Archive · 16 Sep 2025
Oldest Mummies Found in Southeast Asia, Predating Egypt
Scientists found the oldest mummies ever in Southeast Asia, much older than those in Egypt!
These mummies are 12,000 to 14,000 years old.
People preserved the bodies by smoking them, like drying food.
This helped keep the bodies from rotting.
They buried the bodies in special positions.
This discovery changes what we thought about how old the practice of preserving the dead is.
Archaeologists discovered evidence of mummification in Southeast Asia dating back up to 14,000 years.
These mummies predate those found in Egypt and South America.
Bodies were preserved using a smoke-drying process.
Burial sites showed bodies in flexed or squatting positions.
The practice likely had practical and spiritual significance.
- Who
- Archaeologists
- What
- Discovered the world's oldest mummies
- When
- 12,000-14,000 years ago
- Where
- Southeast Asia
- Why
- To preserve bodies, possibly for cultural/spiritual reasons
- Mummy Age
- Up to 14,000 years old
- Location
- Southeast Asia (Vietnam, China, others)
- Mummification Method
- Smoke-drying
- Burial Position
- Flexed, crouched, or squatting
- Published In
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Sources
The Oldest Mummies In The World May Hail From Southeastern Asia And Date Back 12,000 Years
Smoked like meat? Scientists reveal shocking 12,000-year-old truth about the world's first mummies
12,000-Year-Old Mummies Reveal Evidence Of Human Mummification
Smoke-dried bodies could be world's 'oldest mummies': study
