Newest Oldest Mummies

 

Where there's smoke...
(Photo by Tomasz Sienicki)

Let’s face it: mummies are nothing if not old.  Yet old is a relative term, subject to older and even older than that.

So it should come as no surprise that caches of what are currently believed to be “the world’s oldest mummies” have recently surfaced in – of all places – Southeast Asia and China. And never mind a long, drawn-out process of natron desiccation. These newfound mummies were likely smoke dried without further ado.

A sooty solution which seems to have worked out just fine…  Scientists estimate such rituals to have occurred a whopping 10,000 years ago.

Resources

https://www.iheart.com/content/2025-09-16-scientists-found-the-worlds-oldest-mummies-in-a-surprWhichising-location/