Scientists battle to keep mummified remains under the ground after ‘black goo’ threat

‘If we don’t look after the Chinchorro, they’ll vanish because of climate change,’ local mayor in Chile says

Chinchorro mummies are one of the oldest in the world (AFP via Getty Images)

Scientists in Chile are battling extreme weather to keep mummies that have been buried for thousands of years under the ground.

Skeletal remains have reportedly come to the surface after strong winds and increased rainfall lashed an area in Chile.

Archaeologists told The Guardian they were marking down where the ancient Chinchorro mummies had become exposed and were burying them back underground.

It comes just years after the remains faced another threat linked to the climate crisis.

Scientists previously said Chinchorro mummies being kept in a museum in northern Chile were being eaten by bacteria and reduced to black goo in a process sped up by high humidity - which the local region had been experiencing due to global warming.

Now, scientists are working to save those mummies that remain buried in a cemetery in Arica - which has recently been hit by extreme weather that has exposed them.

“Every time a body appears we place a flag, and we bury it again,” an archaeologist called Campos told The Guardian.

“They’ve been preserved there for 7,000 years.”

The Chinchorros were nomads who lived between Peru and Chile. Their burial grounds spread across northern Chile include both artificial mummies and other remains preserved due to environmental factors.

Until recently, their mummies were believed to be the oldest in the world. However a study earlier this year said remains discovered in Portugal were 8,000 years old and could steal the title.

Cristian Zavala, a mayor of nearby Camarones, said there needed to be action to make sure the environment did not now cause their remains to disappear.

“If we don’t look after the Chinchorro, they’ll vanish because of climate change,” he told The Guardian.

Chile has faced a decade-long drought as a result of global warming, which has led the science minister to declare the climate crisis a “national emergency”.