Autopsies on two native American mummies

Abstract

An interdisciplinary team performed autopsies on an adult male and an infant male mummy from the American Southwest. Cause of death has not been determined for the infant. The presence of an unhealed skull fracture associated with an apparent hematoma in the adult male is suggestive of trauma as the cause of death in the adult. Evidence of disease is minimal. Analysis of powder thought to be dried blood from the thoracic cavity of the adult suggests the presence of human IgG. The instability of this protein may indicate the presence of proteolytic activity by enzymes that degrade immunoglobulins upon rehydration. The possibility of enzymatic degradation of proteins will be an important factor in future studies of such immunoglobulins in mummy remains and also indicates the importance of maintaining the desiccated condition of mummy tissues.

Parasitology in an archaeological context: analysis of medieval burials in Nivelles, Belgium

“…Rapid desiccation enhances preservation as demonstrated by excellent preservation of eggs and larvae in spontaneously mummified individuals (Arriaza et al, 2010;Araújo et al, 2011;El-Najjar et al, 1980;Kumm et al, 2010). The analysis of Ancestral Pueblo mummies by El-Najjar and colleagues (1980) is particularly important because they were able to recover delicate pinworm eggs.…”

Ultramicroscopic investigation of the preservation status of hair collected from a full‐term, intrauterine baby mummy of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea

“…Such rare reports have dealt only with (1) infant mummies of the Tombs of the Nobles in the necropolis of Thebes-West, Upper Egypt Zink et al, 2000), in which macromorphological signs of chronic anaemia and vitamin C deficiency could be identified; (2) an infant Peruvian mummy in which the presence of preserved interstitial collagens were immunohistochemically confirmed (Nerlich et al, 1993); (3) an infant male mummy from the American Southwest on which an autopsy was performed (El-Najjar et al, 1980); and (4) a seven-month-old Eskimo mummy from which Sporothrix fungorum was isolated (Bodenhoff et al, 1979).…”

Mummies

“…Pathological diagnosis is still very much based on gross macroscopic inspection, so being able to study the remains of internal organs for pathological change is important. Autopsy is also the best procedure for securing tissue samples from specific organs, such as heart, lungs, and liver, which might otherwise be difficult to locate and sample through other techniques (El-Najjar et al, 1980. Similarly, gut contents may be secured (Helbaek, 1958;Spindler, 1994).…”

“…Geographically, such locations are found near the Equator, such as Nubia (Peck, 1998), the Canary Islands (Ascenzi et al, 1998), and sometimes in combination with arid plateaus, such as in northern Chile/southern Peru (Allison, 1985;Guillen, 1992;Arriaza et al, 1998). Other mummy finds due to desiccation are from Amerindian tribes of the American Southwest, (El-Najjar et al, 1980.…”