Human Mummies From 12,000 Years Ago Discovered—Not From Egypt and Predating The First Egyptian Mummies by 7,000 Years

Written by Romário Pereira de Carvalho

Published on 21/09/2025 at 20:50

Updated on 21/09/2025 at 20:53

Restos humanos de mais de 9 mil anos, encontrados no sul da China e no Sudeste Asiático, revelam evidências da forma mais antiga de mumificação já identificada, segundo pesquisadores — Foto: Yousuke Kaifu e Hirofumi Matsumura

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Researchers Reveal That Southeast Asian Peoples Mummified Their Dead 12,000 Years Ago, Long Before Known Egyptian Practices

Long before Egypt developed its famous embalming technique, Southeast Asian peoples were already using their own methods to preserve bodies as mummies. Now, researchers have identified evidence of mummification dating back 12,000 years, about 7,000 years before the oldest Egyptian mummies.

Smoking Technique

According to a study published on September 15 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hunter-gatherers who lived in southern China, Southeast Asia, and islands like Borneo and Java used specific rituals to preserve the dead.

The bodies were positioned in a crouched manner, bound, and left for months in contact with smoke from low-temperature fires.

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Mummies: Parallels with Other Cultures

This type of mummification, known as smoking, corresponds with traditions of Australian Indigenous peoples and still persists in certain regions of New Guinea.

“It is remarkable that this preservation method has spread over such a vast area and lasted over 12,000 years among different communities,” said archaeologist Hsiao-chun Hung from the Australian National University, in an interview with Science News.

Laboratory Analyses

To reach these conclusions, the team examined skeletons from 95 archaeological sites. Many bones exhibited signs of exposure to fire, such as darkened spots.

Additionally, laboratory tests on 54 individuals showed molecular changes consistent with prolonged heating at low temperatures.

This reinforces that it was not just occasional burns, but a carefully controlled ritual.

Memory of the Dead

The results suggest that the practice of smoking was linked to spiritual beliefs. Preserving the body also meant keeping the memory of ancestors alive.

Hung emphasizes that such customs may have even older origins connected to the first human migrations from Africa about 60,000 years ago.

Global Comparisons

This discovery helps rethink other mummification traditions. The Chinchorro people in Chile developed embalming techniques 7,000 years ago, removing organs and allowing bodies to dry naturally in the desert environment.

On the other hand, Egyptians began more sophisticated practices around 6,300 years ago, using resins and chemical substances to slow down decomposition.

Next Steps in Research

Hung’s team now intends to investigate even older burials, dating back up to 20,000 years. The goal is to verify whether the smoking technique was used in even earlier times.

Therefore, the research not only pushes back the origin of mummification by thousands of years but also broadens the understanding of the cultural and spiritual diversity of ancient peoples.

With information from Revista Galileu.

Human Mummies From 12,000 Years Ago Discovered—Not From Egypt and Predating The First Egyptian Mummies by 7,000 Years

Researchers Reveal That Southeast Asian Peoples Mummified Their Dead 12,000 Years Ago, Long Before Known Egyptian Practices

Smoking Technique

Mummies: Parallels with Other Cultures

Laboratory Analyses

Memory of the Dead

Global Comparisons

Next Steps in Research

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Human Mummies From 12,000 Years Ago Discovered—Not From Egypt and Predating The First Egyptian Mummies by 7,000 Years

Researchers Reveal That Southeast Asian Peoples Mummified Their Dead 12,000 Years Ago, Long Before Known Egyptian Practices

Smoking Technique

Mummies: Parallels with Other Cultures

Laboratory Analyses

Memory of the Dead

Global Comparisons

Next Steps in Research

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Egypt wants to draw 10 million cubic meters of water from the Nile per day into the desert, irrigate a new agricultural frontier, and build a city where there is currently only sand.

BRICS is preparing a payment system inspired by the Brazilian PIX that will allow direct transactions between countries using national digital currencies without relying on the dollar or Western banks as intermediaries.

Ethiopia has banned gasoline and diesel cars, placed over a hundred silent electric buses on the streets of Addis Ababa, and now aims for half a million electric vehicles by 2030, all powered by Africa’s largest dam and a courage that few countries have shown.

A view from space, an image made by NASA shows the impressive Richat Structure, a geological formation located in the Sahara Desert, also known as the “Eye of the Sahara.”

A brand that has been manufacturing motorcycles since 1901 launches its first electric model, and the price shocked the world: $3,000, weighing only 124 kg and accelerating from 0 to 60 km/h in 3.7 seconds…

Giant turbines on the seabed of Scotland have been generating clean energy for nearly a decade without interruption, and now the big promise is that tidal power could solve the biggest problem of solar and wind energy: the unpredictability that no one has been able to overcome until today.

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