Corpses in Portugal turn into mummies and no one knows why

When settlements grow, you have to make room for the living, but doing the same with the dead is not so easy. For this reason, in Portugal they used temporary graves. That is, the usual burial is carried out; but as soon as the corpse decomposes and turns into bones, it is transferred to a much smaller grave. The problem is that when the coffin is opened, many of them have not yet completely decomposed. Some never even manage to make it because they end up mummies.

This is what seems to be happening completely random. It is not known what factors cause some corpses to mummify and others not. And it’s all problem for relativeswho sometimes spend their lives burying and digging up their relatives again and again, waiting to see if they have already decayed.

The solution may be to replace the burials cremation. However, traditional burials are a deeply rooted custom in Portugal, so scientists are already looking for a solution to this mystery, so as not to change the tradition for something that eludes human understanding.

A burial that never ceases to repeat itself

Portuguese law states that three years after the first burial, the gravediggers must dig up the corpses and check if they have already decomposed. So that they can be moved, there should be no soft parts left. All bones should be. If this is not the case, it is instilled again and the same procedure is repeated. once every two years.

According to a survey conducted in Porto between 2006 and 2015. from 55% to 64% the corpses did not decompose at the first excavation. However, many of them were ready in five years. Others took a little longer. In some cases it is required decadesin which relatives relive the funeral over and over again.

But, in some cases, the situation is even worse because decomposition never sets in. This is what happens to mummified corpses. These are not mummies, like the Egyptian ones, from which organs were removed and bandages impregnated with resin were used, and very specific burial conditions were used that promote mummification. It happens by accident. This is not something rare.

This has been observed in many cases, especially in cadavers that have been stored in very extreme climates such as glaciers or deserts. Or just in places with very high or very low temperatures. It also occurs in conditions of very low humidity or lack of air. But that doesn’t seem to be the case in Portugal. For this reason, some scholars, such as a forensic anthropologist Angela Silva Bessathey try to find some common factor in all the corpses that end up as mummies.

Pavel Danilyuk (Pexels)

Conditions for becoming a mummy

With the logical and necessary permission of the relatives, Silva Bessa took tissue samples from some of the cemetery of corpsesand also from land in which they are.

In the latter, he analyzed such characteristics as temperature, acidity, humidity, density, heavy metal contamination and organic matter. However, he knew from the very beginning that he could not find patterns, because there were very different corpses on the same piece of land. Some of them completely turned into bones, others decomposed very slowly, and still others immediately turned into mummies.

In fact, there were even corpses that were almost entirely made of bones, but some parts of the body still did not decompose, while others were mummified. There is no template.

It should be noted that this may not be something unique to Portugal. In other countries, there is no rule to dig up their dead again and again. Perhaps there are mummies in many tombs that no one knows about. But, given the needs of the Portuguese country, it would be necessary to try to find the reasons and find the desired pattern.

For this reason, the second part of this research that Silva is doing for her PhD will be looking for patterns in the lives of these cadavers. That is, check if there is any feature in your life that could interfere with your ability to decompose or mummify. These features may include, for example, smoking or taking certain medications.

In the meantime, relatives who don’t want to risk digging up their dead again and again should turn to cremation. It is already becoming more intense, despite cultural roots. In fact, according to statements Business insider Paulo Carreira, Funeral Association of Portugal, in his own funeral home they went from 4 crematoria 38 should be set. It is clear that demand has increased. But there are still many people who insist on burying all living things. After seeing what has been seen, they choose to follow tradition and bet that their loved ones may end up becoming mummies.