If you've watched National Geographic or TLC/Discovery Channel on mummies of South America, chances are, you've seen some of our work. We've has been called upon to create replicas for tv, film and museums.

Chinchorro Mummies

(Click here to see a better view of the skull)

A little about the mummies: 3,500 years before the Egyptian priests mastered their own mortuary arts, small bands of people (called the Chinchorro) living along the coasts of southern Peru and northern Chile were already adept at creating aesthetic and complex representations of their dead.The two most complex forms of artificial mummification, known as the black and red styles, were utilized from approximately 5,000 to 1,500 BC. Read more about them here.

Russ Hapke is an archaeologist and artist who has studied first-hand the craftsmanship of the mummies, supervises their replication. Adult, child, infant, or fetus mummies in both styles can be recreated: either as they once were upon 'original creation', or as they are today.

Other replica work has included: Woodland Era copper bracelets, Copper beaded necklaces, body parts, prehistoric ceramics, and wooden items. Below is a sample...

Mississippian owl jar replica

Hammered copper beads on display at the Indiana State Museum