The world’s oldest mummies predate those of Egypt’s pharaohs and their ornate tombs, but the passage of time, human development and the ravages of climate change put these artifacts at risk.
Chile’s Atacama Desert was once home to the Chinkoro people, an ancient people who, according to Professor Bernando Arriaza of the University of Tarapacá, began mummifying their dead 5,000 years ago, 2,000 years before the Egyptians.
The dry desert has preserved mummified bodies and other clues that give archaeologists an idea of how the Chinkoro people once lived.
The idea to mummify the bodies appears to have come from observing other bodies mummifying naturally in the dry desert environment – the remains were decorated with reed blankets, clay masks and human hair, archaeologists say.
UNESCO designated the area a World Heritage Site, but that designation doesn’t save all of the ruins. Several museums display the Chinkoro culture, including the Miguel de Azapa Archaeological Museum in the ancient city of Arica. Some mummies and other artifacts are safely stored in climate-controlled exhibition rooms, but those that remain buried in the dry desert are at risk.
“For example, rising sea temperatures along the northern Chilean coast would lead to more moisture in the air,” says Claudio Latorre, a paleoecologist at the Catholic University of Chile. “Then decay would occur in places where it doesn’t occur now, and the mummies would be lost.”
Other clues that archaeologists can find in the environment may also be lost.
“Human-induced climate change is one of the aspects that we’re really concerned about because it changes many of the aspects that make up the desert today,” Latorre said.
Arriaza is working to raise awareness about the mummies, which he hopes will lead to further preservation.
“This is a huge challenge because it requires resources,” Arriaza said, “everyone working towards a common goal: preserving the site, preserving the mummies.”