People use smoked mummies to communicate with the soul

The Anga tribe in Koke village, Paqua New Guinea, believe that they can communicate with the spirit world through the smoked mummy of warriors and warriors using Moimango.

Mysterious race of people using smoked mummies to communicate with the soul

Live Science said the mummy of Moimango was not intact after decades, but scientists were able to recover the body of the mummy by using ingredients from the rainforest.

The village of Koke is located in the most remote place between two plateaus of the Aseki region, Papua New Guinea, foreigners come mainly because of gold mining activities and the coast. The cliff above the village houses the mummies dating back to decades of Anga tribe members.

The village of Koke, Papua New Guinea, which believes smoked mummies will help them communicate with the spirit world.(Live Science photo)

Emeritus professor Ronal Beckett, an anthropologist from Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, learned of these mummies by photographer Ulla Lohmann, who had been to Koke village several times before.

Gemtasu's leader wanted to improve the mummy Moinango - his father, so that he could restore the smoked mummification routine even though local missionaries still protested this. Angons believe that if the bodies of the great people are not well cared for, their souls will wander in the forest hindering hunting or causing the membrane to fail, Professor Beckett said. People who live here believe that the spirit world is real.

Professor Beckett and his colleague, Andrew Nelson of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, wanted Anga tribes to conduct their own preservation of mummies so in 2008, his research team came to Koke and learned about the Natural ingredients help preserve mummies. After a while, natural ingredients showed better results than expected. Even two years later, when the research team came back, the mummy of Moimango was still in perfect condition.

Moimango mummy after being recovered by the research team.(Live Science photo)

During their time at Koke, scientists also learned about how to smoke the bodies of indigenous people. The process of smoking causes the body to become a detrimental environment for bacteria and to prevent insects from laying eggs and arsenic in the smoke as a protective agent.

The smoked process shows confidence in the spirit world of the Anga people, who believe that mummies are a means to connect with the souls of the dead , which is completely different from western culture. Professor Beckett said.