Chinchorro culture mummies

On the Atacama coast in present-day Chile, people of the Chinchorro culture created the oldest known artificially mummified human bodies; the earliest examples date to roughly 7,000–8,000 years ago, earlier than the best-known Egyptian mummies. Their complex mortuary practices included men, women, and children across the social spectrum. This points to the ritual’s broad cultural importance, although the community’s motives and meanings cannot be reduced to one explanation.