Cradling the centuries-old mummy of his ancestor, tribe leader Eli Mabel lays bare an ancient tradition that has all but vanished among the Dani people in the Papuan central highlands.

Wamena, Indonesia 🇮🇩

Cradling the centuries-old mummy of his ancestor, tribe leader Eli Mabel lays bare an ancient tradition that has all but vanished among the Dani people in the Papuan central highlands.

The shrunken, blackened figure he carries was Agat Mamete Mabel, a chieftain who ruled over this remote village in Indonesian Papua about 200 years ago. He was embalmed and preserved with smoke and animal oil after his death, an honour reserved only for important elders and local heroes among the Dani.

Nine generations on and his descendent Eli Mabel is the chieftain in Wogi village – an isolated hamlet outside Wamena that can be reached only by hiking and canoe. He said the exact age of Agat Mamete Mabel was not known, but he was the last of the village to receive such a funeral. Once common among his forebears, the ritual method of smoke embalming is no longer practised.

The mummy, decorated with pig tusks slung around the torso, a feathered headpiece and traditional Koteka, rests in a hut known as a “honai”. This wide domed thatched hut is tended year round by a select few villagers who keep a fire burning to ensure the corpse remains dry and preserved.

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