Papua’s 250-Year-Old Body: Tribal Heritage Unveiled

Wamena, Indonesia: Holding the centuries-old remains of his mummified ancestor, tribal leader Eli Mabel reveals an ancient tradition that has all but disappeared among the Dani people in Papua’s central highlands.

The small, blackened, shrunken figure he carries was Agat Mamete Mabel, the chief who ruled this remote village in Papua, Indonesia, some 250 years ago.

Honored after his death with a custom reserved only for important elders and local heroes among the Dani people, he was embalmed and preserved with smoke and animal oil.

Nine generations later, his descendant Eli Mabel is the current chief of Wogi Village, an isolated village on the outskirts of Wamena that can only be reached by foot or canoe.

The exact age of Agat Mamete Mabel is not known, he said, but told AFP that this ancestor was the last in the village to receive such a funeral. The ritual method of embalming with smoke, once common among his ancestors, is no longer practiced, he said.

Christian missionaries and Muslim preachers encouraged tribesmen to bury the bodies, but the tradition faded over the centuries.

But Mabel is determined to preserve the ancient rites and rituals for future generations.

“We must protect our culture, including the ceremonies in honour of the mummy, the way we treat it and the maintenance of the fire in its honour,” the member of the Dani tribe told AFP.

The mummy, decorated with pig tusks hanging around its torso, a feathered headdress and a traditional penis-shaped gourd, rests in a hut known as a “honai.”

This spacious, domed, thatched hut is cared for year-round by a select few villagers who keep a fire burning to ensure the corpse remains dry and preserved.

The duty of caring for the mummy often falls to Mabel, he said. He spends many nights sleeping alone in the honai, making sure nothing bad happens to his ancestor.

Over time, responsibility for caring for the mummy will pass to others, she said. Mabel hopes her own children will take on some responsibility for keeping the traditions alive, but she worries that they may be too far away.

“I have told them that they will have to take care of the mummy at some point in their lives,” Mabel said of her four children, some of whom live in remote provinces in Indonesia’s most populated centers.

The ancient Dani tribes of the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea were isolated from the outside world until well into the 20th century. Their homeland in the Baliem Valley was isolated by steep, rugged valleys and dense mountain forest.

Today, the region remains one of the poorest in Indonesia. Many tribes rely on tourism, their unique customs, traditional clothing and rituals attracting visitors to their remote villages.