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Modern Technology Reveals Mummy's Past By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press Writer Chicago Tribune
ST. LOUIS -- The baby mummy had a European mother, and likely came from a wealthy family. But where he lived and why he died--and at such a young age--remain a mystery.
The mummy, exhibited for the first time Thursday at the St. Louis Science Center, has been the yearlong focus of an international team of investigators. The museum said it may be the most extensive research project ever undertaken on a child mummy.
Acquired by a Hermann, Mo., dentist at the turn of the century in the Middle East, the mummy ended up in an attic of some of his relatives, before being donated to the science center in 1985.
It sat in a museum warehouse until Al Wiman joined the center as vice president two years ago and suggested that modern medical technology could unlock its secrets.
A team of radiologists and geneticists from Washington University studied the mummy. Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist and mummy specialist at The American University in Cairo; anthropologist Dean Falk at Florida State University; and Emilia Cortes of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York also agreed to help.
A snippet of the mummy's wrapping tested for carbon dating suggested the child lived between 30 B.C. and A.D. 130 in Egypt's Roman period.
Three-dimensional images from CT scans of the child's bones, skull, teeth and body cavity suggested he lived to be 7 or 8 months. The scans revealed a long wooden rod against the baby's back that supported the mummy wrapping. All of the scans were done without having to remove the wrap.
One of the most interesting finds was a series of amulets in the boy's body cavity and in the wrapping, suggesting his family was well-off.
"The wrapping was a protective cocoon for the body," said Charles Hildebolt, a Washington University dentist and anthropologist. "Prayers and amulets were a protective cocoon for the metaphysical soul."
Corpses prepared for mummification were soaked in a salt and baking soda solution for 40 days, then kept in oils for 30 days.
Washington University geneticist Anne Bowcock said she feared the DNA would have undergone chemical changes or been contaminated by those who handled the corpse. But that wasn't a problem.
The challenge was boring into the mummy, which had petrified, to get three samples of degraded muscle, tissue and bone. She succeeded by inserting a thick needle into the chest and shoulder. After that, she extracted DNA using routine methods. Tests showed the boy's mother was European. She plans more tests to determine his father's ancestry.
Bowcock said it was amazing to get anything at all from 2,000-year-old DNA.
Science center staff members were concerned that the exhibit would be disrespectful of the dead. But Egyptologist Ikram said the hope was instead that it would honor the child's life.
A "mummy prayer" accompanying the exhibit speaks of "all things good and pure on which a god lives, to the spirit of the revered Child, the justified one." __________________
Posts: 1967 | From: USA | Registered: Oct 2006
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Child of Roman nobility/royalty? They need to do studies on some Old Kingdom mummies, now that would be interesting.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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The challenge was boring into the mummy, which had petrified, to get three samples of degraded muscle, tissue and bone. She succeeded by inserting a thick needle into the chest and shoulder. After that, she extracted DNA using routine methods. Tests showed the boy's mother was European. She plans more tests to determine his father's ancestry.
Bowcock said it was amazing to get anything at all from 2,000-year-old DNA.
And what marker did they say that they came up with [and yes, I'm aware that it supposedly dates back to the Roman period in Egypt]?
Posts: 5964 | Registered: Jan 2005
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