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The Philippine Mummies
Philippine Mummies - Amongst the many ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines, the Ibaloi – inhabiting a small area of the Cordillera Mountains around the modern town of Kabayan in Benguet province – were the only ones who practiced mummification. The practice was reserved only for their royal ramily and religious leaders.
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Scientists are divided about when the practice became fashionable, and the age of the mummies themselves. Some hypothesize that mummification bean from around 200 B.C., though many put the dates of the discovered mummies at between 1200 and 1500 A.D.
When the Spanish arrived they acknowledged the practice was taking place and chronicled it, but successfully stamped it out. The mummies remained concealed from the outside world until the early years of the 20th century.
It’s thought that the subject would participate in the process of drinking salt water in the hours before death to flush fluids from the system. After death, the body was set high over a fire to dry out the flesh, almost in the form of smoking. And herbs were rubbed into the flesh to aid the process. Unlike Egyptian mummification, the internal organs of the Ibaloi were left in the body.
After many weeks of slow smoking – the process could have taken up to two years – the completed mummy would be placed in a hard-carved wooden coffin and, after an elaborate burial ritual would be put to rest in a remote cave. Most of these caves were man-made, making the most of hidden and inaccessible spots, though some natural caverns were considered suitable. All are up at around 2,200 meters (7218 feet) in altitude.
To date, 200 man-made burial sites have been discovered, of which 15 contained mummies; a total of 28 individuals. Scientist hope that there may be more than 100 in total. Many mummies were not actually found in caves but were used in circuses and side shows, including that of Apu Annu, a tribal leader whose flesh still bears the distinct and ornate tattoos of a head hunter warrior.
The mummy caves of the Philippines and their contents have now been designated as national treasures by the Philippine government, but these fragile bones are still not secure. UNESCO have added them to the organization’s endangered list because of the continued threat of looting and changes in environmental factors likely to result in the decay of the mummies.
L. Bennett, Philippines