People who visit the INS Museum of Jade and Pre-Columbian Culture, in downtown San José, will be able to get to know a mummy of the Chinchorro culture up close.It is actually an artistic replica of a person over 4,000 years old.
The work is a donation from the University of Tarapacá in Chile. The piece was in the country a few months ago as part of a traveling exhibition. The replica of this mummy was made by the Chilean artist Paola Pimentel. The piece was used as part of a process to obtain the declaration of World Heritage of Humanity before Unesco.
Chinchorro
This replica of the bandaged-style mummy was made of vegetable fiber and hair and wears a black mask. The modeled nose and outlined eyes and mouth are detailed here.The mummy recreates the Chinchorro cultural tradition, which was present on the coast of the Atacama desert in Chile for more than 7,000 years.
“This piece is a unique and exceptional testimony to mankind’s oldest knowledge of artificial mummification. The practice expresses the transcendence that the human hunter and gatherer groups of the Pacific experienced regarding the belief about the continuity of life,” the Jade Museum said in a statement.
The original body (4,500-4,000 before present (BC) is protected by the Archaeological Museum of the University of Tarapacá-San Miguel de Azapa, Arica-Chile. The Jade Museum is open every day from 8 am to 5 pm and it is located on the west side of Plaza de la Democracia on the central avenue of San José.
