The Golden Children: Pre-Columbian Mummies In South America

The "Detmold Child" a 10-month-old pre-Columbian mummy approximately 6,500 years old. Photo by Adam Lau.

The Chinchorro mummies are the mummified remains of individuals from the South American Chinchorro culture. The archaeological evidence of this Pre-Columbian culture is found in the secluded valleys of the Andes Mountain Range in western South America in what is modern northern Chile and southern Peru.

These fossilized remains are the oldest examples of mummified humans. The Chinchorro date back 1,000 years before their more well known cousins the Egyptian mummies and 4,500 years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Chinchorro, named after a kind of fishing net, were much as the name suggests: fisherfolk. The Chinchorro fished in the western shores of central America. Little more is known of them. They are considered a lost people with only the recent discovery, beginning in the late 20th Century, of Chinchorro mummies to tell their tale.

Carbon dating suggests that the oldest Chinchorro mummy was a child dating back from 5050 BC. This mummy was found in a site in the Camarones Valley, about 60 miles south of modern Arica. The mummies continued to be made until about 1800 BC when the culture declined.

Bernardo Arriaza, a native Chilean and Anthropology Professor at UNLV, is a noted scholar on the Chinchorros. In an interview with Artlivres concerning the 1983 discovery of a group of 100 Chinchorros Arriaza stated: "- the Chinchorro needed to be treated as artistic pieces and not just as scientific objects."


The "Detmold Child" a 10-month-old pre-Columbian mummy approximately 6,500 years old. Photo by Adam Lau.

Two key differences in Egyptian mummies and Andian mummies were class and space. While the Egyptian mummies were typically royalty or military the Andian Chinchorros are theorized to have mummified everyone including fetuses. While the ancient Egyptians, who were wary of thieves and desecration, hid and hoarded their mummies, the Chinchorros were displayed in public spaces or placed for worship on mountain tops.

According to Dr. Arriaza's research there could be thousands of Chinchorros waiting to be discovered in the Andes valleys today from a prehistorical culture that lasted 3,000 years. To date, explorers have found a little under 300.

References:
Wikipedia, The Chinchorro Mummies
Art Lives, Chinchorro Mummies by Bernardo Arriaza
Archaeology, Making the Dead Beautiful: Mummies as Art
Santiago Time, Swiss Return Mummies To Chile