Overview
- A peer‑reviewed PNAS study led by Australian National University identifies intentional smoking‑based preservation across southern China and Southeast Asia.
- Analyses of 54 burials at 11 sites in China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia detected low‑intensity heating signatures and soot on about 84% of samples.
- Bodies were buried in extreme flexion without joint damage, indicating slow dehydration before interment rather than contortion or breakage after death.
- The practice spans roughly 12,000–4,000 years before present, with at least one directly dated case near 14,000 years, predating Chinchorro and Egyptian examples.
- Ethnographic parallels from Papua and Australia show comparable long‑duration smoking of ancestors, supporting a technique suited to humid monsoon climates where natural desiccation is ineffective.