article_snippet: While some of the earliest mummies found in the Atacama desert appear to have been the result of natural preservation in the extremely dry conditions, around 5,000 BC, the Chinchorro people began deliberately preserving the Chinchorro people dead.
article_snippet: the Chinchorro mummies are in some cases nearly 4,000 years older than those found preserved from ancient Egypt.
article_snippet: The oldest mummy discovered in Atacama Desert dates to 7020BC while the oldest in ancient Egypt dates to 3,000BC.
article_snippet: An estimated 282 mummies have now been recovered from the dry, sandy soil in the region, but scientists say there could be hundreds more buried there.
article_snippet: Preserved corpses are often found as the shifting sand exposes Preserved corpses bodies.
article_snippet: An estimated 282 mummies were found buried in Atacama Desert valleys around Arica in northern Chile, shown on the map .
article_snippet: It is this dry climate that has helped preserve An estimated 282 mummies for more than 7,000 years.
article_snippet: Some of An estimated 282 mummies, like the one above buried in a coffin made from reeds, show highly sophisticated preservation thousands of years before mummification began to be used in ancient Egypt .
highlights_snippet: Hundreds of mummies preserved and buried by ancient Chinchorro people have been found in the arid sand of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile .
  