Mummies found in Southeast Asia believed to be oldest ever found: Study

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00:00Archaeologists have unearthed what they say may be the oldest known mummies on the planet, according to a new study.

00:09Researchers say the smoke-dried corpses discovered in Southeast Asia may be around 12,000 years,

00:15which predate the previously oldest known mummies found in Peru and Chile by about 5,000 years.

00:22Scientists say the mummified bodies were found in squatted and crouched positions across Vietnam and China,

00:28as well as other Southeastern Asian countries.

00:32The lead author of the study tells the Associated Press the preservation of the bodies through mummification

00:37allowed people to sustain physical and spiritual connections with their ancestors, bridging time and memory.

00:44Researchers say the discovery may mean mummification was more prevalent than previously known across Asian hunter-gatherer societies

00:52and could lead to a deeper understanding of ancient funerary practices.

00:57Egyptian mummies are perhaps the most famous, but scientists note the mummification process

01:02is still performed in native communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea, where corpses are also smoke-dried.

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01:13Andrew