The Scientific Study of Mummies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF MUMMIES Arthur C. Aufderheide, M.D. University of Minnesota, Duluth The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011–4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Arthur Aufderheide 2003 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2003 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Ehrhardt 9.5/13 pt System QuarkXPress™ [] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Aufderheide, Arthur C. The scientific study of mummies / Arthur C. Aufderheide. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 81826 5 (hb) 1. Mummies. 2. Paleopathology. I. Title. R134.8.A934 2002 616.07′093–dc21 2002024698 ISBN 0 521 81826 5 hardback The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no reponsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Contents Preface xiii Personal or population status and/or security 30 Acknowledgments xvi Mechanisms that fueled the later, widespread practice of Egyptian mummification 30 1 History of mummy studies 1 War trophies 31 Introduction 1 Regulation of spiritual force of the deceased 32 Justification of studies 1 Aleuts 33 Ethical aspects of mummy studies 2 Temporary mummification 34 The Archaic Period 3 Summary of ethnohistorical observations 36 Classical Greek and Roman periods 5 Application of defined mummification purposes The Dark Ages 5 to ancient populations 37 The Renaissance 5 The Guanches of Tenerife 37 Scientific rustlings in the eighteenth century 6 The Chinchorros of north Chile 38 The autopsy in the nineteenth century 7 Mummy dissections in the nineteenth century 8 3 Mechanisms of mummification 41 The twentieth century 11 Introduction and definition 41 Egyptomania of the first quarter 11 Principles of mummification 41 The irresolution of the second quarter 16 The postmortem decay process 41 Reawakening of the third quarter 17 Factors influencing enzyme action 42 Dynamism of the fourth quarter 17 Mummification mechanisms 43 Desiccation 43 2 The purpose of anthropogenic Thermal effects 48 mummification 22 Chemical effects 50 Introduction 22 Anaerobiasis and plaster mummies 56 Enhancement of royal authority in a theocracy 23 Miscellaneous mummification methods 58 The Inca empire 23 Excarnation (defleshing) 62 Early Egypt 25 Indeterminate mummification mechanisms 64 Summary of mummification practices related History of modern embalming practices 66 to political power 28 vii Contents 4 The geography of mummies 72 Mummies from San Pedro de Atacama, MUMMIES FROM NORTH AMERICA 72 Chile 154 Mummies from Canada 72 Mummies from Iquique 155 Mummies from the Canadian Arctic 72 Mummies in Santiago museums 156 Mummies from Western Canada 73 Ancient Andean coca-leaf-chewing practices 157 Mummies from Central and Eastern Canada 74 Mummies from Argentina 159 Mummies from the USA 74 Mummies from the Museo de Arqueología y Mummies from Alaska 74 Antropología, La Plata 159 Western USA 80 Eva Perón mummy 159 The cave mummies from the Southeast 82 Mummies at the Museo Etnográfico Miscellaneous mummies 84 “J. Ambrosetti” in Buenos Aires 161 Mummies from Mexico 88 Mummies from Brazil 161 The mummies from Guanajuato 88 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 161 Mummies from other Mexican sites 89 MUMMIES FROM EUROPE 161 Mummies from Central America 92 Mummies from Spain 161 MUMMIES FROM SOUTH AMERICA 92 Canary Island mummies (Guanches) 161 Mummies from Venezuela 92 Hydrocephalic mummy 166 Mummies from Ecuador 92 Miscellaneous mummies from Spain 166 The Jivaros (Shuar) 92 Mummies from Madrid 167 Mummies from Colombia 96 Mummies from Portugal 167 The geography of Colombia 96 Mummies from France 167 Pre-Hispanic mummifying Colombian John Paul Jones 167 populations 96 Miscellaneous mummies from France 169 Mummification methods of Colombia 97 Mummies from Germany 169 Purpose of Colombian mummification 101 Mummies from Austria 170 Mummies from Peru 102 Austrian catacomb mummies 170 Preceramic Period (prior to 1800 BC) 102 Hallstatt’s “salt mummies” 171 Initial Period and Early Horizon Tyrolean glacier bodies 171 (1800–200 BC) 104 Mummies from Switzerland 172 Early Intermediate and Middle Horizon Franciscan friars at Basel 172 mummies (200 BC to AD 400) 107 Other mummified clerics 172 Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1470) 116 Mummies of historical figures 172 Late Horizon (AD 1470–1534) 122 Bog bodies of northern Europe, England The Colonial Period (AD 1534–1821) 129 and Ireland 172 Summary of mummies from Peru 134 Peat bogs 173 Mummies from Chile 135 Preservation features of peat bog mummies 175 Geography and climate 135 Number and chronology of bog mummies 176 Synopsis of prehistory and history of Chilean Cultural nature of bog mummies 176 populations 139 Overview of some well-known bog mummies 178 Mummification features of northern Chile 141 Mummies from Ireland 181 Coastal and low valley sites near Arica, Chile 142 Miscellaneous mummies from Scotland 181 Summary of Arica area mummies 151 Mummies from Denmark 183 viii Contents The Mound people from the Bronze Age 183 Sociohistorical features of the Archaic Period 220 The preserved brains from Denmark’s medieval Mummification features of the Archaic Period 222 monastery 183 The Old Kingdom 223 Greenland mummies 184 Sociohistorical features of the Old Kingdom 223 Mummies from Sweden 187 Mummification features of the Old Kingdom 224 Freeze-dried mummies of Arctic balloonists 187 The First Intermediate Period 226 Mummies from northern Scandinavia 190 Sociohistorical features of the First Mummies from Lapland 190 Intermediate Period 226 Mummies from Hungary 191 Mummification features of the First Mummies from the Czech Republic 192 Intermediate Period 227 Mummies from Italy 192 The Middle Kingdom 227 Catacomb mummies from Venzone 193 Sociohistorical features of the Middle Mummies from Urbania, Central Italy 194 Kingdom 227 Catacomb mummies from Palermo, Sicily 195 Mummification features of the Middle Mummies from Savoca, Sicily, and Ferentillo, Kingdom 228 Tuscany 198 The Second Intermediate Period 230 Catacomb mummies from Navelli, Central Sociohistorical features of the Second Italy 199 Intermediate Period 230 Mummies from Arezzo, Tuscany 199 Mummification features of the Second Mummies from Abbey of St Domenico Intermediate Period 230 Maggiore, Naples 199 The New Kingdom 232 Mummies of Italian saints 201 Sociohistorical features of the New Kingdom 232 Miscellaneous Italian mummies 202 Mummification features of the New Kingdom 235 Mummies from Greece 206 Non-royal mummies from the New Kingdom 241 Mummies from Russia and Ukraine 207 The Third Intermediate Period 242 Mummies from the Siberian steppes 207 Sociohistorical features of the Third Russia’s royal Romanov mummies 209 Intermediate Period 242 The mummy of Nicholas Rubinstein 210 Mummification features of the Third The mummy of Vladimir Ilich Lenin 210 Intermediate Period 242 Miscellaneous mummies from Europe 211 The Late Period 245 Cromwell’s head 211 Sociohistorical features of the Late Period 245 MUMMIES FROM EGYPT AND THE Mummification features of the Late Period 245 REST OF AFRICA 212 Egypt’s Greek Period 247 Geography and climate of Egypt 212 Kings of the Ptolemaic Dynasty 247 Nubia 216 Sociohistorical features of Egypt’s Greek Sources of our knowledge 217 (Ptolemaic) Period 247 The Predynastic Period 217 Mummification features of Egypt’s Greek Sociohistorical features of the Predynastic (Ptolemaic) Period 248 Period 217 The Roman and Greco-Roman Periods 248 Mummification features of the Predynastic Sociohistorical features of the Roman Period 248 Period 219 Mummification features of the Greco-Roman The Archaic (Early Dynastic) Period 220 Period 248 ix Contents Mummies after the Roman Period 250 5 Soft tissue taphonomy 287 Use of Egyptian mummification methods as a Introduction 287 dating system 250 The taphonomy of proteins 287 Egyptian mummification materials 251 Normal protein structure 287 Body cleansing agents 252 Methods of protein degradation 288 Body stuffing materials 252 Applications of protein degradation principles 289 Anointing materials 255 The taphonomy of nucleic acids 294 Desiccating agents 255 The taphonomy of lipids 294 Cosmetic materials 256 Normal lipid composition of the human body 294 Disposal of the viscera (canopic apparatus) 257 Postmortem alterations of human body lipids 295 Mummies from Northern Africa 259 Summary of the taphonomy of human lipids 298 Mummies from Libya 259 Mummification by adipocere formation 299 Plaster burials from Northern Africa 259 The taphonomy of carbohydrates 300 MUMMIES FROM THE MIDDLE EAST The taphonomy of bone mineral 300 AND ASIA 260 Soft tissue taphonomic agents: water 301 Mummies from Jordan 260 Soft tissue taphonomic agents: heavy metal ions 304 Mummies from Lebanon 260 Arsenic (As) 304 The mummified patriarch 261 Mercury (Hg) 304 The mummy of Alexander the Great 261 Copper