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𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝: 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙴𝚐𝚢𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 2,000 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 

𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝: 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 

𝚢𝚊𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗

Mummies of humans and animals have been found on every continent, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats.^[1] Many of the Egyptian animal mummies are sacred ibis, and radiocarbon dating suggests the Egyptian ibis mummies that have been analyzed were from a time frame that falls between approximately 450 and 250 BC.^[2]

In addition to the mummies of ancient Egypt, deliberate mummification was a feature of several ancient cultures in areas of America and Asia with very dry climates. The Spirit Cave mummies of Fallon, Nevada, in North America were accurately dated at more than 9,400 years old. Before this discovery, the oldest known deliberate mummy was a child, one of the Chinchorro mummies found in the Camarones Valley, Chile, which dates around 5050 BC.^[3] The oldest known naturally mummified human corpse is a severed head dated as 6,000 years old, found in 1936 at the Cueva de las Momias in Argentina.^[4]