southeast Asia with heat signatures consistent with prolonged smoke exposure.
• Dating places some individuals beyond 10,000 years old, earlier than the Chinchorro tradition in Chile and far older than Egyptian examples.
• Burials feature tightly bound crouched or squatting postures, with occasional post-mortem cuts and localized charring on bones.
• Researchers compared samples with Japanese controls and employed X-ray diffraction to distinguish low heat treatment from cremation.
• The authors propose smoke-drying as an effective approach in humid tropical environments and plan to investigate even older Asian sites.