Earliest evidence of smoke-dried mummification: More than 10,000 years ago in southern China and Southeast Asia

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 122, Issue 38, September 2025. <br/>SignificanceThis finding documents smoke-dried mummification of the dead, mostly in tightly bound crouched postures, from archaeological contexts between 12,000 and 4,000 y old across a vast region encompassing Southeast Asia, southern China, and beyond. …