A team of researchers led by Hsiao-chun Hung recently stumbled upon an incredible form of burial practice in non-agricultural sites of southeast Asia. Even more remarkable is that this practice predates the Egyptian examples by almost 10,000 years. The team discovered proof of this eerie practice on the Liyupo site in southern China. They came upon human skeletons lying half buried in grayish sand. One of the most spectacular finds was the skeletal remains of a middle-aged woman. They were smoke-dried prior to interment, reflecting a sophisticated and deliberate approach to preservation.
This fascinating discovery upends assumptions about mummification that have persisted for centuries. What it indicates is that these practices were substantially different from the oft-documented practices in ancient Egypt. This newly uncovered burial tradition is believed to have taken place during a time when societies were primarily composed of hunter-gatherers, as suggested by Peter Bellwood, an anthropologist who participated in the study.
Unique Burial Practices
The project’s research team focused on ancient burial sites all across southeastern Asia. Their goal was to see if the remains had similar preservation signs like those found in famous mummification techniques. They discovered that all the sites had people interred in a crouched posture, which Dr. Hung found to be “anatomically impossible.”
This means that these burials were intentionally conducted in particular conditions, rather than occurring due to natural circumstances. The technique employed to embalm the bodies required them to be smoked. This unique method subjected the flesh much like a modern-day freezer above a sizzling hearth. Bellwood described this process as “a sort of mummification.” He emphasized it is very different from the methods employed by ancient Egyptians.
“It’s not identical to what the Egyptians did, but to me it is a kind of mummification.” – Peter Bellwood
The preservation process itself could only be achieved with an intentional practice that, in some instances, needed the ongoing devotion of a family or community member. Dr. Hung emphasized that it requires nearly three months of full-time care to produce just one smoked mummy. This ongoing process exhibits the emotional and spiritual commitment to be involved in these practices.
Distinctive Characteristics of Preservation
Perhaps the most interesting part of this burial practice is the smoking process. The exact nature of those high temperatures (said, at one point, to surpass 500 degrees Celsius) might have accidentally incinerated some bones. Here’s what Michael Green, a co-author of that study and researcher at UCS, had to say on that problem. He explained that heating bones to such high temperatures could indicate that they were not smoked but torched.
“I’ve got a concern that if bone is being heated to 500 degrees plus, then there’s something going on the outside that is not going to result in smoking of a body, but burning of the body.” – Michael Green
Even with these worries, Bellwood stuck to the fact that what was happening was not cremation. He noted that as a result of cremation there are often still completely burned fragments of bone. That was not the case with these burials.
“If you cremate someone, then you end up with fragments of bone that are completely burnt all the way through. This wasn’t cremation.” – Peter Bellwood
Broader Implications of Discovery
The importance of these discoveries reaches far past the borders of Southeast Asia. Modern Aboriginal Australian communities have used comparable burial practices. This trend has been most acutely felt in cities such as Adelaide and the Gold Coast. This raises the exciting possibility that macabre methods for preserving human remains were transmitted or independently discovered over vast cultural divides.
The researchers identified the oldest individual connected to this study, from northern Vietnam. This incredible discovery was later carbon dated to be more than 14,000 years old. This is about 7,000 years older than the earliest known mummifications in Chile. It dates long before the Egyptian mummies, which are actually around 4,500 years old.
“There’s too much of it to be coincidence. It’s deliberate human behaviour.” – Peter Bellwood
This new evidence prompts a reevaluation of historical perspectives on mummification and burial practices across different cultures and time periods. Researchers have come to understand that these complexities often are the very things that can reveal precious insights. They illuminate the social and spiritual lives of ancient foraging societies.
