This is an archaeological breakthrough. World's oldest mummy, believed to be
8,000 years old, has been found in Portugal and it rewrites history.
It was found on the coast of Portugal. Archaeologists are set to rewrite the
history books after they uncovered new evidence that suggests the oldest instances of mummification
occurred 8,000 years ago and in Europe. Researchers taking a second look at photographs
snapped 60 years ago of several skeletons that were buried in southern Portugal.
This new discovery and analysis of photos led to them believing the oldest evidence
of mummification actually did originate in Europe and not in Egypt or in Chile,
as previously thought. During excavations in the 1960s, archaeologists discovered
nearly a dozen ancient bodies in Portugal's Santo Valley. Analysing previous developed photos,
researchers now believe that at least one of those bodies has been mummified.
They theorise that this was done to possibly make it easier to transport before its burial. Experts
also evidence that suggests that other bodies that were buried at the site may have similar
preserved mummies, implying that this was a widespread practice in the region. Mummification
is most commonly associated, as we know, with ancient Egypt, where elaborate burial procedures
were used more than 4,500 years ago. Other evidence of mummification outside Egypt is
found in other parts of Europe, dating from about 1,000 BC, but archaeologists have now
dated this person as the oldest mummy ever discovered, and this mummy predates all previous
instances by a long time. This newly identified mummy of Portugal pushes back the previous record
by about 1,000 years, then held by mummies found in the coastal region of Chile's Atacama Desert.
So when it comes to hot and dry regions like Egypt and the Atacama Desert of Chile,
mummification is a relatively straightforward process, but it's generally difficult to find
evidence of mummies in Europe where much wetter conditions mean that mummified soft tissues
rarely stay preserved, according to Rita Peiroteo-Sjerna, bioarchaeologist at Uppsala
University of Sweden. And speaking to Life Science, she said, she as a lead author of the study, said
it's very hard to make these observations, but it's possible with combined methods and experimental
work. Other authors of the study said these burials generally conform to the pattern characteristics
of the mortuary practices known for these hunter-gatherer communities, but aspects of
the treatment of the body, including its transformation and curation before burial, are
new elements. New insights into the use of burial places such as a very tight clustered of burials
and the proposed cases of mummification and the subsequent internment of hyperflexed intact bodies
highlight the significance of both the body and the burial place in the wider hunter-gatherer
landscape of southern western Portugal. After observing the photographs, the archaeologist said
that the bones of the buried skeletons were hyperflexed, meaning that their limbs had been
bent far beyond their natural limits. This indicates that after the person's death, the body
had been tied up with bindings that have disintegrated since then. The team also found
that the bones of the skeleton were in excellent condition, particularly the small bones of the
feet which generally fall apart completely from the skeleton as the body decomposes.
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