Arica, a port city on the edge of the Atacama desert, is the driest place on the planet.
There are dozens of orange markers on the slope. Strong winds and increased precipitation have been noted as reasons for the skeletal remains being uncovered.
Archaeologists place a flag on a body and bury it again.
The Chinchorro is an ancient culture of hunters and fishers who mummified their dead. After stripping their loved ones of their skin and organs, they swaddled their skeletons in elaborate confections of reeds, sea lion skins, clay, alpaca wool, and wigs of human hair, trusting in the arid desert climate to preserve them for eternity.
Their gravesites are being disturbed by abnormal weather linked to the climate crisis, and their remains are left exposed to the elements.
This presents archaeologists with a dilemma: either to save everything they can, or to simply cover up the corpses and focus on studying mummies.
The museums are a bit overwhelmed with all the material, according to a leading expert on the Chinchorro.
The mummies are 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 888-282-0476 Some are being eaten by insects while others are being sprouted with mould.
Their mix of materials makes it hard to get the right storage conditions.
The sand around the Chinchorro bodies was speckled with white fragments, and the bones were turning to dust.
The Chinchorro mummies were inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list in July of last year.
The beginning of construction this year of a new, climate-controlled museum near Arica is expected to help arrest the disappearance of what Arriaza calls a "hidden treasure."
The earliest examples of deliberate mummification are the Chinchorro mummies.
They were first embalmed and entombed in pyramids more than two centuries before Egyptian pharaohs were first embalmed.
They have a striking aesthetic value and poignant human resonance.
The semi-nomadic coastal dwellers did not build any monuments. The Chinchorro transform their dead into works of pre-Hispanic art.
60 miles south of Arica lies Caleta Camarones, which may be where the feeling first emerged.
The first Chinchorro to settle here probably chose the spot because of its fresh drinking water and abundant animal life. Arriaza said that it had hidden dangers.
The safe human limit for arsenic is 1000 micrograms per liter. The analysis of hair samples shows that the Chinchorro suffered high rates of miscarriages and infant deaths as a result of poisoning themselves with every drink of water.
The earliest Chinchorro mummies are made of sticks and adorned with masks of black manganese.
The mummification of Chinchorro began over 3,500 years ago and evolved through the use of feathers and bandages of pelican skin.
The residents of Caleta Camarones feel a strong affinity with the Chinchorro, according to a group of fishing families who settled here 30 years ago.
He said it was not a genetic link but a natural connection.
Ardiles drove his battered truck along the shoreline and pointed out the deep excavations lined with discarded shells.
The oldest mummies in the world were found there.
A few metres above the track, resting on ancient reed mats, several skeletons jutted out of the scree, uncovered by wind and rain, and now at the mercy of grave robbers and the elements.
Ardiles lamented that the authorities don't care.
The fisher said that a basic site museum should show the Chinchorro artifacts found by locals.
Efforts to get small-scale tourism initiatives off the ground have stopped because of a decades-long land dispute.
The local mayor said that visitors are often disappointed not to find pristine corpses in the palaces.
He said that the history is below the ground.
The current redrafting of its constitution could force the government to better protect and promote mummies.
The mayor gestured at the slope and said, "If we don't look after the Chinchorro, they'll disappear."
The effects of ecological upheaval are being felt by the living. Ardiles said that the ocean is emptying of marine life.
The younger generation are abandoning fishing and entering the mining industry, which is under fire for exhausting water resources.
Ardiles said that the fishermen would disappear like the Chinchorro.
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