"They recorded burial positions in the ground - predominantly flexed, tightly-crouched or squatting postures, often with signs of tight binding. They also looked at visible burning and cutting marks on excavated bones. 'We present evidence to suggest that corpses were...smoked to cure and mummify the skins around their skeletons,' they wrote."
"The team, led by researchers at Australian National University, said the tightly-compacted postures and lack of bone separation linked to decomposition suggests that the bodies were buried in a desiccated, dried-out state, rather than as fresh cadavers. Analysis of the internal microstructures of selected bone samples identified evidence of exposure to heat, typically at relatively low intensities. Together, the findings suggest that many of the bodies were treated to an extended period of smoke-drying over a fire prior to burial, they said."
Skeletal remains dating to about 12,000 years ago in southern China indicate corpses were smoke-dried before burial, representing the oldest known human mummification. Burials commonly used flexed, tightly crouched or squatting positions with signs of tight binding, and bones show visible burning and cutting marks. Bone microstructure analysis reveals exposure to relatively low-intensity heat and tightly compacted postures with minimal bone separation indicate desiccated, dried-out burials rather than fresh cadaver internment. Many bodies underwent extended smoke-drying over a fire prior to burial. These mortuary practices resemble those among some Indigenous Australian and Highland New Guinea societies and persisted regionally for over ten millennia.
Read at Mail Online
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