Cause+and+Manner+of+Death

Death

//Why are the Chinchorro Mummies so unique?//

Well, besides the fact that they are the oldest preserved remains, their techniques of mummification make them such a unique society. The nature of death of the Chinchorro Mummies was purely natural and thus they were mummified preceding their death. There are various mummification techniques that were applied and this reveals a lot about their beliefs in regards to death.

Let’s look at their mummification techniques in more detail.

Black Mummies This method of mummification was the most complex and occurred during the early 5000BC to 4000BC.

Firstly, the head, arms and legs were removed from the body along with all the skin of the person. The body was then heat-dried so that all the skin and flesh could be removed up until the bone. The skin was then replaced with clay, reeds and various stuffing materials.

The skull was cut in half and the brain was removed. It too was heat-dried and packed with the various stuffing materials before it was put back together.

After each section of various ligaments of the body was put back together, all of them were reattached to the existing bone structure. The limbs and spinal column was reassembled by placing sticks under the skin and once more the body was inserted with clay and feathers to keep everything together. The last item that was reattached to the body was the skull.

After complete re assembly, the body was covered in white ash paste to mimic the previous texture of their skin. This same paste was used to create a mask on the face with small slits for the eyes and mouth. A fake wig of hair was also placed on the corpse’s head.

Finally, the skin was painted with manganese which gave the mummy a black colours, hence the term “black mummies.”

Red Mummies This was the method that succeeded the above method and it was possibly the new method introduced due to the scarcity of manganese.

Instead of completely dismembering the body, rather only the head was removed from the body, in order to extract the brain. Incision were made on the arms, legs and abdomen to remove the muscles and internal organs. These cavities were then replaced with reeds, clay, sticks and llama fur in an attempt to recover the lost volume due to the extraction of their internal organs. After this was completed, the previous incisions were sutured using human hair and a cactus spine needle.

Finally, the bodies were painted with bright red from head to toes, except the face. The face was painted black or brown depending on the availability of colours. Similar to the black mummies a wig was also used as an ornament to the head.



Unfortunately, due to the methods of mummification, it is hard for forensic scientists to determine a specific cause of death of the mummies. This is primarily because the bodies were dismembered and thus the original state of the dead person is not accessible and therefore no valid conclusion can be made since there has been great amendments to the original corpse.

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