• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

The Mystery Of The Oldest Mummy In Africa

February 20, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Egypt is the home to the oldest mummies in Africa, right? That at least is the assumption most of us likely have – but there is evidence challenging this. Deep in the desert mountains of southwest Libya, researchers uncovered the mummified remains of a long-dead child, known as the Tashwinat mummy, that predates Egyptian mummies by over a thousand years. So what do we know about this ancient infant mummy?

In the winter of 1958, so the story goes, the archaeologist Fabrizio Mori was exploring a natural cave shelter known as Uan Muhuggiag, an archaeological site that was occupied by pastoralists (cattle farmers) at different times. During his examination, Mori apparently noticed signs of this ancient habitation in the form of rock art depicting people, animals, and cattle, as well as graffiti, from different periods. But as he started to dig in the cave’s soft sand floor, he also found a strange bundle buried near the surface.

Advertisement

This bundle, made of goat or antelope skin, was covering the desiccated body of a small child who had been wrapped in a layer of leaves. The child had undergone some form of mummification process. The child’s organs had been removed post-mortem through incisions in the abdomen and thorax, a process known as evisceration, and replaced with herbs (probably to help preserve the body).

The body was positioned in the fetal position and there was an ostrich eggshell necklace found around its neck.

ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.

Advertisement

Analysis of the body suggests the child was around 3 years old when they died. Additional analysis shows the child possessed a dark skin complexion.

Dated using radiocarbon dating, the mummified child is thought to be between 5,400 to 5,600 years old.

When the child was alive, the Sahara would have looked very different from how it does today. Far from being an arid desert, the people who visited Uan Muhuggiag would have inhabited a far greener landscape. This time, sometimes referred to as the “African humid period”, saw the Sahara covered in grasses, trees, and lakes, which would have helped sustain the cattle farmers who lived around the site.

Further evidence that this part of North Africa was far wetter than it is today is apparent from local cave art that depicts elephants, giraffes, and crocodiles, while fish bones and ancient fishing equipment have been found in other sites across the Sahara.

Advertisement

So how does this ancient mummy relate to Egyptian versions? At the moment it is unknown whether this earlier mummification practice influenced the other, but it does open up the possibility that mummification in Africa has a much deeper and more complex history than previously thought.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Paris ramps up security as jihadist attacks trial starts
  2. Cricket-‘Western bloc’ has let Pakistan down, board chief says
  3. Ancient Bison Found In Permafrost Is So Well Preserved Scientists Want To Clone It
  4. Where Inside Us Do We Feel Love?

Source Link: The Mystery Of The Oldest Mummy In Africa

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • First-Ever Living Recipient Of A Pig-To-Human Liver Transplant Survived For 171 Days
  • 190-Million-Year-Old “Sword Dragon Of Dorset” Likely The World’s Most Complete Pliensbachian Reptile
  • Acting CDC Director Calls For Splitting Up MMR Shots – But There’s A Reason We Don’t Do That
  • New Species Of Tiny Poison Dart Frog With Stripy Back And Spotty Legs Loves Bamboo
  • Not A Canine, Nor A Feline: Four Incredibly Cute Fossa Pups Have Been Born At A Zoo
  • The Most “Pristine Star” In The Universe May Have Been Identified – Researchers Link It To Elusive “Population III” Stars
  • 78-Million-Year-Old Crater Reveals Asteroid Impacts Can Create Long-Lasting Habitats For Microbial Life
  • 24 Years Of NASA Satellite Data Suggest The World Is Getting Darker, And It’s Happening Faster In The North
  • Two Black Holes Circling Each Other Captured In Image For The Very First Time
  • Rapa Nui’s Famous Moai Statues Really “Walked” – Physics Confirms It
  • Could Dogs Be Taught To Talk With Language? This Lab Wants To Find Out
  • SETI Paper Responds To Claims Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Might Be An Alien Spacecraft
  • Rare Chance To See “Pink Meanie” Jellyfish With 20-Meter Tentacles Blooming Off Texas
  • Stranded Dolphins’ Brains Show Signs Of Alzheimer’s-Like Disease
  • Natural Sweetener Stevia Could Help Bolster Common Hair Loss Treatment
  • “Dig Deep, And Persevere”: Number 16, The World’s Longest-Lived Spider, Died Aged 43
  • IFLScience The Big Questions: What Is Time And How Do We Measure It?
  • Marty Goddard: The History Of The Sexual Assault Kit
  • What’s Really Lurking In The Deep Dark Waters Of Loch Ness?
  • Another Comet 3I/ATLAS Record Got Us Asking: How Do We Know An Object Is Interstellar?
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version