The mystery of this liquefied mummy really makes the scientific community headache looking for a solution.
In 2016, the mummies in Northern Chile gradually liquefied for unknown reasons, researchers at that time had a headache to find a way to prevent.
Specifically, more than 100 mummies dating back at least 7,000 years suddenly liquefied into a black paste (black goo).
In 2015 local authorities applied to UNESCO’s Cultural Affairs Office to recognize the mummies as a world cultural heritage before they were destroyed.
An intact mummy at the San Miguel de Azapa museum.
However, being recognized by UNESCO cannot save the condition of these mummies. However, the researchers want through this to call the attention of the international community, thereby helping them find a solution.
Since the early 1900s, nearly 300 human mummies have been discovered along the coasts of southern Peru and northern Chile, including adults, children, infants, and unborn babies.
Dating from 5050 BC, these are believed to be the oldest mummies in the world to date.
According to research, these mummies were made by a group of Chinchorro hunter-gatherers, who used mummification techniques before the ancient Egyptians about 2,000 years ago.
In Egypt, mummies were found in the tombs of Pharaohs.
While the ancient Egyptian mummies were mostly Pharaohs or people from the upper classes of society, Chinchorro mummies could be anything from commoners to nobles, which shows that society Chinchorro society at that time was quite equal
The reason the mummies are so amazingly preserved is because for thousands of years they were buried under the deep sand in the Atacama Desert – a place on Earth untouched by rains. for more than 400 years.
Over the past century, these mummies have been excavated and moved to local research institutes for preservation.
In early 2015, things started to go badly, and Chilean conservationists had to enlist the help of scientists from Harvard University.
Ralph Mitchell, a biologist from Harvard University at the time, said : “We know mummies are degrading, but no one knows why. We’ve never seen this type of decomposition before.”
A mummy at the San Miguel de Azapa museum.
However, studying tissue samples of the mummy has revealed a lot of bacteria crawling underneath – but they are not ancient bacteria, they are bacteria that normally live on human skin. They accelerate the decomposition of mummies. Therefore, the type of mucus when the mummy liquefies was initially thought to be due to the strong growth of bacteria inside the mummy .
“As soon as the right temperature and humidity appear, they start using the skin as food,” Mitchell told Live Science. Unless local researchers can keep the Chinchorros mummy under the right conditions of temperature and humidity, the native microorganisms will eat it up immediately, Mitchell adds.
There is no word yet that UNESCO will accept the offer, but hopefully, local researchers will find the help they need to preserve the mummy.
Because the Chinchorro mummification technique, which predates the ancient Egyptians by 2,000 years, is so extraordinary that we cannot allow them to be destroyed like this.