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First Mummies May Have Been Inspired by Field of Corpses
sciencehabit writes with a story about a field strewn with corpses in shallow graves. From the article: "Trekking through Chile's Atacama Desert 7000 years ago, hunter-gatherers known as the Chinchorro walked in the land of the dead. Thousands of shallowly buried human bodies littered the earth, their leathery corpses pockmarking the desolate surroundings. According to new research, the scene inspired the Chinchorro to begin mummifying their dead, a practice they adopted roughly 3000 years before the Egyptians embraced it."
Out of all the years I've been watching /., I don't think I've ever seen a more bad-ass story title.
It was space aliens. Ancient civilizations were all developed by space aliens who came to Earth for some unknown reason, and decided to teach us everything.
where are these 1,000s of naturally occuring mummies now? if they really had enough dead to "pock mark the landscape" like they say then there must be a lot of at least partially intact left?
I found the story a bit confusing. If the climate was so dry that corpses didn't decompose, how was it wet enough to support a human population? Why weren't the corpses buried or burned in the first place? Were they burying the corpses in shallow graves and having them re-emerge for some reason?
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Once the water is gone from a corpse, there really isn't much ecosystem left to go around for bacteria (or any other underground organisms that normally feed on dead human flesh).
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Not sure why you're confused? Deserts dry-out the tissue & make it not decay. Even now in Egypt people are still finding thousands-year-old corpses that were not mummified, but the desert still preserved their bodies.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
I only liked their early stuff.
"First Mummies may have been inspired by bad night's sleep"
"First Mummies may have been inspired by bird song heard by someone"
"First Mummies may have been inspired by Shakespeare's MacBeth"
Isn't there a journalistic law that covers this sort of thing, when the answer is ' but probably not'?
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
They really are everywhere, particularly the Ica/Nazca region. There are well-known fields like Chauchilla, where there's a few very well-preserved mummies sitting in a whole field of miscellaneous bones and fabrics mixed in with the rocks. (Side note: They're all sitting out in the open, with only a simple roof covering them, and even that was only added recently after a few drops of rain fell one year. The Atacama is dry.)
And then there are minor burial areas scattered all over the place. Our guide pointed out a few caves by the side of the road in passing, some of which had been partially bulldozed when they built the road. You could see human bone fragments mixed in with the roadside rubble.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
First Mummies being a more contemporary, popular band. Everyone loves their music, thinks they're so original, pioneers, etc. Then we discover they were actually inspired by Field of Corpses?! Oh gosh!