Seven men in Gemtasu's family look after him during the mummification process. Here, his body is repositioned over the fire. No one taking part in the ceremony is allowed to leave the area or wash.
The Modern Mummies of Papua New Guinea
A rare look at life and death in a remote village in the West Pacific.
When Ulla Lohmann first met the Anga tribe in Papua New Guinea in 2003, the tribe's elders told her to leave. To even get there required a full day's drive, followed by a three-hour hike into the highlands on the west side of the island. After Lohmann, a German photographer and environmental scientist, made the trek, she was politely told that she wasn't welcome. The tribe wasn’t accustomed to visitors, and they didn't like their culture to be seen by outsiders.
The reason they disliked guests was the same reason that initially attracted Lohmann to visit them: The Anga are known to mummify their dead. In an ancient ceremony, the members have a long history of converting the bodies of deceased
