According to a paper published in the latest issue of the European Journal of Archaeology, archaeologists in Sweden and Portugal have found that human remains unearthed in the Sardo Valley in Portugal are the world's earliest mummies, dating back 8,000 years, 1,000 years before the mummies found in Chile.
Location map of sardo valley in Portugal.
The new study was reportedly conducted by archaeologists from Uppsala University and Linnaeus University in Sweden, as well as the University of Lisbon in Portugal. Archaeologists studied photographs of 13 human remains excavated in Portugal's Sardo Valley in the early 1960s and found some bodies buried in a curved, compact posture with legs bent at the knees and placed in front of the chest.
The study involves "archaeological anthropology," an analytical approach that looks at the spatial distribution of bones in tombs, combined with how the human body breaks down after death. Archaeological Anthropology also draws on the results of experiments on mummification and burial of human decomposition in the Forensic Anthropology Research Institute at Texas State University.
The researchers observed excessive flexion of the limbs of the remains, evidence that they had been mummified before burial.
Based on these results, the researchers observed excessive flexion of the limbs of the remains, i.e. the flexion of the joints beyond the normal range of motion.
Archaeologists believe that some of the bodies may have been mummified before burial. The researchers say the combination of evidence of excessive body flexion, lack of dismantling or in-situ bone movement is a strong archaeological indicator that the deceased was mummified.
The researchers propose that if the body is placed in the grave not as a new body, but as a mummified corpse in a dry state, then this pattern of overflexion and lack of disassembly can be explained.
Prior to this, the mummies found in Chinchorro, northern Chile, date back 7,000 years, are the oldest mummies in the world that have been purposefully preserved by humans.
At the same time, according to a previous study, the ancient Egyptians began to embalm mummies 5700 years ago.
New research shows that the earliest known practice of mummification was in the Sardo Valley in Portugal. In other words, the corpses of the Sado Valley are thought to be the earliest known human corpses to be mummified.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin