Featured photograph by Margot Fink
This story and some of the linked articles describe and show human remains.
Nestled within mountain rock shelters in the Kabayan region of Benguet, the Philippines, lie the ancestors of the Ibaloi people, a distinct Indigenous group in Northern Luzon. Known as “meking” or “fire mummies,” these human remains underwent weeks-long exposure to heat and smoke from fire, uniquely preserving details like hair and tattooed skin for centuries. Practiced for hundreds of years until the early 20th century, what’s still known of the mummification process is now passed down only through oral storytelling, although many of the details have been lost to history.
For National Geographic Explorer Fen Reyes, a cultural objects conservator and current Ph.D. candidate at the University of Melbourne, the mummies struck a personal chord when they unearthed a surprising connection to them within their own family tree.
Fen Reyes capturing site photos while in the field.
Photograph by Margot Fink
“I grew up in central Manila but spent spring months visiting my Ibaloi great-grandmother Lilia Narvaez in Baguio each year,” Reyes shares. After Narvaez’s passing in 2022, Reyes sought ways to connect to her and her heritage and began digging into their Ibaloi ancestry. They discovered Narvaez’s own grandmother had been mummified in the traditional Ibaloi fashion and was inspired to research further into the protection of valuable Ibaloi cultural objects.
Today, Reyes is advocating for and enacting practical solutions to ensure the continued preservation of the fire mummies. To the Ibaloi, the mummies represent culturally sacred ties to their ancestors, whom they continue to consult with for matters from hunting to agriculture, and worship through ritual dances, prayers, and songs. Reyes says, “They are of such local importance that there is a saying: ‘Pag nawala yan … wala na tayong koneksyon sa ating kultura,’ meaning, ‘If [the mummies] are gone … we will lose that connection to our culture.’”
However, increasingly unpredictable climate conditions are causing changes to the once-cooler environments of Luzon’s mountains and burial caves underneath. Years of this fluctuation has resulted in major biodeterioration, including skin discoloration and frequent fungal infestation, Reyes explains.
Fen Reyes taking photos to note the condition of coffins at the Tinongchol burial rock.
Photograph by Margot Fink
Working with a team from the University of Melbourne’s Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation and with the support and guidance of Kabayan community elders and the National Museum of the Philippines, Reyes traveled to Benguet in 2023 to install data loggers in and monitor 10 known and accessible burial caves. These tools track critical measurements like relative humidity and temperature that most significantly impact the preserved remains.
There’s never been a long-term environmental record of the burial caves before, but with their system in place, Reyes’ team receives data from the caves every 30 minutes for a ten-month period. Reyes firmly believes collecting measurements now will both provide insight into the mechanisms behind mummy deterioration and help inform future endeavors to manage, treat and prevent decay. By training and engaging local caretakers together in this work, they also hope to return agency around cultural artifacts to Kabayan communities.
To Reyes, this work is a quest to preserve an irreplaceable cultural heritage for many, including themself: “The mummies represent the ancestors and amazing culture of the past, but without intervention in the present, their future is at risk.”
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Melissa Zhu is a Content Strategy Coordinator for the National Geographic Society with a love for language’s ability to articulate the fullness of human experience. When she’s not focused on advancing the nonprofit mission of the Society, you might find her immersed in a good book.
