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| August 2005 |
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They preserved their dead beginning about 5000 B.C., reaching a peak in 3000 B.C.--around the same time that the Egyptians began experimenting with mummification. The Chinchorro people lived in the Atamaca desert of Northern Chile and Southern Peru. Although this is regarded as perhaps the driest desert on Earth, rivers run down from the Andes providing lush valleys. The methods used by the Chinchorros were quite different from those of the Egyptians.The methods used by the Chinchorros were quite different from those of the Egyptians. The mummification process began with disemboweling and defleshing the corpses, then reassembling the skeleton, which was reinforced with sticks; internal organs were replaced with clay and dried plants. The brain was removed and the empty skull packed with grass, hair, and ashes before being returned to the body. The skin was replaced, with hides of sea lions or pink pelicans used to fill any gaps. Finally, the body was remodeled with an ash paste and painted with black manganese or red ochre. Masks and wigs were sometimes attached to the head. In order to better understand the evolution of their mortuary practices, Dr. Bernardo Arriaza, associated professor of physical anthropology at University of Nevada in Las Vegas (UNLV) and also assistant researcher at Universidad de Tarapacá, in Arica, Chile has classified the Chinchorro mummies in three main types : Black, Red, and Bandaged styles. Black mummies represent secondary burials and statuette-like figures. They have an inner reinforcement structure of bones, reeds, sticks, and clay, and an external surface of skin and manganese paint. Facial features were reconstructed or insinuated, with a short wig added to the head. Red mummies were stuffed, with a stick for internal reinforcement, after Chinchorro morticians made incisions to deflesh the body and removed internal organs. Thus, soils, grasses and feathers were used to fill the cavities in an attempt to recover the lost volume. Externally, the bodies were painted bright red from head to toes, except the face that was painted black or brown. A long wig up to 60 cm was used to ornament the head. Facial features were modeled to convey life resembling the scream of E. Munch. Bandaged mummies are a variation of Red mummies : their bodies were painted red, apparently defleshed with the skin placed back in bandages. Black mummies
cluster around 5000-3000 BC, while the Red and Bandaged cluster
around 3000-2000 B.C. Bodies desiccated by the desert ( natural
mummies ) are commonly found before the Black style and after the
Red style. Mud-mummies are bodies covered with a thin layer of mud,
encased or covered with a mud paste. The paste, a couple of centimetres
thick, was applied from head to toes. These types of mud-covered
bodies clustered around 1700 BC. After nearly 8,000 years of silence, the Chinchorro are beginning to tell their story, and we have much to learn about them - and ourselves.
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