Chinchorro mummies facts for kids
The Chinchorro mummies are very old mummified bodies. They come from the Chinchorro culture in South America. You can find them in what is now northern Chile and southern Peru. These mummies are the oldest examples of humans being artificially mummified. The oldest ones are 7,000 years old! People continued to make these mummies until about 1800 B.C.
An archaeologist named Max Uhle first studied them in 1914. Today, over 280 mummies have been found. About 120 of them are kept at the University of Tarapaca museum. Recently, scientists noticed that some mummies are starting to melt. This is happening because of increased humidity from climate change. This humidity allows tiny living things called microbes to attack the skin.
The Chinchorro people mostly ate seafood. This is known from studying old shell piles and the chemistry of their bones. About 90% of their food came from the ocean.
How Were Chinchorro Mummies Made?
The Chinchorro people used special ways to mummify their dead. Archaeologists have found different methods. The two most common ways were called "black mummies" and "red mummies."
Black Mummies
This was one of the earliest ways the Chinchorro people made mummies. First, they would take out the skin, muscles, and organs from the body. Then, they would dry the bones using heat. They would put clay and plant materials inside the body to give it shape. They also used sticks to make the body strong. Finally, they would put the skin back on. They often painted the skin with a black color, which came from manganese.
Red Mummies
This method came after the black mummies. For red mummies, they made smaller cuts in the body. They would take out the organs and dry the body. They would then fill the body with different materials. The skin was kept on and often painted with a red color. This red color came from a mineral called red ochre. Sometimes, they would also put a wig of human hair on the mummy's head.
