THE MYSTERIOUS MUMMIES OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
This is Papua New Guinea – the land of mystery. This is a land of ancient cultures. Many of them are unique and diverse. Their festivals, practices and customs, in keeping with this land, are colourful and mysterious. And today we’re setting out in search of one of the most amazing and mysterious of all – the smoked mummies of Papua New Guinea.
We plan to explore one of the most bizarre rituals of the ancient world – the death and mourning customs of the remote Anga tribe, and their unusual mummification practices. Apparently, they smoke-cure the bodies of the dead and place them along cliff faces overlooking their village. These mummies have fascinated anthropologists, writers and filmmakers for more than a hundred years.
But few have been able to tell fact from fiction. Most of what’s known about the mummies is based on hearsay, exaggeration or flights of imagination. So we’re setting off to discover what we can for ourselves.
Join me on an incredible journey to search for the smoked mummies of Papua New Guinea. And in our search, we may just unravel one of the greatest mysteries of all – what happens to us after we die?
WELCOME TO MENYAMYA
Our journey in search of the smoked mummies of Papua New Guinea started in Lae, the second largest city in Papua New Guinea. We’ve hired a light aircraft to fly us into a bush airfield here at Menyamya.
Now, Menyamya is in the heart of Anga country, and is truly remote. It’s a district centre in the Morobe province, which is a gateway to the Highlands of New Guinea. Here the Anga people still follow a subsistence lifestyle, and wear their traditional dress on special occasions. In the past they were considered violent and fierce warriors, often attacking more peaceful tribes in the region.
Although the Anga are a peaceful people today, their fierce reputation and warrior heritage is displayed in the traditional welcome that awaits us on our arrival at the bush airstrip. We’re greeted by a group of men and women in traditional dress, as we set foot on their land. The welcome ritual begins with the leading warrior advancing and circling.
He returns to the group, and then they all rush in with attacking and threatening gestures, shouting and brandishing their primitive but deadly weapons, including bows and arrows, spears and clubs. It’s a confronting and intimidating experience, as they wave their weapons menacingly at your head. However, it’s with some relief that their demeanour changes, and we’re welcomed into their territory and given permission to continue our journey.
For centuries the Anga tribe have practised a unique mummification technique – smoke curing. They used to smoke their dead and leave the mummified bodies in burial caves and cliff ledges to watch over their descendants. While this practice has mostly died out with the coming of Christianity, the skeletal remains and what is left of their leather-like skin, still keep guard from where they were placed years ago.
Most of the smoked corpses are found in the Aseki district, several hours drive from here. So, we’ve got to travel deeper into the jungle by four-wheel-drive. It’s necessary to carry everything we need with us as there’s nothing much available once we leave Manyamya.
JUNGLE BEAUTIES
The Menyamya region is known for its tangled and impenetrable rainforest. This tropical jungle is filled with some of the most spectacular butterflies, orchids and birds on planet earth.
These jungles are home to a fabulous array of orchids. Orchids are the largest group of all living flowers, and there are over 3,000 known species of orchids in New Guinea – more than any other country in the world. They thrive in these tropical rain forests. They come in all shapes, sizes and colours. And they are truly magnificent!
These jungles also have a remarkable and beautiful array of butterfly species. There are nearly a thousand different butterfly species in [Papua] New Guinea. Its forests are graced by these magnificent creatures and are home to the world’s largest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra Birdwing, that’s got a wing span over 25cm!.
These jungles are also home to one of the richest and most varied array of birds in the world. Over 700 species of birds inhabit these forests, including 36 species of Birds of Paradise – probably the most spectacular and beautiful feathered creatures on our planet. The Raggiana Bird of Paradise is the national emblem of Papua New Guinea.
These magnificent birds are distinguished by striking colour and bright plumage of yellow, blue, scarlet, and green. These spectacular colours make them the world’s most dramatic and attractive birds.
These jungles are also home to some unique and amazing animals, including the tree kangaroo. To many people, the suggestion that a kangaroo could live up a tree is fantasy. Yet, deep in these mysterious forests, there are extraordinary kangaroos that do just that.
GETTING TO ASEKI
Once you leave the district centre, it’s like stepping back into the stone age. People follow a lifestyle and live much the same way as they have for thousands of years. In fact, eighty percent of the population of Papua New Guinea, 5 million rural people, make a living from subsistence farming. Only one fifth of the population earns a wage.
It’s extremely rough and spectacular country. The further inland we get, the worse the road gets. It’s a bone-jarring journey with large potholes, muddy ruts, sharp bends, washouts and river crossings. When it rains, driving becomes hazardous.
As we near Aseki the rain arrived, and the muddy and slippery conditions made progress almost impossible. Our vehicle got hopelessly bogged in the red mud and it took a lot of time, patience and effort to get moving again. This was repeated several times.
Now, there’s about a dozen sites in the Aseki district where smoked corpses can be found. So we’re trying to find where the most accessible mummies are. And also ones that are in good condition.
So we meet two of the tribal leaders. They will advise us, organise permission for us to travel deeper into this region, and then guide us up to the cliff ledge where the mummies are. As we are now entering the Aseki region and new tribal territory, we are given another traditional welcome. Once again it starts in an aggressive and threatening way.
As soon as we arrive and get out of the vehicle, the two tribal leaders advance, shouting and waving their weapons in a bold, hostile and frightening challenge. After another confronting encounter involving clubs, spears, and bows and arrows, things settle down and we are invited to follow, and are granted permission to proceed further.
JOURNEY’S END
Our journey takes us deeper into the jungle in our search for the mysterious mummies. Our guide leads us towards the village entrance, pointing in the direction of the cliff-ledge high in the mountains where the mummies are located. After serious discussion and negotiations we are given permission to view the mummies.
But we are now on what is considered sacred ground to these villagers and so another welcome ceremony awaits us. This is by far the most fierce and hostile we’ve yet experienced. A group of villagers covered in mud and wearing pigs tusks and other adornment, confront us – armed with a frightening array of weapons.
I’m told it’s going to be humid, wet and muddy, so, it’s off with the regular clothing and into expedition gear and something more appropriate. And just as well!
The final stage of our journey to the mummies is a laborious climb through the jungle that’s riddled with stinging nettles and spider webs. The track is so steep and overgrown in parts that it’s necessary to crawl on all fours.
It’s difficult to get up here to the mummies. They’re perched up here on this cliff ledge, there’s no flat ground to stand on here, and it’s very slippery and easy to lose your footing. But this is what we’ve been searching for, and so we’ve slipped and slid and battled to get up here.
THE SMOKING CURE
The mummies are more macabre than anything I’d imagined. There’s 14 of them in this group. They’re all sitting in life-like positions or curled up like foetuses inside large baskets. They’re supported by a bamboo platform and scaffolding. They’re smeared with red clay, and in various stages of decomposition. There’s parched sections of skin and muscle clinging to their skeletons.
The mummification process is carried out carefully and respectfully. When someone dies, an experienced person in the art of mummification makes an incision in the feet, knees, and elbows of the deceased so that the body fats can drain into containers.
The fat is smeared onto the bodies of the living relatives to impart the strength of the dead to the living. Leftover fats are used for cooking…
Then the eyes, mouth and anus are sewn shut to keep air from entering the body before it’s subjected to the smoking process. This takes weeks, sometimes even months. After the body is smoke-cured, it’s covered in red clay and red ochre to deter insects and predators.
The mummy is then placed in burial caves or along cliff ledges, like this one overlooking the village. The villagers then believe that the mummy becomes a watcher or guardian for the village. Great warriors are given special positions higher up on the cliffs to watch out for enemies and invaders.
These modern-day warriors are standing here with their ancestors, who they tenderly and lovingly placed here to watch out over their village. And they believe that they are watchers or guardians [who] are keeping them safe and protecting them from danger. The highest respect that these warriors can give their ancestors is to place them here on this cliff ledge, in this position of honour and prestige.
The very sight of a row of charred, red bodies hanging off the mountains might seem quite grotesque – in fact, I find it quite disturbing and distressing. It’s certainly not something we’re used to. But for the Anga people, it’s the highest form of respect for the dead.
AN AGE-OLD QUESTION
When I look at these mummified corpses lined up along the cliff ledge, the question that keeps crossing my mind, is, “Where really are these people? And it raises the age-old question, “What happens after we die?”
It’s an age-old question. Men and women through the centuries have wondered about the same thing. They’ve wrestled with the uncertainty of death – what really happens to us after we die? Every civilization and all religions have endeavoured to provide answers. All of their theories and explanations fall into three primary viewpoints about death.
The first view is quite popular today, but utterly dismal. And here it is: when people die, that’s the end. They simply stop living and there is nothing beyond this life. At death it’s all over. It’s final. That’s it!
The second view teaches that people are immortal. Everybody lives forever. They never actually die. At death they just continue on living somewhere in some shape or form.
And then the third view teaches that people are mortal. They all can and do die. But there is life after death. And, this afterlife is always connected to one person, Jesus Christ, and comes through resurrection.
Now, these three viewpoints about death are very different from each other. They’re conflicting views. And so the question is, how do we decide which one is right? How do we find out what really happens when a person dies?
SETTLING THE CONFUSION
Well, I believe that there is only one place to settle all the confusion about death. There is only one reliable source of information that reveals ultimate truth – and that’s the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible unlocks the mystery of death. Jesus stated it succinctly. Here’s what He said in John 17:17.
“Sanctify them by Your truth, Your Word is truth.”
So let’s find out exactly what the Bible says on this subject. Let’s find out what really happens to a person after they die.
Well firstly, the Bible clearly teaches that there is life after death. It calls it ‘eternal life’ or ‘everlasting life.’ Please notice what the Bible says in John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The Bible says that eternal life is possible and is totally dependent on belief in Jesus Christ and accepting Him as Saviour. Eternal life is a gift from God. Here’s what the Bible says in Romans 6:23.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Bible says we’ve all sinned and that the wages of sin is death. The Bible says we are not inherently immortal. Man does not naturally possess eternal life in himself. Because we have all sinned and made mistakes, we die. We’re not immortal. The Bible says that only God is immortal. Here’s what it says in 1 Timothy:
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen. …(God) Who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16)
So, the Bible says that only God is immortal. People are not immortal. We don’t naturally live forever. Because of our sins and mistakes we are subject to death, we die.
But if we believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Saviour then we receive the gift of eternal life from God. But that eternal life is always connected to one Person, Jesus Christ, and belief in Him.
And that gift of eternal life only becomes a reality at the resurrection when Jesus returns the second time. Eternal life, the gift of God, only comes at the resurrection. Here’s what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17.
“The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17)
“Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1Thessalonians 4:18)
PRICELESS WORDS
Aren’t those priceless words? When Paul wanted to comfort loved ones of those who had died in Christ, this is what he said. He pointed them to the resurrection. This is the Bible hope, the blessed hope. It doesn’t seek comfort in religious ritual, mummification, or false theories.
It focuses on the great day when God will raise the dead. Death will be overcome at the second coming of Christ. We have the promise of eternal life now. We have the assurance of eternal life now.
But it’s always connected to Jesus and the Resurrection. We only receive eternal life when Jesus returns the second time and the resurrection of the dead takes place. The Bible makes this crystal clear in the great chapter on the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to this:
“The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must clothe itself with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”
(1 Corinthians 15:52,53)
But how can we be certain that this is right, that this is going to happen? Well, we already have a guarantee. We’ve got the evidence. You see, Jesus’ resurrection was an event the New Testament writers could wholeheartedly affirm.
After Christ’s death, they had seen Him alive, spoken with Him, touched Him. This was no wandering spirit. This wasn’t their imagination. This was flesh-and-blood reality.
It was this marvellous event, the resurrection of Jesus, that enabled the disciples to know for sure that death could be overcome. It was their guarantee. Not because of anything they had done. Not because of human effort. But solely because of the work of God.
The followers of Jesus, Christians, understood that believers can be resurrected just as their Lord had resurrected. Eternal life is in Christ. Notice what the Bible says in John 6:36.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”
That’s where our hope must lie. In Jesus. He alone possesses the key to the grave. Eternal life is a gift from Him. The Bible makes this crystal clear. Listen to what it says in 1 John 5:11.
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
That’s the key to living forever. It’s making the right connection – believing in Jesus. Eternal life is IN Jesus. Our eternal life depends on connecting ourselves with Him.
The Bible writers all placed their hope in Jesus and the resurrection. Their faith was based entirely in a future event that would echo their Lord’s resurrection. They knew that Jesus had promised the believer in John 6:54:
“ I will raise him up at the last day.”
Yes, when Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will be raised and will live forever. Until then, they sleep in the grave. The Bible consistently pictures death as a sleep that only Christ’s coming awakens. In fact, the Bible refers to death as a sleep no less than 53 times. David, Daniel, Paul, and Jesus Himself all referred to death as a sleep.
So, what happens after people die. The Bible says that believers in Jesus remain in the grave, in the sleep of death, until Jesus comes and resurrects them to live forever. This is the Bible hope, the blessed hope. We can have confidence in this hope. Why not make it your hope just now as we pray?
PRAYER AND SPECIAL OFFER
Our Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your word the Bible and the great truths it reveals. I’m so thankful for the hope we have in Jesus Christ and the resurrection. We don’t have to live under the shadow of death anymore. If we accept Jesus as our personal Saviour, you’ve promised to give us eternal life. His resurrection assures us that it will be repeated for each of us at His second coming. We look forward to that day. Keep us faithful until then. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Papua New Guinea is a land of mystery. The mummies of Papua New Guinea are a reminder of a question we all ask, about, perhaps the greatest mystery of all – what happens after we die? Ancient cultures, men and women through the centuries, have wrestled with the uncertainty of death. They’ve been perplexed over the unknown. Is there anywhere we can find reliable information about what really happens when a person dies?
I believe there is. In fact, I’m convinced that there’s only reliable source of information regarding life after death, and that’s the Word of God. The Bible unlocks the mystery of death. If you’d like to know more concerning the biblical truth about death, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our viewers today.
It’s the book What Happens After We Die? This book is our gift to you and is absolutely free. There are no costs or obligations whatsoever. Many have been blessed by this book. They’ve found answers to their questions about death. There is hope, real hope! So, make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive the gift we have for you today. Here’s the information you need:
CONTACT DETAILS
If you’ve enjoyed today’s journey to Papua New Guinea in search of the mysterious mummies of Aseki, and our reflections on the Resurrection and the Bible’s hope of life after death, then be sure to join us again next week when we will share another of life’s journeys together.
Until then, remember the ultimate destination of life’s journey. “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
