Asia’s mummies precede Egypt

An international team reports 54 cases of smoke‑dried, tightly bound human remains dated between 12,000 and 4,000 years ago across southern Asia. Using X‑ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy, they detected low‑temperature smoking signatures on bones, indicating intentional mummification well before Egypt and Chile’s Chinchorro. — It reframes a canonical cultural timeline, showing mortuary innovation among hunter‑gatherers and challenging Egypt‑centric popular history.