The research indicates ancient hunter-gatherer societies practiced corpse preservation by folding and binding the dead before suspending them over smoky fires for extended periods. Emeritus Professor Peter Bellwood explained this process allowed bodies to remain on display for years in shelters, caves, or dwellings despite the region's humid climate.
"This type of smoke-drying is, so far, the oldest demonstrated method of the intentional preservation of corpses that we have on record anywhere in the world," Bellwood said. Unlike natural desiccation seen in arid regions such as Egypt or the Andes, smoke-drying was a deliberate adaptation to tropical conditions.
Radiocarbon dating placed one burial in northern Vietnam at about 14,000 years old. The findings suggest an enduring cultural tradition linking early Asian hunter-gatherers with later practices in Indigenous Australia and New Guinea. Dr Hsiao-chun Hung, the study's lead author, noted ethnographic records describing similar smoke-drying techniques among Indigenous groups observed during European contact.
"Burials found at Broadbeach in Queensland in the 1960s, for example, show striking similarities in their bundled postures. Ethnographic descriptions of binding align closely with the practices observed in our study," Hung said.
The study proposes that smoke-dried mummification may have been a long-standing tradition across a vast region, from Japan and northeastern Asia to Oceania and Australia.
Research Report:Earliest evidence of smoke-dried mummification: More than 10,000 years ago in southern China and Southeast Asia
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