Besides the Egyptian and the Inca Civilizations you may be surprised that several others also practiced this form of burial, by both natural and through the practice. Natural mummies have been found in Italy, North America, and Russia due to the extreme cold that preserves the body. Another form of natural mummification occurs when a person dies and falls into a sphagnum bog, the acidity of the water, cold temperature and lack of oxygen combined to tan the body's skin and soft tissues and preserve the body. These have been found in many locations, Europe seems to be a popular location to find these mummies. A tribe called Guanches, from the Canary Islands, practiced a form of embalming their dead and therefore helped the bodies withstand time and become mummified. Chinchorro mummies are the oldest mummies known, these were mostly accidental in the beginning as bodies were placed in the dry wastelands they became completely dried and preserved. The Chinchorro tribe are found in South America in Chile and Peru. In China mummies have been found, with complete bodies and organs.
Some claim that some Buddhist monks, buried themselves and through meditation and slow starvation and suffocation, their bodies have been recovered with very little damage. Most were buried with several drying agents and prior to their death the monks stuck to a sparse diet made up of salt, nuts, seeds, roots, pine bark, and urushi tea.
Citations:
"mummy: Mummification in Other Parts of the World." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.
© 1994, 2000-2006, on Infoplease.
© 2000–2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.
29 Nov. 2010 <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0859827.html>.
Fletcher, Dr Joann. Mummies Around the World. exploreegypt.com. 2009. Visited on Nov 29, 2010. http://www.exploreregypt.com/Explorer-Egypt/Ancient-Egypt/mummies-around-the-world/Ice-mummies.html
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