Mummification in Peru

 

Beginning more than 7,000 years ago, several societies in what is now Peru practiced mummification, which gave the living a way to remember and stay connected to the dead. Mummies were sometimes kept as pets or brought to celebrations. Others left food or drink offerings at the graves of their loved ones.

 

According to the American Museum of Natural History, thousands of years before the Egyptians, the Chinchorro people of what is now Peru and Chile were the first to use mummification. The prepared mummies were painted black or red and given wigs by the Chinchorro. One of the final actions in the procedure would have been the creation of a mask. The sculptor coated the dead person's skull in clay, then fashioned a nose, eyes, and mouth before allowing it to dry. Due to the fragility of unbaked clay used to create the masks below, they rarely made it through the centuries intact.