Posted on 06/29/2008 2:11:47 PM PDT by blam
4,500-year-old mummies discovered in Chile
Saturday, 28 June , 2008, 10:55
Santiago: Eight perfectly preserved mummies, believed to be some 4,500 year old, were found by workers engaged in a restoration project in Chile's far north, Spain's EFE news agency reported on Saturday quoting media report.
"These mummies date back to between 2,000 BC and 5,000 BC." archaeologist Calogero Santoro told the daily El Mercurio.
The mummies are remains of individuals belonging to the Chinchorro culture, which was one of the first to practice mummification and the perfect condition in which the mummies were found is indicative of their advanced techniques.
Three of the eight skeletons have been kept on the site in the Morro de Arica site for visitors to see while the other five were taken to Tarapaca University in northern Chile, where other mummies found in previous years are preserved.
Morro de Arica is known for its mummies. Several hundred of them, some as old as 7,000 years, were discovered in 1983 in the area.
In 2005, University of Tarapaca archaeologists found 50 Chinchorro mummies, dating back to 4,000 B.C., during the demolition of a house.
The unusually large number of mummies found in the sector indicate that one of the oldest Chinchorro cemeteries may have been located there. The Chinchorros are presumed to have died out or migrated in the first century AD.
The mummies found in northern Chile date back even earlier than the ones discovered in Egypt, making them one of the world's oldest.
The Council of National Monuments of Chile seeks to have the mummies declared as archaeological patrimony of humanity by the UNESCO.
“Paging Bill Clinton!”
They probably died from global warming.
Chinchorro? Chicharrones? Dried up krispy mummies?
Those go great with a cold beer!
Bye, Bye Beringia (8,000 Year Old Site In Florida)
"*90 intact human brains that include the oldest DNA samples in the World."
If any are female (which is highly likely) don’t tell Billy Jeff - we all know how he feels about mummies.
Santiago: Eight perfectly preserved mummies, believed to be some 4,500 year old, were found with Chicago voting stubs from the last 200 elections...
I, too, think that global warming killed these poor people, and Al Gore was not there telling them what was goingn to happen. Al Gore would have saved them all.
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Thanks Blam. |
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...The first step for a classic mummification involved a careful incision in the cadaver and the removal of the internal organs, which deteriorate quickly. The skin and hair were cut away from the corpse, and major muscles were removed. The brain was removed through an opening cut in the skull or by hooking it out through the foremen magnum (the opening at the base of the skull). All this was done without metal knives. The embalmers used sharpened stones and shells and the sharpened beaks of pelicans. We have found a number of these beaks in grave sites. After 5,000 years they are still sharp, strong, and effective tools...
Thanks.
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