Paleoimaging of a modern mummy from Lithuania (circa 19th–20th century)

Abstract

An anthropogenic human mummy curated in the Museum of the History of Medicine, Vilnius University, was recently examined by means of computed tomography. Although the mummy lacked data regarding its specific context and historical information on its identity and chronology, the investigation focused on the embalming method adopted to preserve it. Some pathological alterations were also recorded. This research appears to suggest that this body was prepared for educational and/or scientific purposes rather than funerary purposes. Hence, the case could be categorized as a "medical mummy" prepared between the mid-19th and the mid-20th centuries.

Radiology of Mummies

“…Another study on the preservation of tissue was conducted on the mummies of Capuchin Catacomb of Palermo, with the "Checklist and Scoring System for the Assessment of Soft Tissue Preservation in Human Mummies". 40 CT was performed on twenty-three mummies to understand the type of embalming procedure used on the corpses. Seventeen of these mummies were anthropogenically mummified while six were mummified spontaneously.…”