Kabayan Mummy Burial Caves (2006)Kabayan Mummy Burial Caves (2006) is a Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites located at Kabayan, Benguet, CAR.
Kabayan is one of the Municipality of Benguet Province in the Cordillera Mountain Ranges of northern Luzon. The municipality is recognized as a center of Ibaloi Culture. The Ibaloi, the dominant ethno-linguistic group, of Kabayan have a long traditional practice of mummifying their dead. Mummification began prior to the Spanish colonization. Individuals from the higher societal stratum of the Ibaloi of Kabayan used to be mummified through a long ritual process over a long period of time. The process of mummification using salt and herbs and set under fire may take up to two years. When the body is finally rid of body fluids, the mummy is placed inside a pinewood coffin and laid to rest in a man-made cave or in niche dug-out from solid rock. During the Spanish period, Christianity spread and took a foothold in the mountains of Benguet and the practice of mummification and cave burial was abandoned. The remains are then placed in wooden coffins and interred in man-made burial niches in rocks or rock shelters and/or natural caves.
Strategically located in the mountain slopes of the municipality of Kabayan, more than 200 man-made burial caves have been identified and 15 of which contain preserved human mummies. (Source: http://whc.unesco.org/)
Kabayan Mummies – Acknowledged as a center of Ibaloi culture, Kabayan is known for its cave and rock formations, both of which were used for the burial of the mummified bodies of their ancestors. Ibaloi mummification practices are believed to predate the arrival of the Spanish. The procedure of mummification makes use of salt, herbs and smoking. To get rid of the fluids, the process may last up to two years. When the body is finally devoid of finals, the mummy is placed inside a pinewood coffin and placed in a cave or in a hole dug out from a large rock or boulder. The movement of populations is believed to have facilitated the spread of mummification practices to nearby provinces.