1. The purpose of the writer with this text is to inform readers about the history and nature of mummies, including their preservation and cultural significance.

2. The first paragraph discusses the preservation of a mummy, which is a body that has been preserved by exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness, low humidity, or lack of air.

3. The mummies will not easily decay further if they are kept in cool and dry conditions.

4. The purpose of mummification long ago was to preserve the bodies of the dead, often for religious or spiritual reasons. In some cultures, mummification was also seen as a way to prepare the body for the afterlife.

5. Paragraph 3 tells readers about the oldest known naturally mummified human corpse and the oldest-known deliberate mummy. The naturally mummified human corpse is a decapitated head that is 6,000 years old, while the oldest-known deliberate mummy is a child from the Camarones Valley in Chile that dates back to around 5050 BC. The paragraph also mentions the Chinchorro mummies, which date back thousands of years before the more well-known Egyptian mummies.