The researchers say that the dried human remains in Asia may be the oldest known mummies in the world

Scientists have discovered what is believed to be the oldest known mummies in the world in Southeast Asia, dating back to 12,000 years.

Mummification prevents decomposition by preserving the bodies of the dead. The process can occur naturally in places like sands Chile desert Atakama Or swamps in Ireland where conditions can withdraw the decomposition. Humans across different cultures embalmed their ancestors by embalming to honor them or send their souls to the afterlife.

Egypt’s mummies may be the most famous, but so far some of the oldest mummies have been prepared by a fishing people called Chinchorro about 7000 years ago in what is now Peru and Chile.

New study Publish Monday In the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences, this schedule is pushing back.

The researchers found human remains buried on a bond or squatting sites with some discounts and burning marks in different archaeological sites throughout China, Vietnam and to a lesser extent, from the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

By studying the bones, scientists have discovered that bodies were likely to be heat. This indicates that the bodies were dried by smoke on a fire and bending by the societies of the fisherman mosque in the region.

“The practice allowed people to maintain physical and spiritual links with their predecessors and bridging time and memory,” the author of the study, Hirofumi Matsumura, with the Sapuru Medical University in Japan.

Hazia Chun Hong, an older research colleague at the Australian National University, said the results were “a big surprise.”

“The bones are very old, and it is striking that this tradition is very old, as it links the practices of ancient peoples with those who are still present in some societies today,” Hong said.

The process allowed relatives to maintain contact with the deceased, and in some cases it was believed that the soul was allowed to wander freely during the day and return to the body at night.

“I think this reflects a deep human thing-the immortal desire that our loved ones may never leave us, but staying next to us forever,” Hong told Agency France-Presse:

Theoretical researchers have theoretically that this practice may be common in ancient Asian civilizations.

“Perhaps this tradition was known among the fishermen’s societies in a vast region, for many thousands of years,” They wrote In the study,

Human development expert Rita Beiruto Stern with the University of Oppsala in Sweden, who did not participate in the research, said that the dating methods used on mummies were more powerful, and it was not clear after the mummies were constantly dried in all these sites in Southeast Asia.

She said in an e -mail that the results provide “an important contribution to the study of funerary practices before history.”

The mummies are far from something from the past. Even today, scientists have said that the original societies in Australia and Papua New Guinea are smoking and calling for their dead.

Agence France-Press contributed to this report.