Mystery Mummies of New Guinea (Full Episode) | DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL | National Geographic

NARRATOR: It's not an easy place for an outsider to travel. It's a land where sorcery is still part of everyday life. And where cannibalism was recently commonplace. It's into this realm that photographer and expedition leader Ulla Lohmann headed as the advance member of her team. She would journey in the far pacific, to Papua New Guinea. In the land of the Anga people... She and her team soon to follow would investigate a practice long thought vanished from the world. Human mummification. This region has a long history of preserving the dead. How were these mummies made? Why? How can science explain the survival of a corpse in such a hot and humid place? And why there's no record of a human mummification here for over a generation. Former missionary, Walter Eidam, worked in this area in the 1950s. He got a rare invitation to witness a human mummification, and he may be the last westerner to have seen it. WALTER: One day people came to our place and said, "If you want to see how a man was mummified, you can come along and see it." I climbed the valley up into the mountains. It was a terrible smell because that body hadn't been mummified really yet. NARRATOR: Now Ulla may be the next westerner to witness this unique mummification process. She waited for two more members of her team to arrive at Koke village, where she knew she could discover many secrets of the mummies. What she didn't know, was by the time this story ends, human mummification would become real again. Ulla was already an insider here. This was not her first trip. ULLA: The people of Koke lived a very traditional lifestyle when I first arrived. And then they were still wearing traditional clothes and having very little westernized things. NARRATOR: One of those friends may know more about mummies than anyone else. It's a village elder named Gemtasu. NARRATOR: Not expecting her return, he was overwhelmed. ULLA: It was in 2003 when I first met Gemtasu. Thank you, Gemtasu. Gemtasu adopted me as his daughter. So, Papua New Guinea, Koke village is um like my second home. And Gemtasu is like family to me. This really makes me return all the time. And Gemtasu brings his world closer to me, his beliefs, his traditional beliefs. And I try to bring my world closer to him. NARRATOR: Ulla picked up Pidgin, the English-based common language of this country of over 800 local languages. Her images captured the faces of loved ones, especially important to the Anga. But they have a much older technology for remembering them. High above the village, and overlooking it is a shallow cave, a cliff gallery, of mummified ancestors. ULLA: When I was up here the first time, I was scared to death. These people display their dead openly. They even come up to talk to the mummies. It's a big challenge to photograph the mummies at night. But to me, it is only at night where their spirits can really come out. The Angas believe that these mummies are people. They are alive. They are spirits. And they are here to protect the living in the village. And every time bad things happen, they have upset the spirits somehow. NARRATOR: In the 1950s, missionaries including Walter Eidam brought new beliefs to New Guinea. And now people like Gemtasu were pulled between two ways of life. Created about 60 years earlier, this mummy was brought down to the village, To be inspected and repaired by Ulla's colleagues who are en route to Koke. After the journey, it must be dried: a mummy's great enemy is water. Moisture speeds up the rotting of flesh. The mummy, called Moimango, is taken into a shelter, where an extraordinary family reunion is about to take place. Although long dead, Moimango is about to meet his maker. It's Gemtasu. His son. As a boy, Gemtasu helped mummify his father. Gemtasu hasn't seen Moimango for a long time. It's a hard climb up to the mummy gallery for an old man. Son and father have some catching up to do. Gemtasu expresses an extraordinary wish. He wants his family to preserve his body just as he preserved his father's. He wants to follow the customs of his ancestors and become a mummy. No one knows how long ago the last body was mummified here, but if Gemtasu's hopes are realized, his will be the next. And the most important step will take place in a hut like this, where his body will be slowly smoked over a fire. Because Ulla is a trusted friend, Gemtasu plans to reveal to her how mummies are made. Gemtasu's brother wanted to be mummified, but instead he ended up buried, a practice introduced here by missionaries. Gemtasu's nephew would rather remember the dead by way of the actual body, not a flat image. NARRATOR: Gemtasu feels the same way. NARRATOR: Gemtasu is in an uncomfortable position. He is torn between the ancestors of old and a new god. ULLA: I think Gemtasu found a way to incorporate westernized beliefs, which is Christianity, into his old beliefs. He still believes in ancestors. Prays to his ancestor spirits, but also, goes to church. They all want to be protected by somebody. NARRATOR: Gemtasu may not have a lot of time to solve his spiritual dilemma. He suffers from malaria. In his 70 or so years, Gemtasu has seen far more change than most people. He grew up in a time that resembled the Stone Age, seen in this rare archival footage of New Guinea. And he saw his first white person during World War II. Stuck in a cultural limbo, the most forceful thing he can do is take a stand about his future. And that's what he's done: he intends to become a mummy. NARRATOR: The mummies of Papua New Guinea can stay intact some 50 years without restoration. That's a remarkable lifespan for a corpse, given the humidity and heat in this tropical region. Joining the expedition to investigate the longevity of the mummies, two researchers are on their way to catch up with Ulla Lohmann. Biomedical scientist Ron Beckett is an expert on mummies from all over the world. Curious about what mummies mean to the people who make them, anthropologist Andrew Nelson is used to rough travel. ANDREW: Any time we get involved in field work, there are safety concerns. We are on pretty dodgy roads, and the truck can go off the side. Accidents can happen. RON: In these remote locations, we look for landmarks to find our way around. And this rocky outcrop behind us is one of those landmarks, except this one is very, very special. It tells us we are this close to Koke village. And on this rock face are the mummies of Koke, the mummy gallery, and that is why we have come. I can't see them, but I can feel them. NARRATOR: With the help of Ulla's knowledge of the region, these investigators will pursue two goals: to figure out the secrets of mummification ... And to help the Anga restore their loved ones. The first task is to transfer a slumping Moimango to a new chair. It would be a cultural catastrophe if the decrepit mummy broke into pieces. RON: If we let him sit forward, he'll just fall forward again. Ah, you be prepared! GAIUS: It's a fine day. RON: It's a new chair. ANDREW: It's good to see his head up more. If you did that with an Egyptian mummy, pow those joints would crack and break. NARRATOR: Now sitting up straighter, Moimango looks more like the man he once was, a leader feared for his mysterious powers. GAIUS: He saying yes. NARRATOR: Sorcery like Moimango's began to wane after the arrival of missionaries such as Walter Eidam. ULLA: So, the knowledge is lost. ANDREW: That's too bad. ULLA: I am from Germany, and I know Walter Eidam, the first missionary who came and who made Aseki. Do you know him? BYSTANDER: I just hear the story, but I don't know his face. ULLA: Does Gemtasu remember him? NARRATOR: Gemtasu's response is a surprise. (speaking Pidgin). ULLA: Who baptized Gemtasu? Did Walter baptize him? (speaking Hamtai). BYSTANDER: He say he baptized me. ULLA: Walter Eidam baptized you! That's amazing! NARRATOR: The influence of Walter Eidam can be found even in the Koke mummy gallery. Missionaries introduced chairs and also coffins to the region, and the Anga people adapted them for mummies. They replaced traditional baskets. Up here, Ron and Andrew are finding secrets of preservation such as a skin coating of ochre, a reddish clay that protects and dries the body. The researchers' portable weather station reveals a mummy-friendly climate up at the cliff, in contrast to down in the village. Mummies, like all flesh, keep better in cooler, drier and well-ventilated places. But still, these mummies can't last forever. After decades of exposure, they are the worse for wear compared to their original appearance. In rare 60-year-old footage, these families have toiled a month to prepare a body. The result, a long-lasting memento of a loved one. A new fresh mummy will soon join the ranks of the old, if Gemtasu gets his wish. ULLA: Gemtasu believes when he's mummified he's given eternal life. To him the soul, it's like a spirit, it flies free during the day but at night the spirit can return to the mummified body. So the spirit has a home. NARRATOR: Not only does Gemtasu want to be mummified, he is already testing the seat in which it may happen. He's passing on the tradition to his grandson. And his nephew embraces this family obligation. ULLA: You think it will be hard for you to mummify Gemtasu? NARRATOR: What they know how to do is preserve a body, and most importantly one critical part. ULLA: You still have the face, I mean, they always talk about the face. And you still see the face of the person. RON: You have that connection. demonstrates a crucial step in body preservation. ULLA: He showed me how he wants to be mummified. He took my arm and demonstrated with this really strong grip how to take out the body fluids from the arm. NARRATOR: Even for a hardened traveler like Ulla, what comes next is almost too much. ULLA: And then the moment where they kind of took my head... So, we have to make sure that the skin doesn't come off and you have to hold the bones very tight. And I just could imagine Yandeng, his son, doing this to father, Gemtasu. They make a stick so he can sit on the stick, so it basically goes up the backside and all the intestines come out. Hmm. (Marimba calls out in Hamtai). NARRATOR: At last, using a real carcass, that of a pig, Gemtasu's clan will reveal how mummies are made. The pig unlike a person has been gutted and splayed. Those tending the body scrape the skin with a leaf from a kind of nettle that may keep pores open to let liquids flow out. Punctures from sharp sticks can help more fluids drain. Moisture works against preservation, so the early stages of the process are focused on drying. Fluids drip out of the pig just as they would from a cadaver. NARRATOR: The answer is disconcerting. ULLA: So, you take the body fluids and you put it on the legs...on the arms as well? So, the spirit of the ancestor stays with you. NARRATOR: The team has heard about a distant village where mummies have been kept indoors and so may be exceptionally well preserved. Supposedly, it's officially the dry season. NARRATOR: The team can't drive any farther tonight. NARRATOR: Following up on rumors of mummies in good condition, the expedition arrives at a curious building. These mummies have been sheltered for decades as a tourist attraction. For Ron Beckett and Andrew Nelson the admission fee includes permission to conduct an exam. RON: Fortunately, we have this tin shed that have maintained these mummies so that we could really see the value and the power of the mummification procedure. NARRATOR: A coating of red ochre is still visible. A small camera will help the team find out if the preservation is more than skin deep. ANDREW: A little bit of an opening up here at the throat you might be able to get down into. RON: Excellent. ANDREW: Can you actually see down into the top part of that mandible there? RON: Oh, yeah. ANDREW: Is that an abscess, or what's going on there? RON: That's soft tissue. It's all soft tissue. The main stem bronchi.... The internal preservation is absolutely amazing. The smoked body method of mummification is very, very effective. NARRATOR: Ron now comes across deep slashes in the flesh. RON: Definite stitching across the chest on this one. ANDREW: Notice the mouth stitched? Look at that! RON: And across the forehead. That is, that's incredible. Stitched all the way across. ANDREW: What we're seeing on this individual is that there are some slashes through the skin that look like they've been stitched up, so what do you...? RON: This stitching material looks like it's a kind of bark strip. But it's everywhere. ANDREW: It's all over. RON: He was cut up! There were no signs of healing. The skin is sort of pulled away from the stitching. Had it been prior to death, even a half an hour or an hour, the skin would have puckered and sort of hugged each of the sutures. NARRATOR: These men were slashed 60 years ago in what locals say was a revenge killing. RON: This was the death event. They couldn't have lived through that. NARRATOR: Warfare was common here. Footage from the 1950s shows a reenacted raid. Men, women and children were killed in such fights. Back in Koke village, Ulla Lohmann investigates stories that vanquished enemies sometimes ended up in the cooking pot. It is not a topic that her hosts expected her to bring up. ULLA: But people here, they were cannibals before. NARRATOR: Following a flat denial, the story starts to slip. ULLA: They will kill and eat you? NARRATOR: After pointing fingers at others, Ulla's friends finally admit that Koke villagers once were cannibals. NARRATOR: Cannibalism is probably extinct in this land. But the legacy of warfare is still vivid. And that's something that all who travel here today must still take into account. NARRATOR: In a nearby village, retired missionary Walter Eidam described where he witnessed a mummification. Ulla Lohmann and the team hope to find what may be the last mummy. But an armed and angry crowd block Ulla's path to the mummy up on a stone cliff. -Why you come here? ULLA: We are making a film about the smoked bodies and about the area. -We don't need you to come here. ROBERT: They do not want us to pass through. ULLA: The whole problem is because the stone which Walter Eidam was talking about is actually a sacred stone. And they do not want us to go there. And it's actually very dangerous because they do sorcery. NARRATOR: So, Ulla tries to work her own magic. NARRATOR: At first her argument meets with resistance. -Yu no kam insead. NARRATOR: The ice is starting to break. Still it won't be enough to get her through today. Ulla is sent packing while the villagers consider her proposal. The next morning, Wingea clan leaders hold a secret meeting. They accept Ulla's offer. With her climbing partner, Franck Tessier, they approach the cliff that they believe is what Walter Eidam described. NARRATOR: Ulla hopes she is closing in on the last mummy. It's a sheer rock face with loose stones. ULLA: Rock! NARRATOR: She has to squeeze through an unstable tangle of bamboo poles, probably the remains of a scaffolding once used to access the cave. Ulla finally enters the cave. At first, she sees only the remains of a bat. A transmitter on her camera allows Ulla to communicate with Ron Beckett and Andrew Nelson below on a drenched plateau. ULLA: Test. Test. Can you hear me? RON: Yes, Ulla, this is Ron and Andrew standing by. ULLA: It's actually very bad news. The cave is empty. No mummy, a lot of bat smell. RON: Any bones at all? ULLA: I'm...checking. I'll have a look for you. RON: Thanks. NARRATOR: Ulla discovers a large bone. Then another. They are human. But where's the rest of the body? Where is Walter Eidam's mummy? RON: I think we have an example here of a different type of burial, one that just obviously decomposed and went to bone. ULLA: But Walter Eidam was saying that he witnessed a mummy being made, and that he witnessed the mummy being put up on the rock. RON: I know. Maybe it's a different rock. Got a little, little bit of lull in the rain. So rappel, rappel, rappel! NARRATOR: The next day, the team catches a break. A local man tells them about another burial site nearby. NARRATOR: A niche in a cliff may contain Walter Eidam's mummy, the one the team has traveled so far to find. The payoff is immediate. ULLA: I found some bones! There was something in here! RON: Take a picture before you move 'em. ULLA: I don't have my camera with me. RON: Then don't move 'em. ANDREW: Don't move 'em. NARRATOR: There's only room for one expedition member at a time near the body. It's covered with twigs and barely accessible to a camera. ANDREW: And I can see the left foot coming down here. And I can indeed see this is a male individual on the basis of the soft tissue preserved. And judging by all the joint surfaces and fused epiphyses, it's clearly an adult. And how old is really anybody's guess. RON: Piece of cake. There are some remnants of tissue stuck to the bone so I think we definitely had a smoked body here. NARRATOR: The guide is covering up the mummy even as Ron Beckett studies it. RON: Fixing him up? Not sure what's happening, but... NARRATOR: What's happening, it seems, is that the local man wants the dead to rest in peac. This mummy may be the last smoked body, the one Walter Eidam saw being made. Disappointingly, it can't offer new insights because its condition is so poor. This is the fate that awaits every mummy here, unless the team helps out with restoration. The three explorers rush off to finish their work on a fast-disintegrating mummy. As soon as they get to Koke village, they'll start working on Moimango. Gemtasu has asked the team to fix up his father. RON: We're trying to establish a new cultural tradition of mummy restoration and mummy repair. We're going to have him be able to be part of this culture for a longer period of time. He's not going to deteriorate quite as rapidly up there on the cliff. That's very exciting. We're not using any modern technologies. We're using jungle materials. This is called tapa. It's made from the bark of the mulberry tree. And they pound it. It's very sturdy, but it's very soft. So it makes perfect patching material. We have some concerns about the jaw and its stability. One of the sides has come loose. ULLA: Aie! That's hot! NARRATOR: For glue, the team uses sap collected from a nearby forest. ULLA: Here, it's fine, my side is perfect. It actually goes right around the joint. RON: Ah, that looks good. Does it look good? NARRATOR: Mended with local materials, Moimango can now keep his son Gemtasu company for a few more years. That evening, the protective coating of ochre is being applied to Moimango on the mountain above Koke village. Gemtasu's grandson is learning this final step of mummification. Now Moimango is ready to return to his position on the cliff. Ulla's quest for the last mummy has led her to what she hopes will be the next mummy, and his final resting place. ULLA: This is your place. Mi no kisim yu die, Gemtasu, yu stap strong. I don't want you to die, but sipos yu die, I would like to do all my best to make your wish become a reality. NARRATOR: Gemtasu is certain. When his time comes, he wants to have a seat beside his father - as a mummy. NARRATOR: Ulla Lohmann was leading an eco-tour in Papua New Guinea when she learned of the news. ULLA: We call it "bush drum," people were just talking to me that Gemtasu has passed away. I remember the moment somebody on the road came up to me and he said, "Ulla, you have to go to Koke. Your dad passed away." I think it was day three or four of his death. I just could not go there. I went back home, just because I thought I cannot cope with the fact that he's getting mummified. And then I could not sleep for about five days back home and um I returned. It was week three of his mummification when I finally got to see him. NARRATOR: By the time Ulla arrived in Koke, Gemtasu's community and family surround the smoking hut. His body was well underway to being fully preserved. ULLA: I came from the bright daylight into the dark smoking hut. And all I could see was the bright fire. My eyes were not adapted to the dark yet. I stared into the fire and then I slowly looked up, I saw Gemtasu's feet being completely black. Then I looked up, I saw his swollen belly. And I was just crying because I had, like, the smoke in my eyes and I think they were also some emotions mixed with it. And then I looked further up his body, saw his chest and I was just, like, tears were streaming, were like coming over my face. And I couldn't see a lot. But then I finally saw his face. And he looked so peaceful. It gave me a big smile somehow, I just couldn't help myself. I smiled back at Gemtasu. And this was the moment where I really felt that he's still there somehow. NARRATOR: Surrounded by generations, the ancient practice is passed down, beginning with Gemtasu's son, Awateng. NARRATOR: As their ancestors before them, they use body fluids to wipe the skin. The face. Hands. NARRATOR: Gemtasu prepared for this time, with great thought. ULLA: Gemtasu has built a round house because it's very important that the smoke can circle it in a certain way, which is only given in a round house. Next to the round house, he has also made a house for the family who has to mummify Gemtasu. So the family is not staying the entire time in the smoking house, they have a different place also. (singing) NARRATOR: Family and clan members hold watch over Gemtasu. Sometimes mourning. Sometimes in celebration. Gemtasu is mummified by seven chosen family members as he wished. The entire process will take three months. During that time, they cannot leave the hut area. They cannot clean themselves. The family members wash the body fluids over their faces being sure they do not touch the ground. Because in the belief of the Anga, if the fluids touch the ground, the earth will scream for more. ULLA: I'm a studied scientist and to me it was really important to look at the entire process of mummification from a scientific angle. Together with Ron Beckett and Andrew Nelson, we documented the process from a scientific side. But then to see Gemtasu being actually mummified, it changed my view. Because it's not only a scientific process, it's the entire belief system which is behind. And Gemtasu, he opened a different world to me. NARRATOR: Ulla spent two weeks with Gemtasu and his family. ULLA: The first three days I couldn't take one single picture. I was still very busy by understanding all what has happened. I mean, I lost my adoptive dad, I lost a really good friend and then there was this ritual of mummification, of looking openly at death. I just couldn't photograph. But then after three days, Gemtasu's family, they asked me about the promise. because Gemtasu wanted me to take pictures during his mummification. He wanted me to document the process, he wanted me to share his story with others, with the world. Because he felt he could give me confidence that life is still continuing after death. So he really wanted to let other people know. NARRATOR: Ulla did not share her photographs with anyone for six months because the emotions were still too strong. ULLA: To photograph the entire process was the hardest thing I've ever done. NARRATOR: Gemtasu will eventually he brought to the gallery and seated beside his father. He will, in the Anga tradition, watch over his family and protect them for eternity. And they will in turn be able to visit him. Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.