Editing Mummy (section)

=== Oceania ===
[[File:Robley with mokomokai collection 2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Horatio Gordon Robley with his [[mokomokai]] collection.]]

Mummies from [[Oceania]] are not limited only to [[Australia]]. Discoveries of mummified remains have also been located in [[New Guinea]], [[New Zealand]], and the [[Torres Strait]],{{sfn|Cockburn|Cockburn|Reyman|1998|p=289}} though these mummies have been historically harder to examine and classify.{{sfn|Aufderheide|2003|p=277}} Prior to the 20th century, most literature on mummification in the region was either silent or anecdotal.<ref name=Dawson /> However, the boom of interest generated by the scientific study of Egyptian mummification lead to more concentrated study of mummies in other cultures, including those of Oceania.

==== Australia ====

The aboriginal mummification traditions found in [[Australia]] are thought be related to those found in the [[Torres Strait]] islands,<ref name=Dawson>{{cite journal |last=Dawson |first=Warren |title=Mummification in Australia and in America |journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |year=1928 |volume=58 |pages=115–138 |jstor=4619529}}</ref> the inhabitants of which achieved a high level of sophisticated mummification techniques. Australian mummies lack some of the technical ability of the Torres Strait mummies, however much of the ritual aspects of the mummification process are similar.<ref name=Dawson /> Full-body mummification was achieved by these cultures, but not the level of artistic preservation as found on smaller islands. The reason for this seems to be for easier transport of bodies by more nomadic tribes.<ref name=Dawson />

==== New Guinea ====

Until the mid-twentieth century, the [[Angu]] (or Anga) people of [[Papua New Guinea]] practiced mummification by [[Smoking (cooking)|smoking]] the bodies of the dead.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20151130-one-of-most-bizarre-rituals-of-the-ancient-world|title=The smoked corpses of Aseki|first=Ian Lloyd|last=Neubauer|website=www.bbc.com}}</ref> Sites of their preserved mummies exist in the [[Morobe Province]].

==== Torres Strait ====

The mummies of the Torres Strait have a considerably higher level of preservation technique as well as creativity compared to those found on Australia.<ref name=Dawson /> The process began with removal of viscera, after which the bodies were set in a seated position on a platform and either left to dry in the sun or smoked over a fire in order to aid in desiccation. In the case of smoking, some tribes would collect the fat that drained from the body to mix with ocher to create red paint that would then be smeared back on the skin of the mummy.<ref name=Melanesia>{{cite web |last=Deem |first=James |title=Melanesia Mummies |url=http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/group/melanesia.htm |access-date=15 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015193124/http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/group/melanesia.htm |archive-date=15 October 2013 }}</ref> The mummies remained on the platforms, decorated with the clothing and jewelry they wore in life, before being buried.<ref name=Dawson /><ref name=Melanesia />

==== New Zealand ====
{{Main|Mokomokai}}

Some [[Māori people|Māori]] tribes from New Zealand would keep mummified heads as trophies from tribal warfare.<ref name=Maori1 /> They are also known as [[Mokomokai]]. In the 19th century, many of the trophies were acquired by Europeans who found the tattooed skin to be a phenomenal curiosity. Westerners began to offer valuable commodities in exchange for the uniquely tattooed mummified heads. The heads were later put on display in museums, 16 of them in France alone. In 2010, at a ceremony in the [[Hôtel de Ville, Rouen|Hôtel de Ville]] in Rouen, Rouen City Council returned one of the heads to New Zealand, despite earlier protests by the Culture Ministry of France.<ref name=Maori1>{{cite web|title=Mummified Maori head returned to NZ|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/mummified-maori-head-returned-to-nz-after-136-years.htm|publisher=Australian Geographic|access-date=13 November 2013|date=10 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204030056/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/mummified-maori-head-returned-to-nz-after-136-years.htm|archive-date=4 December 2013}}</ref>

There is also evidence that some Māori tribes may have practiced full-body mummification, though the practice is not thought to have been widespread.<ref name=Orchiston>{{cite journal |last=Orchiston |first=D. Wayne |title=The Practice of Mummification Among the New Zealand Maori |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |year=1968 |volume=77 |issue=2 |pages=186–190 |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_77_1968/Volume_77,_No._2/The_practice_of_mummification_among_the_New_Zealand_Maori,_by_Wayne_Orchiston,_p_186_-_190/p1 |access-date=13 November 2013}}</ref> The discussion of Māori mummification has been historically controversial, with some experts in past decades claiming that such mummies have never existed.<ref name=Tregear>{{cite journal |last=Tregear |first=Edward |title=Maori Mummies |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |year=1916 |volume=25 |issue=100 |pages=167–168 |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=1053 |access-date=13 November 2013}}</ref>
The historical significance of full-body mummification within Māori culture is acknowledged by science, although there is still debate as to the nature of their exact mummification processes. Some mummies appear to have been spontaneously created by the natural environment, while others exhibit signs of direct human involvement. Generally, modern consensus tends to agree that there could have been a mixture of both types of mummification, similar to that of the Ancient Egyptian culture.<ref name=Orchiston />