Mummies. They appear everywhere. From movies to everyday speech. But what are mummies? Mummies are just lifeless bodies preserved in tombs. People think that mummies are only from Egypt; but they are wrong.

Archaeologists are people who travel around and find out the history of the world. They have found mummies of the Chinchorro people of Chile, located in South America, in the Atacama desert on the north coast of Chile. Atacama is just a dry wasteland with no food or water for kilometres. The bodies were remarkably preserved from the stone ages. They have found the people’s belongings. There was pottery, bones, wood and even a mummified hand. So people lived a relatively simple life but often got into fights.Archaeoligists try and keep the people who take important things for archaeoligists to study from taking stuff. Graverobbers are also a problem. So it’s up to the archaeoligists to learn more about these ancient artefacts before the vandals and thieves arrive.

The mummies from Chile are about 8000 years old while the Egyptian mummies are about 5000. These mummies are not in tombs or anything. They were just lying on the ground when the archaeoligists found them. The reason that these bodies have been preserved so well is because that there is supposed to be bacteria that breaks dwn the flesh. But seeing as bacteria lives only in damp places, the bacteria in the Acatama Desert can’t survive. To mummify the people the men in the stone age would rip out their flesh and organs ( sometimes the ate the organs!)  and put the bones back together and stuffed them with plants and fur.

So next time you hear or see mummies, don’t just think of Egypt and think of Chile. I bet there are more mummies for archaeoligists to find and maybe they will be very old. It’s all a mystery.