The world's oldest known mummies have been discovered in Asia, dating back nearly 12,000 years. Researchers say the mummies were smoke-dried for preservation, a practice that predates Egyptian mummification by thousands of years.
The study, published September 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that hunter-gatherers in southern China, Southeast Asia, and nearby islands placed their dead in crouched or squatting positions before drying the bodies over smoky, low-temperature fires for months.
Archaeologist Hsiao-chun Hung of the Australian National University in Canberra led the team behind the findings. Her group examined skeletons from 95 burial sites across the region, including Borneo and Java.
Many of the remains showed signs of intentional preservation, with charred marks on skulls and bones providing physical evidence of exposure to smoke and fire.
Laboratory analysis of 54 individuals from 11 sites confirmed the presence of long-term heating at low temperatures.
According to the researchers, the combination of irregular bone charring and the careful positioning of intact skeletons suggests a deliberate effort to prevent body decay. Prolonged smoke exposure dried the skin and flesh, allowing the skeletons to remain intact for millennia.
Hung believes this practice developed from ancient traditions centered on preserving ancestors. She suspects such beliefs spread widely across southern Asia, and possibly into Northeast Asia, after early human groups migrated out of Africa about 60,000 years ago.
"The fact that smoke-dried mummification spread across such a vast area and endured for more than 12,000 years among Indigenous groups is remarkable," Hung said.
Similar customs are known elsewhere. The Chinchorro people of South America, living in a coastal desert, began mummifying their dead about 7,000 years ago. Their process involved removing organs and brains before leaving the bodies to dry in the desert air.
Egyptians later introduced embalming substances such as resins approximately 6,330 years ago, laying the foundation for their elaborate burial rituals.
What sets the Asian discovery apart, researchers say, is its reliance on fire and smoke rather than chemicals or arid climates. Comparable traditions have been seen among Indigenous Australians in the past and continue in parts of the New Guinea Highlands today.
Hung and her colleagues now plan to investigate even older burials in southern China and Southeast Asia, some dating back more than 20,000 years, to see if signs of smoke-drying also appear.
If confirmed, the practice could mark the earliest known attempt by humans to preserve the dead, reshaping the story of how one of the world's most enduring rituals began not along the Nile, but in Asia's forests and islands.