Mummies of Song-Ming Dynasty in China

Abstract

Over the past several decades, mummies have been found along with very wellpreserved cultural artifacts (e.g., clothing) in tombs representative of the Song and Ming dynasties from Chinese history. Despite their academic significance, Song-Ming period mummies have not been reported in detail outside China. Although the structure of Song-Ming tombs was very diverse, most that held mummified remains had been sealed by a lime-soil-rice paste mixture likely implicated in the mummification that occurred therein. We presume that Song