Akima Mummy

A short walk from the main road in Akima village brings you to a honai that houses an ancestral mummy roughly 250 years old. The custodian carries the mummy out for visitors, holds it for photographs, and answers questions through a guide.

A small fee is expected — typically a few hundred thousand rupiah for the household and the village. Treat the visit as you would a religious site, because for the Dani this is exactly what it is.

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A story
The mummy at Akima village is one of the most photographed in Papua — a smoke-blackened figure of a Dani warrior chief, held by the village elder during viewing in a small honai. The mummies were preserved by being smoked over the central hearth for months after death; the practice ended in the mid-20th century but the surviving mummies are still treated as living ancestors.

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