Q: Were the Egyptians the only ancient civilization to practice mummification?
A: No. Deliberate mummification was practiced by many other ancient civilizations. For example, in South America, deliberate mummies are particularly abundant in Chile. It is in the Chilean Camarones region that we can find the oldest-known prepared mummies in the world, the “Chinchorro mummies,” dating from around 5000-3000 BC.