Category Archives: WORLD

ASIA, LAOS, WORLD

10-Foot-Tall Stone Jars ‘Made by Giants’ Stored Human Bodies in Ancient Laos

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10-Foot-Tall Stone Jars ‘Made by Giants’ Stored Human Bodies in Ancient Laos


More than 100 giant stone jars, thought to have been used in burial rituals thousands of years ago, have been rediscovered at ancient sites in forests, on hillsides and along mountain ridges in remote central Laos.

The carved stone jars are scattered across miles of the rugged, tiger-haunted Xiangkhouang province, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Laos’ capital, Vientiane, in South Asia. They have been dubbed “jars of the dead” by researchers.

Several human burials, thought to be around 2,500 years old, have been found at some of these sites in Laos, but nothing is known about the people who originally made the jars.

An expedition of archaeologists from Laos and Australia visited the Xiangkhouang region in February and March this year to document known jar sites and to search for new jars-of-the-dead sites and stone quarries.

The new finds show that the mysterious culture that made the stone jars were geographically more widespread than previously thought, said Louise Shewan, an archaeologist at the University of Melbourne, and one of the expedition leaders.

The largest and best-known jar site is the famous Plain of Jars, located in a relatively open country near the town of Phonsavan. That site contains around 400 carved stone jars, some as tall as 10 feet (3 m) and weighing more than 10 tons (9,000 kilograms), and the first archaeological investigation of it was made in the 1930s.

The joint Australian and Laos archaeological expedition searched for new jar sites in the Xiangkhouang region and excavated a previously known jar site.

But Shewan said that the majority of the jar sites usually contained fewer than 60 carved stone jars, and were found in forested and mountainous terrain surrounding the Plain of Jars, spread over thousands of square miles.

Ancient Stone Jars

Shewan told Live Science that the search for new jar sites took the expedition into “extremely rugged, forested terrain,” as the researchers looked for ancient relics reported by local people.

Relying on local knowledge meant the archaeologists could avoid the ever-present danger of unexploded Vietnam War-era bombs, she said. U.S. warplanes dropped an estimated 270 million cluster bombs on Laos during the war.

The Laos government agency that oversees clearance efforts reports that more than 80 million unexploded bombs are scattered around the country.

Although the region is best known for the stone jars on the Plain of Jars, most of the ancient jar sites are in heavily forested and mountainous areas.

The latest expedition, in addition, to accurately mapping many of the reported sites in the Xiangkhouang region, found 15 new jar sites, containing a total of 137 ancient stone jars.

Shewan said that the newly discovered jars were similar to those found on the Plain of Jars, but some varied in the types of stone that they were made from, their shapes and the way the rims of the jars were formed.

Burial Rituals

Local legends include a story that the enormous stone jars were made by giants, who used the vessels to brew rice beer to celebrate a victory in war.

But archaeologists think that at least some of the carved stone jars were used to hold dead bodies for a time before their bones would be cleaned and buried. 

Although the remains of elaborate human burials have been found at some of the jar sites, archaeologists aren’t sure if the jars were made for the purpose of the burials or if the burials were performed later.

Excavations in 2016 revealed that some of the stone jars were surrounded by pits filled with human bones and by graves covered by large carved disks of stone. These appear to have been used to mark the grave locations.

Australian and Lao archaeologists found more than 137 ancient stone jars at 15 new sites in the remote and rugged Xiangkhouang region.

The latest expedition also found buried disks and other artifacts. Those included several beautifully carved stone disks, decorated on one side with concentric circles, human figures and animals. Curiously, the stone discs were always buried with the carved side face down.

“Decorative carving is relatively rare at the jar sites, and we don’t know why some disks have animal imagery and others have geometric designs,” expedition co-leader Dougald O’Reilly, an archaeologist at Australian National University in Canberra, said in a statement.

The excavations around some of the stone jars also revealed decorative ceramics, glass beads, iron tools, decorative disks that were worn in the ears and spindle whorls for cloth making.

Researchers also discovered several miniature clay jars that looked just like the giant stone jars and that were buried with the dead.

The scientists will now use the data and photographs from the new jar finds to reconstruct the sites in virtual reality at Monash University; then, archaeologists across the globe can use the VR to examine the sites in detail.

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

Mystery Of The 1,700-Year-Old ‘Salt’ Mummy With Long White Hair

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Mystery Of The 1,700-Year-Old ‘Salt’ Mummy With Long White Hair


It is believed the Saltmen were working in a mine over 1700 years ago when it collapsed on them. In 1993, miners at the Chehrabad Salt Mine in the Zanjan province of Iran discovered a body.

Clearly a man, the body had flowing white hair and a beard and was sporting a single gold earring. Though he didn’t initially appear that old, carbon dating showed he had died in 300 A.D.

The man had likely died from being crushed by a rock collapse, and his body had been effectively mummified by the dry salinity of the air. Unlike Egyptian mummification practices, where the body was wrapped in fabric and coated in preserving oils, the salt mummy was preserved naturally.

The salt from the mines leeched the moisture from his skin, leaving behind his dried remains. Due to the lack of fresh air, and the layers of salt in the mines, the body had gone undisturbed for centuries and was extremely well preserved.

He is now the first of a group of preserved bodies found in the mine, known as the Saltmen.

Since the first salt mummy was discovered, five more have been found, all within the same area as the first. The second was discovered in 2004, only 50 feet from the first one. Two more were found in 2005, and two more in 2007 — one of them a woman.

In 2008, mining practices were halted, and the mine was declared an archeological site, allowing researchers full access to the salt mummies.

The finds quickly became important ones for Iranian archeologists, as they offered insight into historic mining practices, as well as natural mummification.

The find also offered new information on ancient men’s diets. Because the bodies were so well preserved, some of their internal organs were still intact.

Researchers were even able to find remnants in the 2200-year-old mummy’s stomach that contained tapeworm eggs, signaling that his diet was high in raw or undercooked meat.

It also provided the earliest evidence of intestinal parasites in Iran.

Along with the bodies, the salt also preserved the artifacts that were with them when they died.

Researchers were able to recover a leather boot (with a foot still inside), iron knives, a woolen trouser leg, a silver needle, a sling, leather rope, a grindstone, a walnut, pottery shards and patterned textile fragments.

Of the six mummies discovered, four of them are currently on display. The Archeology Museum, in Zanjan, is home to three of the men and the woman, as well as some of the artifacts. The original salt mummy’s head and left foot are on display at the National Museum of Iran, in Tehran.

The sixth salt mummy to be discovered remains in the mine, as he was too fragile to remove.

Researchers don’t believe the Saltmen all died together, though they do share some similarities. The first man found probably died around 300 A.D., while the oldest body found dates back to 9550 B.C.

They also believe that there could be more mummies in the mine. Though six whole bodies have been accounted for, detached body parts have also been found. Some of them were initially believed to be part of a single individual, however, they are actually from different bodies.

The number of potential Saltmen bodies is now believed to be eight or more.

ASIA, WORLD

3,500-Year-Old Mummified Bear Found in Siberian Permafrost

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3,500-Year-Old Mummified Bear Found in Siberian Permafrost


As the permafrost on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in eastern Siberia melted, a mummified brown bear that lived more than three thousand five hundred years ago emerged.

In an effort to advance research on extinct animals, researchers are now preparing to perform an autopsy on the bear.

The female bear was found by reindeer herders in 2020 jutting out of the permafrost. It was given the name Etherican brown bear because it was discovered just east of the Bolshoy Etherican River.

“This find is absolutely unique: the complete carcass of an ancient brown bear,” said Maxim Cheprasov, laboratory chief at the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, eastern Siberia.

The extreme temperatures helped preserve the bear’s soft tissue as well as the remains of its final meal — bird feathers and plants — for 3,460 years. The bear stands 1.55 meters (5.09 feet) tall and weighs nearly 78 kilograms.

Scientists conduct an autopsy of the 3,500-year-old mummified bear found on a remote island in northern Yakutia.

Scientists in Siberia were able to examine the bear’s brain and internal organs as well as conduct a variety of cellular, microbiological, virological, and genetic studies after successfully cutting through the bear’s thick hide.

“For the first time, a carcass with soft tissues has fallen into the hands of scientists, giving us the opportunity to study the internal organs and examine the brain,” said Cheprasov.

“Genetic analysis has shown that the bear does not differ in mitochondrial DNA from the modern bear from the north-east of Russia — Yakutia and Chukotka,” Cheprasov said.

He said the bear was probably two to three years old when it died from an injury to its spinal column.

However, it is unknown how the bear got to the island, which is now separated from the mainland by a strait measuring 50 kilometers. It may have crossed over ice, swum over, or the island might still have been part of the mainland.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Ancient Egyptians Were Embalming Mummies 1,500 Years Earlier Than First Thought

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Ancient Egyptians Were Embalming Mummies 1,500 Years Earlier Than First Thought


Tests on a prehistoric mummy reveal that ancient Egyptian embalming methods were in use 1,500 years earlier than previously thought.

The analysis was carried out on the ‘Turin Mummy’, which dates to between 3700BC and 3500BC and has been housed in the Egyptian Museum in Turin since 1901.

Unlike the majority of other prehistoric mummies in museums, it has never undergone any conservation treatments.

This image shows the remains of a coffin containing the mummy in the fetal position

This provided researchers a unique opportunity for accurate scientific analysis of a preserved corpse that has not been tampered with since it was entombed.

Like its famous counterpart Gebelein Man A in the British Museum, the Turin mummy was previously assumed to have been naturally mummified by the desiccating action of the hot, dry desert sand.

Using chemical analysis, researchers uncovered evidence that the mummy had in fact undergone an embalming process.

This was done using plant oil, heated conifer resin, an aromatic plant extract, and a plant gum and sugar mix. This was wiped on the funerary textiles in which the body was wrapped.

The analysis was carried out on the ‘Turin Mummy’ (pictured), which dates to between 3700BC and 3500BC and has been housed in the Egyptian Museum in Turin since 1901

The ‘recipe’ contained antibacterial agents, used in similar proportions to those employed by the Egyptian embalmers when their skill was at its peak some 2,500 years later, according to the team.

The study builds on previous research from 2014 which first identified the presence of complex embalming agents in surviving fragments of linen wrappings from prehistoric bodies in now obliterated tombs at Mostagedda in Middle Egypt.

According to the team, which includes researchers from Oxford, York, and Warwick Universities, the mummy came from Upper Egypt.

The body offers the first indication that the embalming recipe was being used over a wider geographical area at a time when the concept of a pan-Egyptian identity was supposedly still developing.

‘Having identified very similar embalming recipes in our previous research on prehistoric burials, this latest study provides both the first evidence for the wider geographical use of these balms and the first ever unequivocal scientific evidence for the use of embalming on an intact, prehistoric Egyptian mummy’, said Dr. Stephen Buckley, an archaeological chemist and mummification expert of York University.

Unlike the majority of other prehistoric mummies in museums, the ‘Turin Mummy’ has never undergone any conservation treatments, providing a unique opportunity for accurate scientific analysis. Pictured is the mask of King Tutankhamun at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

‘Moreover, this preservative treatment contained antibacterial constituents in the same proportions as those used in later “true” mummification.

As such, our findings represent the literal embodiment of the forerunners of classic mummification, which would become one of the central and iconic pillars of ancient Egyptian culture.’

Dr. Jana Jones, an expert on ancient Egyptian burial practices at Macquarie University in Australia said the find was a ‘momentous contribution to our limited knowledge of the prehistoric period’.

She said it also provided ‘vital, new information on this particular mummy.’

ASIA, INDONESIA, WORLD

A Giant Skull From Indonesia Made up of Lots of Animal Skulls

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A Giant Skull From Indonesia Made up of Lots of Animal Skulls


The discovery of a giant skull made up of many animal skulls in Indonesia has caused quite a stir in the scientific community.

This unusual artifact was recently unearthed in a remote region of the country and has sparked many questions about its origin and purpose.

The skull, which measures over six feet in length and is composed of hundreds of individual animal skulls, has been dated to be around 5,000 years old.

This makes it one of the oldest and largest artifacts of its kind ever discovered.

Scientists are still working to understand exactly how the skull was created, but it appears to have been assembled using the skulls of many different animals.

These include deer, boars, and even some large predators like tigers and crocodiles.

One theory is that the skull was created as part of a ritual or ceremony in ancient Indonesian culture.

Similar artifacts have been discovered in other parts of the world and are believed to have been used in spiritual practices or as a way to honor deceased ancestors.

Another possibility is that the skull was created as a form of art or expression.

Many ancient cultures used skulls and bones as a way to create intricate and meaningful works of art, and it’s possible that the giant skull was intended to convey a specific message or meaning.

Regardless of its origin, the discovery of the giant skull has provided valuable insights into the culture and practices of ancient Indonesian people.

It’s also a reminder of the incredible creativity and ingenuity of our ancestors, who were able to create such remarkable artifacts using only the resources available to them at the time.

As scientists continue to study the giant skull and other artifacts from this time period, we can expect to learn even more about the fascinating and complex cultures that existed in ancient times.

And who knows what other incredible discoveries might be waiting to be unearthed in the years to come?

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Archaeologist Discovered Viking Ship Found Under the Ground in Norway

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Archaeologist Discovered Viking Ship Found Under the Ground in Norway


Archaeologists in Norway using ground-penetrating radar have detected one of the largest Viking ship graves ever found. Archaeologists have found the outlines of a Viking ship buried not far from the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

The 65-foot-long ship was covered over more than 1,000 years ago to serve as the final resting place of a prominent Viking king or queen. That makes it one of the largest Viking ship graves ever discovered.

An image generated by ground-penetrating radar reveals the outlines of a Viking ship within a burial mound.  Experts say intact Viking ship graves of this size are vanishingly uncommon.

“I think we could talk about a hundred-year find,” says archaeologist Jan Bill, curator of Viking ships at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. “It’s quite spectacular from an archaeology perspective.”

The site where the ship grave was discovered is well-known. A burial mound 30 feet tall looms over the site, serving as a local landmark visible from the expressway just north of the Swedish border.

But archaeologists thought any archaeological remains in the nearby fields must have been destroyed by farmers’ plows in the late nineteenth century.

An image generated by ground-penetrating radar reveals the outlines of a Viking ship within a burial mound.

Then, this spring, officials from the surrounding county of Ostfold asked experts from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Research to survey the fields using a large ground-penetrating radar array.

They were able to scan the soil underneath almost 10 acres of farmland around the mound. Underneath, they found proof of 10 large graves and traces of a ship’s hull, hidden just 20 inches beneath the surface.

Knut Paasche, head of the archaeology department at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Research and executive of the recent work at the site, estimates the ship was at least 65 feet long.

It appears to be well preserved, with clear outlines of the keel and the first few strakes, or lines of planking, visible in the radar scans. The ship would have been dragged onshore from the nearby Oslo fjord. At some point during the Viking Age, it was the final resting place of someone powerful.

“Ships like this functioned as a coffin,” says Paasche. “There was one king or queen or local chieftain on board.”

The Viking ship was discovered by georadar at Jellestad next to the monumental Jell Mound in Ostfold.

Whoever was buried in the ship was not alone. There are traces of at least 8 other burial mounds in the field, some almost 90 feet across. Three large longhouses-one 150 feet long-are also visible underneath the site’s soil, together with a half dozen smaller structures.

Archaeologists hope future unearthings will help date the mounds and the longhouses, which may have been built at different times. “We can not be sure the houses have the same age as the ship,” Paasche says.

Paasche plans to return to the site next spring to lead more sophisticated scans, including surveying the site with a magnetometer and perhaps digging test trenches to see what condition the ship’s remains are in.

The ship burial forms a part of a larger mound cemetery and settlement site from the Iron Age next to the Jell Mound

If there is wood from the ship’s hull preserved beneath the ground, it could be used to date the find more decisively.

The chances of finding a king’s fortune are slim. Because they were so prominent in the landscape, many Viking Age burials were robbed centuries ago, long before they were leveled by Nineteenth-century farmers.

But “it would be very exciting to see if the burial is still intact,” says Bill. “If it is, it could be holding some very interesting finds.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

‘Rare and significant’ brooch found at site linked to King Arthur

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‘Rare and significant’ brooch found at site linked to King Arthur


A copper brooch that could be up to 2000-years-old has been discovered close to a site linked to the legendary King Arthur.

The piece of jewellery is thought to date back to the Romano-British period while the country was under Roman rule.

Some reports have even suggested it could have even belonged to King Arthur’s wife Guinevere, but archaeologists say it is unlikely to have belonged to the queen.

A copper brooch has been discovered in Cornwall close to a site linked to the legendary King Arthur.

It is thought the precious brooch was dropped by a wealthy noble woman as she walked through the area.

Archaeologists stumbled across the piece of jewellery that is understood to be the first physical proof that the area was home to the rich and powerful during the time during excavations.

The brooch was found in a field known as Chapelfield, where developers are seeking planning permission to build 14 houses.

According to a public report by Cornwall council, the brooch ‘is a rare and significant find, suggestive of a reasonably “well-healed” Romano-British farmstead settlement.’

The Romano-British period dates from the Roman conquest in AD 43 to when the Romans left in AD 410.

The brooch was discovered in St Mabyn, Cornwall, less than a mile from a hill fort which has previously been suggested might have been the site of King Arthur’s Camelot.

‘Its location within the upper fill of the eastern enclosure ditch suggests that the piece represents accidental loss, perhaps as a result of it having been broken in antiquity’ the report says.

But others do not agree the brooch is rare.

‘It is a penannular brooch dating from the Romano-British period,’ Andrew Young, from the Cornwall Archaeology Unit told MailOnline.

He said the conditions in which it was buried mean it will not have been well-preserved.

‘Such brooches are by no means unusual, although in Cornwall the acid soils mean that survival of metal objects such as this is rather patchy.’

The brooch was photographed while in the soil and sent to the Royal Cornwall Museum to be prepared and conserved.

‘Once it has been cleaned and conserved it will be photographed again,’ Mr Young told MailOnline.

Pit from the south, showing in situ stones. The acid soils mean metal objects often corrode

Some reports had suggested the brooch might have belonged to the legendary King Arthur’s wife Guinevere, but Mr Young does not believe it could.

The facts around the real King Arthur are mired in myth and folklore, but historians believe he ruled Britain from the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

‘I should also point out that it is earlier than the legendary King Arthur by several hundred years,’ Mr Young said.

EUROPE, ROMAN, WORLD

Roman Mosaic Re-Exposed by Archaeologists In Folkestone

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Roman Mosaic Re-Exposed by Archaeologists In Folkestone


The Remains of a Roman mosaic reburied 65-years-ago has been re-exposed by Archaeologists from the canterbury Archaeologists trust

The mosaic is part of the central dining room from a large 2nd century villa complex situated on the cliffs overlooking Folkestone, England.

Beneath the Roman foundations are traces of an earlier Iron Age settlement, occupied by native Britons centuries before the Roman invasion.

Several rooms of a bath-suite have already been lost since they were first excavated due to continuing coastal erosion.

The complex was first excavated by archaeologists in 1924, however, the cost of maintaining the site led to the mosaic being reburied to preserve the monument.

Local accounts at the time reported the mosaic being in a poor state of preservation.

Excavations during the 1920’s found Classis Britannica tiles which suggests that the villa might have a connection to the Roman Navy in Britain, or that the villa was possibly some sort of signalling station.

For reasons that are unclear, the villa seems to have been abandoned sometime in the late third century. It was briefly reoccupied in the 4th century, before it was abandoned and buried under sediments.

Due to the threat of coastal erosion, the mosaic is now under threat of falling into the sea, evidenced by the loss of several rooms of a bath-suite which have already been lost since the 1920’s.

Beginning in 2010, the Canterbury Archaeological Trust has been recording sites under threat as part of a collaboration with local volunteers and university students.

The aim of the study at the Folkestone mosaic is to determine what still survives and how best to preserve the monument.

The team found that the southern part of the mosaic survives, thanks in part to the restoration works conducted in the 1920s to stabilise what remained of the Roman designs.

After documenting the remains, the mosaic will re-buried while discussions on whether it should be lifted and preserved for displaying in a museum are undertaken.

EUROPE, FINLAND, WORLD

Stone Age Child May Have Been Buried With A Wolf

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Stone Age Child May Have Been Buried With A Wolf


Considering Finland’s highly acidic soil, archaeologists were surprised to find animal fur and feathers buried alongside a child from the Stone Age.

A Stone Age burial in Finland holds the remains of a child, as well as an assortment of grave goods, bird feathers, canine hairs and plant fibers, giving archaeologists insight into burial practices from that time period.

A couple of teeth and arrowheads were found in the grave. First discovered in 1991 in Majoonsuo, an archaeological site near the town of Outokumpu in eastern Finland, the grave contains the teeth of a child, who, based on a dental analysis, died between the ages of 3 and 10.

An artist’s impression of what the child may have looked like. Researchers think a dog or wolf was buried alongside the deceased.

Archaeologists from the Finnish Heritage Agency, a cultural and research institution in Helsinki, determined it was a grave site based on red ochre — an iron-rich soil commonly associated with burial sites and rock art — that had stained a gravel roadway. The agency’s excavation team examined the site in 2018 and determined that it was “at risk of destruction,” according to a statement.

Oldest Feather Fragments Found in Finland

Based on the trapezoidal shape of two arrowheads made of quartz, the archaeologists determined that the grave dates to the Mesolithic period, or Middle Stone Age, roughly 8,000 years ago.

After analyzing soil samples, the researchers discovered barbules from the feathers of waterfowl that could have been used to create a bed of down feathers for the child; they also found a single falcon feather fragment. This falcon feather may have been fletching that helped guide an arrow, or perhaps a decoration on a garment, the researchers said.

Wolf Hairs

At the base of the burial lay 24 fragments of mammalian hair. While many of the hairs were badly degraded, the researchers determined that three came from a canine, possibly a wolf or a dog that may have been laid at the feet of the child as part of the burial.

It’s also possible that the canid hairs came from clothing, such as footwear crafted from dogskin or wolfskin, worn by the child, the teams noted.

The ochre-red stain on the roadway was what initially tipped off archaeologists about a possible burial site.

“Dogs interred with the deceased have been found in, for example, Skateholm, a famous burial site in southern Sweden dating back some 7,000 years,” Kristiina Mannermaa, a researcher and associate professor in the Department of Cultures at the University of Helsinki, said in the statement.

“The discovery in Majoonsuo is sensational, even though there is nothing but hairs left of the animal or animals — not even teeth. We don’t even know whether it’s a dog or a wolf.”

She added, “The method used demonstrates that traces of fur and feathers can be found even in graves several thousands of years old, including in Finland.”

Bright red ocher marked the spot of the grave, uncovered on a service road in a forest in Eastern Finland.

In addition, archaeologists unearthed plant fibers, possibly from willows or nettles, that might have been used to make clothing or fishing nets. Because the soil in this area of Finland is highly acidic, the archaeologists were surprised at how well some of the organic remains have lasted over the centuries.

ASIA, INDONESIA, WORLD

The Papuan Tribe Cares For a 250-year-old Mummy To preserve Ancient Rite

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The Papuan Tribe Cares For a 250-year-old Mummy To preserve Ancient Rite


It’s all about paying respect and preserving a tradition. How would you like to spend the night with the mummified remains of a long-dead relative?

What sounds like a scene from some schlocky horror flick is part of real life for a tribal leader in Wogi,a remote village in the Indonesian province of Papua.

Eli Mabel of the Dani tribe (see more remarkable photos below) spends many nights in the hut where the mummy is kept to make sure nothing happens to it, he told Agence France-Presse.

In protecting the blackened mummy ― said to be the remains of an ancestor of his who ruled some 250 years ago ― Mabel aims to preserve the old Dani tradition of mummification,in which the bodies of venerated tribespeople were preserved with smoke after death.

“We must protect our culture, including the ceremonies for the mummy, the way we treat it, and maintain and fire for it,” Mabel told AFP.

The mummy is decorated with feathers, pig tusks and a traditional gourd covering for the penis. A fire is kept burning in the hut, which is known as a “honai.”

To mummify the bodies, the Dani people dried them under the sun and then stashed them in a cave, Dr. Semiarto Aji Purwanto, a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Indonesia and an expert on Dani culture, told The Huffington Post in an email.

Next, he said, the remains were exposed to hot smoke, drained of liquified fat through piercings and slathered with lard. The entire process took months.

Why go to all that trouble?

“By keeping their bodies, [the Dani] believed to have [the] blessing from the ancestor so they can be more prosperous,” Purwanto said, adding that all of the Dani mummies are curled up “like a fetus when in the womb.”

Mummification was once common among the Dani but died out after Christian missionaries who came to the area 30 to 50 years ago encouraged them to bury rather than mummify their dead, Purwanto said, adding that only six or seven mummies are left. But mummies never die.

This photo, taken on Aug. 7, 2016, shows chief Eli Mabel with the mummified remains of his ancestor Agat Mamete Mabel outside a traditional house in the village of Wogi in Wamena, the long-isolated home of the Dani tribe high in the Papuan central highlands.

The Dani people no longer practice mummification, but tribespeople keeps a number of mummies, some a few hundred years old, as a symbol of respect to their ancestors.

The mummy is curled up like a fetus, like all mummies in the Dani tradition.

Dani man in Wamena on Aug. 8, 2016. The man was participating in the 27th Baliem Valley Festival, featuring highland tribes of Dani, Yali and Lani in their mock battles as a symbol of high spirit and power that have been practiced for generations. The festival was held from Aug. 8 – 10.