Michael R. Zimmerman

Blood cells preserved in a mummy 2000 years old.

Structures resembling red blood cells have been seen in mummies, but have been considered by some to be artifacts or molds. The finding of these structures, admixed with white blood cells, in the blood vessels of a mummified American Indian, confirms the original interpretation of preserved red blood cells.

Brief communication: Twentieth-century replication of an Egyptian mummy: Implications for paleopathology

Replication in a modern human cadaver of ancient Egyptian mummification focused on tools used by ancient Egyptian embalmers, the use of natron (a mixture of sodium carbonate, bicarbonate, and chloride) in the preparation of the mummy, surgical procedures in the removal of the viscera and brain, and histologic examination of the viscera. The first three areas have been reported separately (Brier and Wade [1997] ZAS 124:89-100). In this paper, we demonstrate a degree of histologic preservation comparable to that seen in Egyptian mummies, indicating the effectiveness of ancient mummification and that the histologic appearance of such mummies is little altered by the passage of millennia.

Human Mummification Practices at Ismant El-Kharab

An estimated 169 inhumations were identified in 15 tomb chambers of the west cemetery at the Roman Period site of Ismant el-Kharab (Kellis) in Egypts Dakhleh Oasis in the western desert. Of these, 50 were in the form of mummified human remains, about half of which represented deliberate, anthropogenic (‘artificial’) mummification. Comparison of mortuary practices with contemporary ones of the Nile Valley revealed some general similarities but also some exceptional differences. The most spectacular of these involved the production of composite mummies, prepared by using parts from multiple, different bodies, lashing them to a wood rack and wrapping the whole in such a manner as to resemble the external appearance of a traditional, single, mummified adult cadaver.

Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures: ROM I: mummification for the common people

Herodotus noted that the least expensive form of mummification was where no treatment was given and the body was simply wrapped in linen. ROM I, autopsied in Toronto in August 1974, was just such a mummy. The name is shorthand for the Royal Ontario Museum, to which the mummy belongs. The autopsy was an international operation, demonstrating cooperation among members of several disciplines from the Royal Ontario Museum, the Toronto Academy of Medicine, the University of Toronto and the Detroit group of the Paleopathology Association (Lewin et al . 1974; Hart et al . 1977a). The study arose as the result of a lecture on PUMII given by Aidan Cockburn and Theodore Reyman in February 1974 at the Academy of Medicine in Toronto. The following day, Eve Cockburn suggested a joint Canadian-United States project, and a day later Nicholas B. Millet offered to provide a mummy from the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum. Following the unwrapping by Millet and his staff, the examination of ROM I was carried out in the anatomy department of the Medical Sciences Building, University of Toronto. Radiographic examination had been completed by D. F. Rideout prior to the unwrapping. The autopsy was directed by Reyman, Zimmerman and Lewin. Specimens obtained from the dissection were distributed to qualified participants and observers as this had the advantage of ensuring greater coverage in the search for abnormalities.

Protein Oxidation of a Hair Sample Kept in Alaskan Ice for 800–1000 Years

Ancient finds of organic matter are not only of the highest value for palaeochemists and palaeobiologists but can be used to determine basic chemical reactions, such as protein oxidation, over long time periods. We studied oxidation of human hair protein about one thousand years old of an Alaskan child buried in ice, ten hair samples of copts of comparable age buried in graves of hot dry sand and compared the results to ten recent hair samples. Protein oxidation parameters o-tyrosine and cysteic acid of the Alaskan child were comparable to recent samples whereas they were higher in the coptic specimen. N-epsilon-carboxymethyllysine, a parameter for glycoxidation, however, was as high in coptic specimen. We conclude that ice in contrast to soil prevented protein oxidation but failed to inhibit glycoxidation, a reaction initiated by autooxidation of glucose. This study therefore has implications for the interpretation of oxidation and glycoxidation as well as preservation mechanisms of proteins.