Ancient Mystery Unveiled: Woman Found Buried in a Canoe 800 Years Ago – Exploring the Significance of This Extraordinary Burial and What It Reveals About Ancient Rituals and Beliefs

According to new research, as long as 800 years ago, mourners would bury a young woman in a ceremonial chapel to represent her final journey to the place of the dead in what is now Patagonia. According to the study’s authors, the discovery refutes the theory that mahogany burials may have been used only after Spanish colonization and supports ethographic and historical evidence that they were practiced throughout pre-Hispanic South America.

The first evidence of such burial was found in Argentina and Patagogue. In their paper published on the open access site PLOS ONE, the group describes their study of the remains.

The remains were found at an excavation site called Neweп Aпtхg, which is near Lake Lacár in the western part of Argeпtiпa.

Detail of the body arrangement of individual 3 and its association with wood remains, freshwater mollusks, red pigments and painted pottery.

The wooden tents of the time, known as wampos, were made with fire. In Mapuche society, a wooden wampo or a small tent or symbolic representation of someone was available for the journey to the final resting place of the dead person beyond a body of water that had to be crossed by boat.

The woman was between 17 and 25 years old at the time of her death, according to the analyses, but the cause of death could not be determined. They also discovered a jar placed near her head and around 600 pieces of wood from a single Chilean cedar tree around her. There were also signs that the wood had been charred. Testimonies from the fragments of the woman’s body showed that she was from about 1142 AD, meaning she was likely a member of the Mapuche culture and that she lived and died before the arrival of the Spanish.

Mapuche burial, c. 1900 (iп Chapaпoff 2020: 14). The photograph shows a funeral ritual with a wampo next to the rewe.

The discovery is truly surprising, as most mahogany burials were done by me, and it is the first time such a burial has been done in Argentina, Patagotlán. Researchers said their discovery raises the possibility that the practice was more common than previously thought.

The jar found next to her head was clearly placed there by whoever was in charge of her burial, and there were also signs that it had been placed on a bed of freshwater clams, according to the researchers. Its position also strongly suggested that it had been placed on a layer like some sort of coffin before being buried.

Previous research has suggested that burying people in caves was part of a ritual to allow the deceased to make a final journey across mystical waters to another place known as Nomelafke, where they would reside in a place known as the “destination of souls.”