The mummies forged through fire and ice
In the second episode of our Dead World series, digital editor Nicholas St. Fleur examines how extreme environments preserved ancient bodies—and how science is revealing their secrets.
In fantasy books and movies, the undead rise from fire and ice. In the real world, mummies can emerge naturally from melting glaciers and dry desert caves. Others were created when bodies were slowly dried in smoke and ash. In this episode of Dead World, our new series about the most fascinating discoveries in archaeology and paleontology, we examine how extreme heat and cold preserved humans and animals for thousands of years.
From Ötzi the Iceman locked in an Alpine glacier to smoke-dried human mummies in ancient Asia, desiccated desert cheetahs, and a frozen Siberian wolf cub carrying woolly rhino DNA in its gut, these discoveries reveal lost cultures and extinct animal populations. Through archaeological and genomic research, scientists are reconstructing their ancient lives. Watch the video and let us know what super-dead things we should cover next.
