World's oldest mummy found in Portugal

[Judi Lynn]

By Tom Metcalfe published March 14, 2022

Previously undeveloped photos reveal 8,000-year-old signs of mummification — the earliest evidence found anywhere in the world.


Roughly 60 years ago, an archaeologist snapped photos of several skeletons buried in 8,000-year-old graves in southern Portugal. Now, a new analysis of these previously undeveloped photos suggests that the oldest human mummies don't hail from Egypt or even Chile, but rather Europe.

More than a dozen ancient bodies were found in Portugal's southern Sado Valley during excavations in the 1960s, and at least one of those bodies had been mummified, possibly to make it easier to transport before its burial, researchers said after analyzing the images and visiting the burial grounds.

And there are signs that other bodies buried at the site may have also been mummified, which suggests that the practice could have been widespread in this region at this time.

Elaborate procedures of mummification were used in ancient Egypt more than 4,500 years ago, and evidence of mummification has been found elsewhere in Europe, dating from about 1000 B.C.(opens in new tab) But the newly identified mummy in Portugal is the oldest ever found and predates the previous record holders — mummies in the coastal region of Chile's Atacama Desert — by about 1,000 years.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/oldest-human-mummy-found-portugal