UNESCO includes Archaeological Sites and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture on its World Heritage List

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee met today in Fuzhou, China, and virtually with the States Parties for the 44th annual session and decided to include the Archaeological Sites and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture from the Arica and Parinacota Region on the World Heritage List. These sites were nominated by Chile in a process led by the Cultures, Arts and Heritage Ministry together with the Foreign Relations Ministry as part of a joint effort with the Universidad de Tarapacá and other local institutions.

The inclusion of this site is based on its Outstanding Universal Value as a spectacular example of the interaction of a group of marine hunter-gatherers with one of the driest environments in the world. It is a unique testimony to the complex spirituality of a now extinct cultural tradition –the Chinchorro Culture– expressed through its cemeteries where bodies mummified both naturally and artificially have been found.

The Cultures, Arts and Heritage Minister, Consuelo Valdés, celebrated this important milestone: “This is great news for Chile. It recognizes the joint effort between the State, the Universidad de Tarapacá and many other local stakeholders. It is also an incentive to continue working for the projection of this millenary and magnificent cultural heritage. This declaration brings a typology that is underrepresented on the World Heritage List, corresponding to the early hunter-gatherer cultures that demonstrate the exceptional adaptability of human beings to extreme environments while exemplifying the complex world vision of these cultures and their relationship with death.” 

The Dean of the Universidad de Tarapacá, Emilio Rodríguez, said: “The Universidad de Tarapacá highlights this achievement for the country and for our Region. Inclusion of the Chinchorro archaeological sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List is the result of decades of work. We appreciate the efforts of our researchers and their teams as well as the efforts of regional and national institutions that have given their all to promote the Chinchorro culture. On this magnificent occasion we reiterate our commitment to the rescue, conservation and permanent value placement on our millenary culture, which today can be seen by all humanity.”

With this, Chile obtains its seventh UNESCO recognition and inclusion on its World Heritage List, the highest level of heritage protection, due to its “outstanding universal value.” The other Chilean sites already on the list are the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works: Rapa Nui National Park; the Churches of Chiloé; Sewell Mining Town; the Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaíso; and the Qhapaq Ñan Andean Road System.

Three archaeological sites of the Chinchorro Culture were nominated as World Heritage Sites. Faldeos del Morro (1) and the ‘Colón 10’ Museum (2) are both located in the urban setting of Arica and are the most important and representative cemeteries of the Chinchorro funerary tradition. The third site, located in a rural part of Camarones District at the mouth of the Camarones River (3), presents vestiges of this culture relating to both funeral traditions and dwellings – preserved in an environment and landscape that have changed little since the period when Chinchorro families lived there.

A long journey

This nomination took over 20 years of work. It formally began in 1998 when Chile included this millenary heritage on the Tentative List for World Heritage status: A decade later, the Universidad de Tarapacá (UTA), with the support of the Culture Ministry, Regional Government and different local and national institutions, began research to prepare the nomination dossier. In 2020, after being signed by Minister Consuelo Valdés, the dossier was sent to UNESCO. The final version contains almost 400 pages of application text and 900 attachments.

Together with this dossier, Chile moved forward with other key steps to protecting the site and its nomination to UNESCO, and these were sent to the World Heritage Committee for its consideration. Corporación Chinchorro Marka was formed in 2019, which brings together the UTA and cultural corporations from the Arica and Camarones municipalities, supported by the Culture Ministry. This corporation will oversee the management of the archaeological sites of the Chinchorro Culture and has already drafted a Management Plan to protect and preserve the Site.

UNESCO undertook different evaluations between December 2020 and February 2021, including a mission from UNESCO’s International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to assess the authenticity, integrity and management of these archaeological remains in the field.

Part of the nominated properties are owned by the Chilean State and already have the maximum heritage protection that the country offers through recognition as an Archaeological Monument under National Monuments Law 17.288. For the purposes of the nomination, this existing protection is joined by its recognition as a Historical Monument and Natural Sanctuary, which is currently being processed. Therefore, these sites are defined as protected areas under Chilean environmental law and comply with all the pertinent environmental impact assessments.

The mayors of Arica and Camarones pointed out the importance of this nomination for community development and the protection of these archaeological treasures.

The Mayor of Arica, Gerardo Espíndola, highlighted: “For us as Ariqueños, the recognition that we have today of this material value of the Chinchorro Culture is vital; not only the value of their mummification process, but also what it means to those of us who live on this land and how these people were able to transcend for our country and above all for the world, through this UNESCO recognition.”

The Mayor of Camarones, Cristian Zavala, said that “we find ourselves in a historical moment with so much relevance for our region and our Chile. The nomination of the Chinchorro Culture with the oldest mummification process in the world is key to the cultural development of our towns.”

Chinchorro Culture

The Chinchorro Culture developed more than 7,000 years ago by marine hunter-gatherers who settled and lived on the coast of the Atacama Desert, the driest in the world, taking advantage of the abundant marine resources provided by the Humboldt Current. This supply of raw materials allowed them to create semi-permanent settlements at the mouths of the scarce rivers and ravines in the area. The fragile evidence of their highly specialized maritime technology has been preserved thanks to the exceptional climatic conditions of northern Chile.

Cultural Heritage Undersecretary, Emilio De la Cerda -who acts as liaison to UNESCO in these matters- noted in his address to the Committee that these three components include the world’s oldest known archaeological evidence on artificial mummification of bodies. There are bodies in the Chinchorro cemeteries mummified by the environmental conditions, and others that have undergone artificial mummification, using a remarkable and very ancient technique. The Chinchorro people were pioneers in artificial mummification. Over time they perfected complex mortuary practices and created “artificial” mummies with material, sculptural and aesthetic qualities that presumably reflect the fundamental role of the dead in their society.

The mummies found at the sites were buried only a few centimeters below the surface, close to or in the dwelling sites. Based on this evidence, and on the deterioration and repairs visible on the mummies, experts suggest that they continued to form part of Chinchorro community or family life and were disinterred for certain occasions and then reburied. Chinchorro mummification practices are even older that those of the Egyptians.