mummified

Bizarre 300-Year-Old Mummified ‘Mermaid’ Can Finally Be Explained

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Researchers in Japan are investigating the origins of a nightmarish, 300-year-old mummified ‘mermaid‘, which has been worshipped for centuries due to its supposed medicinal properties.   The haunting remains are most likely a gruesome amalgam of a monkey’s torso sewed onto a fish’s tail, potentially embellished with hair and nails from a human.  Hiroshi Kinoshita, board member … Read more

Lost Photos Suggest Europeans Were Mummifying Their Dead Far Earlier Than We Thought

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Archaeologists may have just uncovered evidence for the oldest known practice of mummification. Human remains interred 8,000 years ago in the Sado Valley in Portugal, during the Mesolithic, appear to have been deliberately treated for mummification prior to burial. This is the first evidence for Mesolithic mummification in Europe.   It’s also possibly the oldest … Read more

Mummified Children Found in Peru May Have Been a Sacrificial Escort to The Underworld

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Six mummified children thought to have been sacrificed hundreds of years ago, apparently to accompany a dead nobleman to the afterlife, have been unearthed in a tomb near Lima, archaeologists reported.   The tiny skeletons, wrapped tightly in cloth, were found in the grave of an important man, possibly a political figure, discovered last November … Read more

A Fetus Was Preserved Within an Egyptian Mummy Because It ‘Pickled’, Scientists Say

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Last year, archaeologists presented an incredible first: the discovery of a mummified fetus within the abdomen of its mummified ancient Egyptian mother. Who the woman was, and how she died just over 2,000 years ago are both still mysteries – hence she is known as the Mysterious Lady. But now we know how the fetus … Read more