The world's oldest known human mummies were created by smoke-drying corpses 10,000 years ago in Southeast Asia and China, long before mummification became commonplace in Chile and Egypt, new research shows.
A study of dozens of ancient graves found in China, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia revealed that many skeletons that were found in a tight fetal position were treated by an extended period of smoke-drying over fire before being buried. The research was published Monday (Sept. 15) in the journal PNAS.
