The so-called Chinchorro mummies, which were discovered in the early 20th century in the Atacama Desert in present-day Chile, and associated sites, were recently inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2021, "Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture in the Arica and Parinacota Region".
The Chinchorro mummies are mummified remains of individuals from the South American Chinchorro culture, found in what is now northern Chile. They are the oldest examples of artificially mummified human remains, having been buried up to 2000 years before the Egyptian mummies. The earliest mummy that has been found in Egypt dated around 3000 BC, while the oldest anthropogenically modified Chinchorro mummy dates from around 5050 BC. The oldest naturally mummified corpse recovered from the Atacama Desert is dated around 7020 BC.
The Chinchorro were a group of expert fishermen and gatherers who inhabited the Atacama Desert between 7020 and 1500 BC. Shell midden and bone chemistry suggest that 90% of the people's diet was seafood. They lived along the coast and the mummification techniques were done by people in southern Peru and down through northern Chile as far as Antofagasta. The Chinchorro culture was developed before the arrival of the Incas.
The Chinchorro were unique by their exceptional preservation of the dead. They were the first society in the world who mummified their dead, from around 5000 BC. The mummified remains were found in the Chinchorro beach of the Arica and Parinacota. The practice of mummification lasted for almost 3000 years.
It seems people of all ages and social statues were mummified. Although higher ranking people had more elaborate and complex mortuary treatment. Even infants were mummified. Infant mortality was high due to high arsenic concentrations in the environment.
These pre-Hispanic people believed that the mummies connected the real world with the supernatural. The mummification process had four different techniques, which changed over time. They all required a lot of care but the black and red techniques were the most complex.
The Archaeological Museum of San Miguel of Azapa, outside of Arica, is a good place to see the mummies. It is run by Tarapaca university.
After death the flesh was removed and the limbs completely dis-articulated, to be later reassembled with clays and coloured mud as well as wood.
On this display the limbs have been removed and replaced by sticks.
The mummies were then embalmed using the black or red techniques.
The Black Mummy technique is the oldest and most complex. It was practiced from around 5000 - 2500 BC. Often the skin was replaced with sealion skin when the own was insufficient. As a final touch, the body was painted with black manganese.
The Red Mummy technique - the organs were removed through incisions and the cavities then filled with sediments. The body was painted with red ochre. They added a long human hair wig that was secured with a clay cap. Sometimes the skin was replaced in the form of bandages. This style of mummification lasted from about 2000 - 1500 BC.
It was hard to take good photos through the glass cases.
Red and black face masks with the characteristic holes for the mouth, nose and eyes were created using colour pigments, and probably modelled after the faces of the deceased. The dead were then placed on cloths made of reeds and buried superficially in the desert soil.
The two more recent techniques were more simple. There was a bandage technique. And the 4th was a mud coat. Here the body was covered with a mud coat, which set and helped prevent decomposition. This technique only lasted a couple of centuries.
Some babies had their head shapes altered by winding tight bandages around to produce for example a square shaped head.
A BBC article on the mummies, from 2021, "Living with the world's oldest mummies! There are some good photos of the mummies and masks.
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