A synthetic radiological study of brain treatment in ancient Egyptian mummies

Digital Unwrapping of the Mummy of King Amenhotep I (1525-1504 BC) Using CT

The mummy of King Amenhotep I (18th Dynasty c.1525-1504 BC) was reburied by the 21st Dynasty priests at Deir el-Bahari Royal Cache. In 1881 the mummy was found fully wrapped and was one of few royal mummies that have not been unwrapped in modern times. We hypothesized that non-invasive digital unwrapping using CT would provide insights on the physical appearance, health, cause of death, and mummification style of the mummy of King Amenhotep I. We examined the mummy with CT and generated two- and three-dimensional images for the head mask, bandages, and the virtually unwrapped mummy. CT enabled the visualization of the face of Amenhotep I who died around the age of 35 years. The teeth had minimal attrition. There was no CT evidence of pathological changes or cause of death. The body has been eviscerated via a vertical left flank incision. The heart is seen in the left hemithorax with an overlying amulet. The brain has not been removed. The mummy has 30 amulets/jewelry pieces including a beaded metallic (likely gold) girdle. The mummy suffered from multiple postmortem injuries likely inflicted by tomb robbers that have been likely treated by 21st Dynasty embalmers. These included fixing the detached head and neck to the body with a resin-treated linen band; covering a defect in the anterior abdominal wall with a band and placing two amulets beneath; placement of the detached left upper limb beside the body and wrapping it to the body. The transversely oriented right forearm is individually wrapped, likely representing the original 18th Dynasty mummification and considered the first known New Kingdom mummy with crossed arms at the chest. The head mask is made of cartonnage and has inlaid stone eyes. The digital unwrapping of the mummy of Amenhotep I using CT sets a unique opportunity to reveal the physical features of the King non-invasively, understand the mummification style early in the 18th Dynasty, and the reburial intervention style by 21st Dynasty embalmers. This study may make us gain confidence in the goodwill of the reburial project of the Royal mummies by the 21st dynasty priests.

The importance of the nasopharynx and anterior skull base in excerebration techniques from KV40, a New Kingdom Egyptian site

In ancient Egypt, a unique technique for removing the brain was invented as part of the mummification practice and refined over the centuries. This usually involved piercing the anterior skull base through a nasal passage to remove the brain remnants through that perforation. From 2010 to 2018, an interdisciplinary team of the Universities of Basel and Zurich investigated tomb no. 40 (KV40) in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt. Archaeological findings indicate a first burial phase during the mid-18th Dynasty (ca. 1400-1350 BCE) and a second in the 22nd to 25th Dynasty (approx. 900-700 BCE). Repeated looting since ancient times severely damaged and commingled the human remains of the two burial phases. The detailed examination of the skulls showed evidence of different transnasal craniotomy practices. This study aims to provide a systematic presentation of the evidence for different excerebration techniques found in the mummy heads, skulls, and skull fragments from KV40, reflecting the long period of occupancy of this tomb by individuals of different social classes.

The Corpse: Time for Another Look A Review of the Culture of Embalming, Viewing and the Social Construction

Embalming of the dead is more common in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Battles far from home during the Civil War with concern for contagion from dead bodies being shipped home compelled President Lincoln to direct the troops to use embalming to allow the return of the Union dead to their homes. Viewings were common with war heroes and culminated with the viewing of Lincoln himself. In the 20th century embalming became a tradition despite substantial evidence indicating environmental and occupational hazards related to embalming fluids and carbon dioxide generated from manufacturing steel coffins before placing in concrete burial vaults. Embalming is promoted and considered helpful to the grieving process. Embalmers are expected to produce an illusion of rest, an image that in some ways disguises death for the benefit of mourners. The dead are carefully displayed in a condition of liminal repose where the 'true' condition is hidden, and death is removed from the actual event. In this paper we highlight the spiritual and cultural complexities of embalming related issues. We propose an innovative process to empower people facing serious illness, and their families to make shared and informed decisions, especially when death is an expected outcome.

Combined computed tomography and position-resolved X-ray diffraction of an intact Roman-era Egyptian portrait mummy

Hawara Portrait Mummy 4, a Roman-era Egyptian portrait mummy, was studied with computed tomography (CT) and with CT-guided synchrotron X-ray diffraction mapping. These are the first X-ray diffraction results obtained non-invasively from objects within a mummy. The CT data showed human remains of a 5-year-old child, consistent with the female (but not the age) depicted on the portrait. Physical trauma was not evident in the skeleton. Diffraction at two different mummy-to-detector separations allowed volumetric mapping of features including wires and inclusions within the wrappings and the skull and femora. The largest uncertainty in origin determination was approximately 1.5 mm along the X-ray beam direction, and diffraction- and CT-determined positions matched. Diffraction showed that the wires were a modern dual-phase steel and showed that the 7 × 5 × 3 mm inclusion ventral of the abdomen was calcite. Tracing the 00.2 and 00.4 carbonated apatite (bone's crystalline phase) reflections back to their origins produced cross-sectional maps of the skull and of femora; these maps agreed with transverse CT slices within approximately 1 mm. Coupling CT and position-resolved X-ray diffraction, therefore, offers considerable promise for non-invasive studies of mummies.

Decorated bodies for eternal life: A multidisciplinary study of late Roman Period stucco-shrouded portrait mummies from Saqqara (Egypt)

This study focuses on the multidisciplinary investigation of three stucco-shrouded mummies with mummy portrait from Egypt dating from the late 3^rd to the middle of the 4^th century AD, corresponding to the late Roman Period. These three mummies were excavated in the early 17^th and late 19^th centuries in the Saqqara necropolis near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis. Two of them experienced an interesting collection history, when they became part of the collection of the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland August II in Dresden, Germany, in 1728. The investigation includes information about the mummies’ discovery, collection history and shroud decoration obtained through Egyptological expertise. In addition, information on the state of preservation, technique of artificial mummification, age at death, sex, body height and health of the deceased was achieved through computed tomography (CT) analysis. Research yielded an adult male, a middle-aged female and a young female. Due to the rather poorly preserved bodies of the male and middle-aged female, a specific technique of artificial mummification could not be ascertained. Brain and several internal organs of the well-preserved young female were identified. Wooden boards, beads of necklaces, a hairpin, and metal dense items, such as lead seals, nails and two coins or medallions were discovered. Paleopathological findings included carious lesions, Schmorl’s nodes, evidence of arthritis and a vertebral hemangioma. The study revealed insights on the decoration and burial preparation of individuals of upper socioeconomic status living in the late Roman Period, as well as comprehensive bioanthropological information of the deceased.

Experimental mummification-In the tracks of the ancient Egyptians

Understanding natural and artificial postmortem alterations in different tissues of the human body is essential for bioarchaeology, paleogenetics, physical anthropology, forensic medicine, and many related disciplines. With this study, we tried to gain a better understanding of tissue alterations associated with the artificial mummification techniques of ancient Egypt, in particular for mummified visceral organs. We used several entire porcine organs and organ sections (liver, lung, stomach, ileum, and colon), which provided a close approximation to human organs. First, we dehydrated the specimens in artificial natron, before applying natural ointments, according to the ancient literary sources and recent publications. We periodically monitored the temperature, pH value, and weight of the specimens, in addition to radiodensity and volumetric measurements by clinical computed tomography and sampling for histological, bacteriological, and molecular analyses. After seven weeks, mummification was seen completed in all specimens. We observed a considerable loss of weight and volume, as well as similar courses in the decay of tissue architecture but varying levels of DNA degradation. Bacteriologically we did not detect any of the initially identified taxa in the samples by the end of the mummification process, nor any fungi. This feasibility study established an experimental protocol for future experiments modeling ancient Egyptian mummification of visceral organs using human specimens. Understanding desiccation and mummification processes in non-pathological tissues of specific visceral organs may help to identify and interpret disease-specific alterations in mummified tissues in ancient Egyptian canopic jars and organ packages contained in whole mummies.

Multidisciplinary investigation of two Egyptian child mummies curated at the University of Tartu Art Museum, Estonia (Late/Graeco-Roman Periods)

Two ancient Egyptian child mummies at the University of Tartu Art Museum (Estonia) were, according to museum records, brought to Estonia by the young Baltic-German scholar Otto Friedrich von Richter, who had travelled in Egypt during the early 19th century. Although some studies of the mummies were conducted, a thorough investigation has never been made. Thus, an interdisciplinary team of experts studied the remains using the most recent analytical methods in order to provide an exhaustive analysis of the remains. The bodies were submitted for osteological and archaeothanatological study, radiological investigation, AMS radiocarbon dating, chemical and textile analyses, 3D modelling, entomological as well as aDNA investigation. Here we synthesize the results of one of the most extensive multidisciplinary analyses of ancient Egyptian child mummies, adding significantly to our knowledge of such examples of ancient funerary practices.

Radiological findings in ancient Egyptian canopic jars: comparing three standard clinical imaging modalities (x-rays, CT and MRI)

Background

The aim of our study was to evaluate the potential and the limitations of standard clinical imaging modalities for the examination of ancient Egyptian canopic jars and the mummified visceral organs (putatively) contained within them.

Methods

A series of four ancient Egyptian canopic jars was imaged comparing the three standard clinical imaging modalities: x-rays, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Additionally, imaging-data-based volumetric calculations were performed for quantitative assessment of the jar contents.

Results

The image contrast of the x-ray images was limited by the thickness and high density of the calcite mineral constituting the examined jars. CT scans showed few artefacts and revealed hyperdense structures of organ-specific morphology, surrounded by a hypodense homogeneous material. The image quality of MRI scans was limited by the low amount of water present in the desiccated jar contents. Nevertheless, areas of pronounced signal intensity coincided well with hyperdense structures previously identified on CT scans. CT-based volumetric calculations revealed holding capacities of the jars of 626–1319 cm³ and content volumes of 206–1035 cm³.

Conclusions

CT is the modality of choice for non-invasive examination of ancient Egyptian canopic jars. However, despite its limitations, x-ray imaging will often remain the only practicable method for on-site investigations. Overall, the presented radiological findings are more compatible with contained small organ fragments rather than entire mummified organs, as originally expected, with consequent implications for envisioned future sampling for chemical and genetic analysis.

Radiological findings in an ancient Iranian salt mummy (Chehrābād ca. 410-350 BC)

OBJECTIVE

To study pathologies, peri- and postmortal alterations as well as the general preservation state of an ancient Iranian salt mummy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Several mummified remains from two different time periods (1500-2500 BP) were found in the Chehrābād salt mine in Iran. Computed tomography was performed on Salt Man #4 (410-350 BC), the best preserved out of the six salt mummies (Siemens, Sensation 16; 512 × 512 matrix; 0.75-5 mm slice thickness, 240-mA tube current, 120-kV tube voltage, and 0.976-mm pixel size).

RESULTS

Radiological analyses showed an excellent state of preservation of an adolescent body. Several normal variants such as aplasia of the frontal sinus as well as a rare congenital deformation of the 5th vertebral body (butterfly vertebra) have been observed. The individual shows multiple fractures, which is consistent with the theory that he died due to a collapse in the ancient salt mine.

CONCLUSIONS

The salt preserved the soft tissue as well as parts of the inner organs remarkably well. However, further investigations including histology are needed to reveal additional details of the health status of this unique salt mummy.

The journey of discovering skull base anatomy in ancient Egypt and the special influence of Alexandria

The field of anatomy, one of the most ancient sciences, first evolved in Egypt. From the Early Dynastic Period (3100 bc) until the time of Galen at the end of the 2nd century ad, Egypt was the center of anatomical knowledge, including neuroanatomy. Knowledge of neuroanatomy first became important so that sacred rituals could be performed by ancient Egyptian embalmers during mummification procedures. Later, neuroanatomy became a science to be studied by wise men at the ancient temple of Memphis. As religious conflicts developed, the study of the human body became restricted. Myths started to replace scientific research, squelching further exploration of the human body until Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria. This period witnessed a revolution in the study of anatomy and functional anatomy. Herophilus of Chalcedon, Erasistratus of Chios, Rufus of Ephesus, and Galen of Pergamon were prominent physicians who studied at the medical school of Alexandria and contributed greatly to knowledge about the anatomy of the skull base. After the Royal Library of Alexandria was burned and laws were passed prohibiting human dissections based on religious and cultural factors, knowledge of human skull base anatomy plateaued for almost 1500 years. In this article the authors consider the beginning of this journey, from the earliest descriptions of skull base anatomy to the establishment of basic skull base anatomy in ancient Egypt.