via Australian Geographic, 25 July 2024: In September 2023, three experts from the University of Melbourne’s Grimwade Centre traveled to Kabayan, Benguet, to collaborate with the local community on conserving the ancient ‘fire mummies’ of the Ibaloi people. Their project, which includes installing environmental data loggers in the rock shelters, aims to monitor and address the mummies’ deterioration caused by climate change and tourism.
For hundreds of years, the cooler climate of the mountains helped preserve these mummies, but due to progressive environmental changes, the mummies are slowly deteriorating.
According to Sarah, the deterioration of the Kabayan mummies started increasing significantly in the 1970s due to climate change, growing industrialisation and a rise in tourism in the area.
These factors have led to environmental changes within the burial caves, causing the skin of some mummies to become brittle, and enabling mould growth and insect activity.
“Our project decided to use technology to monitor the environments that the mummies reside in and assess and monitor the agents of deterioration so that we can better understand why they are deteriorating,” Sarah says.
Source: Conserving the Kabayan mummies: from an Australian classroom to the Philippines mountains
