File number: chda0033

© South American Pictures/ Chris Sharp

Chile: In 1983 a burial site was found in Arica which revealed a total of 96 bodies some of which proved to be the oldest mummies in the world. They belonged to the Chinchorro culture and some were 7000 years old or two millenia older than those found in Egypt. The mummies had been well preserved by the sophisticated mummification techniques used by the Chinchorro people and the extraordinarily dry conditions of the Atacama desert.