Most people associate mummification with Egypt, as Egyptian mummies are the most well-known. However, the first mummies did not originate in Egypt.

The oldest known mummy comes from northern Vietnam and is around 14,000 years old. In Southeast Asia, hunter-gatherers mummified their dead using smoke from about 14,000 to 4,000 BCE. The bodies were literally dried out with smoke, which also acted as a preservative. This technique and tradition have survived to this day only in Papua New Guinea.

Older than the Egyptian mummies are also the Chilean ones. The Chinchorro culture mummified their dead from around 7000 to 1500 BCE. They were also hunter-gatherers. The deceased had their internal organs and flesh removed. The skeleton was then reinforced and shaped using sticks, clay, and reeds. Finally, the bodies were re-dressed in human skin or the skin of sea lions. The mummies also received facial masks made of clay. Research suggests that they first mummified small children, likely in an attempt to preserve them for longer. The bodies were buried in the Atacama Desert, which helped preserve them to the present day.

The Egyptians began mummifying the dead around 4500 BCE. The internal organs were removed, and the bodies were embalmed. The entire process and the materials used were extremely expensive, which meant that only the wealthy elite could afford mummification.

Today, the most beautiful mummy is considered to be the body of Rosalia Lombardo. Rosalia died in 1920 from the Spanish flu, just a few days before her second birthday. Her father, General Mario Lombardo, knew the chemist Alfredo Salafia and asked him to preserve the body. It was then placed in the catacombs of the Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Italy.

In Slovenia, there are two mummies. The first is housed in the National Museum and was brought from Egypt. The second is a completely Slovenian mummy – the mummy of Mihael Hadik. It is kept in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in Lendava. This mummy was naturally preserved thanks to the limestone-rich soil and the airy tomb environment.

Source

Mindy Weisberger, Oldest known evidence of human mummification discovered in Asia, scientists say, CNN, 16. 9. 2025.

Haluka Maier-Borst, Ägypter konservierten Verstorbene schon vor 6.000 Jahren, Die Zeit, 14. 8. 2014.

Mark Johanson, Chinchorro-Kultur in Chile: Die ältesten Mumien der Welt, National Geographic, 3. 11. 2021.

Michael Stang, Die schönste Mumie der Welt, Deutschlandfunk, 4. 12. 2020. 

Cerkev Svete Trojice in mumija Mihaela Hadika, Zupnija Lendava, 16. 9. 2025.