A hundred years ago, fascination with Ancient Egyptian mummies reached new heights after Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. Since then, Egyptian and Inca mummies have been a fixture of specialist research and lay interest alike. Recent research suggests that mummification as a burial ritual was more widespread than we knew. It may have been used in Europe in the Neolithic, and the Chinchorro culture on the edge of the Atacama Desert extended the procedure to all members of society, for many centuries.
So, looking beyond the classic pharaohs, I've rounded up some new and recent insights around mummification for my latest feature in Current Biology, which is out now:
Immortalised bodies
Current Biology Volume 32, Issue 7, 11 April 2022, Pages R295-R298
FREE access to full text and PDF download
NB: as the 2022 features move into the open archives, I will add them to this thread on Mastodon.
The Chinchorro culture in northern Chile has produced some of the oldest intentionally prepared mummies known. They are also remarkable for extending mummification to all members of their community. (Photo: Pablo Trincado/Flickr (CC BY 2.0).)
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