The oldest mummies in the world are turning into black slime

[Kazimiera]

The oldest mummies in the world are turning into black slime

Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/the-olde...to-black-slime



A collection of mummified human remains found in northern Chile has been turning into black slime due to rising humidity levels, and Chilean researchers are at a loss for how to stop it.

More than 100 of these mummies - which are at least 7,000 years old - have started to turn gelatinous, and local officials have applied to the United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO, to have them recognised as a world heritage site.

Of course, getting approval won’t save the mummies on its own, but the researchers hope that increased attention from the international community will help them find solutions to the black goo.

The goo is thought to be the result of colonies of bacteria thriving in the mummified skin.

"The application is not a goal in itself, but the start of a process of improved conservation tools, with the Chilean state and the international community," Sergio Medina Parra, anthropologist and department head at University of Tarapaca in Chile, told Reuters over the weekend.

Since the early 1900s, almost 300 human mummies have been uncovered along the coast of southern Peru and northern Chile, including adults, children, infants, and miscarried foetuses.

With some dated to as far back as 5050 BC, these are the oldest mummies discovered in the world to date. They were made by a group of hunter-gatherers known as the Chinchorro people, who were mummifying their dead roughly 2,000 years before the ancient Egyptians began mummifying their pharaohs.

"The dates that we have for the bodies are from 7,000 years ago ... so they have more relative antiquity in terms of intentional work on the human body than that found in Egypt," says Medina Parra.

While the Egyptians reserved mummification for the elite only, the Chinchorros appeared to mummify just about anyone, old or young, suggesting that they maintained a very egalitarian society.

"Chinchorro mummies were not restricted to the dead of the top classes. This community was very democratic," Bernardo Arriaza from University of Tarapaca, who has been leading digs in the area for 30 years, told the Los Angeles Times.


A complete Chinchorro mummy at San Miguel de Azapa Museum in Arica, Chile.

Arriaza suspects that contaminated drinking water in the area from nearby volcanoes could have initiated the practice of mummification, because researchers have found arsenic in the mummies’ tissues.

"Arsenic poisoning can lead to a high rate of miscarriages, and infant mortality, and the sorrow over these deaths may have led this community to start preserving the little bodies," he said.

"Mummification could have started with the foetuses and grown to include adults. The oldest mummies we have found are of children."

The reason the mummies have been so incredibly preserved is that they’ve been buried under the dry sands of the Atacama Desert for thousands of years - where some parts of the earth haven't been touched by rain in over 400 years.

Over the past century, they've been excavated and transported to local research institutions for conservation.

Early last year, things started to go awry, and Chilean preservationists turned to scientists at the University of Harvard for help.

"We knew the mummies were degrading but nobody understood why," Harvard biologist Ralph Mitchell said at the time. "This kind of degradation has never been studied before."

Tissue sample analysis from the mummies revealed that they were crawling with bacteria - but it wasn't ancient bacteria, they were the kind that normally live on people's skin. And they're now speeding up the degradation process like nothing else.

"[A]s soon as the right temperature and right moisture appeared, they started to use the skin as nutrients," Mitchell told Live Science, adding that unless local researchers can keep the Chinchorros mummies under the right temperature and humidity conditions, "the native microorganisms are going to chew these guys right up".

There's no word yet on whether the application to UNESCO will be approved, but let's hope the local researchers will find the help they need to keep these mummies safe.

Because having the remains of humans that existed more than 2 millennia before the ancient Egyptians is mind-boggling, and we can't just let that be eaten away.

[Poise n Pen]

They need to put them into a vacuum I guess.

[Kriptc06]

7000 years and the hair is just fine

[johen]

[FONT=Arial]

With some dated to as far back as 5050 BC, these are the oldest mummies discovered in the world to date. They were made by a group of hunter-gatherers known as the Chinchorro people, who were mummifying their dead roughly 2,000 years before the ancient Egyptians began mummifying their pharaohs.

"The dates that we have for the bodies are from 7,000 years ago ... so they have more relative antiquity in terms of intentional work on the human body than that found in Egypt," says Medina Parra.

While the Egyptians reserved mummification for the elite only, the Chinchorros appeared to mummify just about anyone, old or young, suggesting that they maintained a very egalitarian society.

"Chinchorro mummies were not restricted to the dead of the top classes. This community was very democratic," Bernardo Arriaza from University of Tarapaca, who has been leading digs in the area for 30 years, told the Los Angeles Times.

Maybe polynesian connected both of american indian and Eygtian. They were started whaling 6,000bc.

Polynesian ocean empire:


Polynesian and egyptian custum

"On Tutankhamen’s death mask there is one extra forehead line on the left side. The forehead aspect of the moko on the young Maori chieftain, painted by Angus in 1847, shows an extra line on the right side. Both designs carry scientific information in the counts of dark and light lines.

On the Maori moko the count is 13 dark lines and 14 light lines, including the ornate centre band. The sum of 13 X 14 days = 182-days or the number of full days between equinoxes. Tutankhamen’s mask shows a cobra snake and ibis bird with a snake-like neck. The Maori moko centre band shows the Fleur de lys and Caduceus symbols, with the dual snakes entwined on the shaft. These are very ancient Mediterranean symbols, used copiously from Egypt to Ireland. The ancestors of the Turehu venerated the sun god RA and the spirals on each cheek represented the two solstice positions (Summer & Winter) with the nose-bridge position representing the equinoxes (Autumn & Vernal) in the endless journey of RA. Everything necessary would be present in the counts associated with this moko, if supported by some training in the wharewaananga, for the wearer to understand the full function of the Egyptian-Celtic, lunisolar Sabbatical Calendar.

The Maori word for “deformed” (haka) or “stunted” (hakahaka) applies equally to physical attributes of the dwarf god (Bes/ Rongo), as it does to the Bes-related dance (haka). Egyptian fertility/ good-luck tattooing is called Harquus. The tattooing or body painting, ritually done in ancient Egypt, was also strongly associated with dance. In Egypt, a female version of Bes existed and this appears to have been case in New Zealand also.

Traditional Bes-related belly-dancing for fertility/ good fortune/ protection, as found in Egypt, also uses facial tattooing (harquus). In addition, there is the more extensive body tattooing or painting (henna), which is comparable to Pacific patterns found on sacred tapa cloths (painted prayers or rangoli). Some groups never made permanent, scarring tattoos into their skin, but only painted the face and body on special occasions (like the Picts, with their warpaint of blue woad, which made them look fearsome when doing battle against the hated Romans)."

[Marzipan]

The oldest mummies in the world are turning into black slime

Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/the-olde...to-black-slime



A collection of mummified human remains found in northern Chile has beenturning into black slime due to rising humidity levels, and Chilean researchers are at a loss for how to stop it.

More than 100 of these mummies - which are at least 7,000 years old - have started to turn gelatinous, and local officials have applied to the United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO, to have them recognised as a world heritage site.

Of course, getting approval won’t save the mummies on its own, but the researchers hope that increased attention from the international community will help them find solutions to the black goo.

The goo is thought to be the result of colonies of bacteria thriving in the mummified skin.

"The application is not a goal in itself, but the start of a process of improved conservation tools, with the Chilean state and the international community," Sergio Medina Parra, anthropologist and department head at University of Tarapaca in Chile, told Reuters over the weekend.

Since the early 1900s, almost 300 human mummies have been uncovered along the coast of southern Peru and northern Chile, including adults, children, infants, and miscarried foetuses.

With some dated to as far back as 5050 BC, these are theoldest mummies discovered in the world to date. They were made by a group of hunter-gatherers known as the Chinchorro people, who were mummifying their dead roughly 2,000 years before the ancient Egyptians began mummifying their pharaohs.

"The dates that we have for the bodies are from 7,000 years ago ... so they have more relative antiquity in terms of intentional work on the human body than that found in Egypt," says Medina Parra.

While the Egyptians reserved mummification for the elite only, the Chinchorros appeared to mummify just about anyone, old or young, suggesting that they maintained a very egalitarian society.

"Chinchorro mummies were not restricted to the dead of the top classes. This community was very democratic," Bernardo Arriaza from University of Tarapaca, who has been leading digs in the area for 30 years, told the Los Angeles Times.


A complete Chinchorro mummy at San Miguel de Azapa Museum in Arica, Chile.

Arriaza suspects that contaminated drinking water in the area from nearby volcanoes could have initiated the practice of mummification, because researchers have found arsenic in the mummies’ tissues.

"Arsenic poisoning can lead to a high rate of miscarriages, and infant mortality, and the sorrow over these deaths may have led this community to start preserving the little bodies," he said.

"Mummification could have started with the foetuses and grown to include adults. The oldest mummies we have found are of children."

The reason the mummies have been so incredibly preserved is that they’ve been buried under the dry sands of the Atacama Desert for thousands of years - where some parts of the earth haven't been touched by rain in over 400 years.

Over the past century, they've been excavated and transported to local research institutions for conservation.

Early last year, things started to go awry, and Chilean preservationists turned to scientists at the University of Harvard for help.

We knew the mummies were degrading but nobody understood why," Harvard biologist Ralph Mitchell said at the time. "This kind of degradation has never been studied before."

Tissue sample analysis from the mummies revealed that they were crawling with bacteria - but it wasn't ancient bacteria, they were the kind that normally live on people's skin. And they're now speeding up the degradation process like nothing else.

"[A]s soon as the right temperature and right moisture appeared, they started to use the skin as nutrients," Mitchell told Live Science, adding that unless local researchers can keep the Chinchorros mummies under the right temperature and humidity conditions, "the native microorganisms are going to chew these guys right up".

There's no word yet on whether the application to UNESCO will be approved, but let's hope the local researchers will find the help they need to keep these mummies safe.

Because having the remains of humans that existed more than 2 millennia before the ancient Egyptians is mind-boggling, and we can't just let that be eaten away.

It is sad that specialists in the country don't have proper equipment. Considering what a treasure these mummies are for they are the oldest in the world but the team couldn't get spnsors to fund their project. As specialists they should know the consequences of unearthing such a thing in their climate and basics of decomposition. A Harvard biologist! It doesn't take a degree to know what is likely the result of what is happening to these mummies. Harvard must be handing those out like candy.

It's nice to hear these ancient people treasured life and hope that at least some will be saved.

[Marzipan]

They need to put them into a vacuum I guess.

You mean a cooler?

[RenaRyuguu]

they say slime is oil used for cars