Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture in the Arica and Parinacota Region
The site consists of three parts: Faldeo Norte del Morro de Arica, Colón 10, and Desembocadura de Camarones, located in the countryside about 100 km south. Together, they bear witness to a culture of maritime hunter-gatherers who inhabited the arid and harsh northern coast of the Atacama Desert in the far north of Chile from about 5450 BC to 890 BC. The site is the oldest known archaeological evidence of artificial mummification, with cemeteries containing both artificial mummies and mummies preserved by environmental conditions. Over time, the Chinchorro people perfected complex funerary practices, systematically dismembering and reassembling the bodies of men, women and children from across the social spectrum to create “artificial” mummies. These mummies have material, sculptural and aesthetic qualities that are presumed to reflect the fundamental role of the deceased in Chinchorro society. Tools made of mineral and plant materials, as well as simple tools made of bone and shell, have been found at the site, which would have allowed for the intensive exploitation of marine resources, providing unique testimony to the complex spirituality of the Chinchorro culture.