World's oldest mummies are not Egyptian: Meet the Chinchorro people who preserved the dead 2,000 years earlier
- Image: UNESCOFor most people, the word mummy immediately conjures images of ancient Egypt, gilded pharaohs and elaborate tombs along the Nile.
- Yet archaeology tells a very different story.
- Nearly 2,000 years before Egyptians perfected embalming, a community of marine hunter-gatherers living on Chile's arid Pacific coast had already developed the world's earliest known tradition of artificial mummification.
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- Image: UNESCOFor most people, the word mummy immediately conjures images of ancient Egypt, gilded pharaohs and elaborate tombs along the Nile.
- Yet archaeology tells a very different story.
- Nearly 2,000 years before Egyptians perfected embalming, a community of marine hunter-gatherers living on Chile's arid Pacific coast had already developed the world's earliest known tradition of artificial mummification.
Sources: Times of India