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

Autor: Albert Zink, Manuela Gander, Gregory S. Thomas, Saskia Wetzig, Adel H. Allam, Stephanie Panzer, M. Linda Sutherland, Wilfried Rosendahl, Stephanie Zesch, Marc Loth, Ibrahem Badr
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Male
History
Burial
Body height
Physiology
Knees
Social Sciences
Hands
Knee Joints
030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging
Geographical Locations
0302 clinical medicine
Skeletal Joints
Medicine and Health Sciences
0601 history and archaeology
Musculoskeletal System
History
Ancient

Multidisciplinary
Embalming
060102 archaeology
biology
06 humanities and the arts
Middle Aged
Mummification
Capital (architecture)
Religion
Arms
Physiological Parameters
Archaeology
Medicine
Legs
Stucco
Egypt
Female
Anatomy
Period (music)
Research Article
Adult
Asia
Soft Tissues
Science
Multidisciplinary study
Portraits as Topic
Ancient history
Pelvis
03 medical and health sciences
Young Adult
Portrait
Humans
Skeleton
Skull
Biology and Life Sciences
Mummies
biology.organism_classification
Body Height
Biological Tissue
Body Limbs
People and Places
Africa
Memphis
Tomography
X-Ray Computed
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 11, p e0240900 (2020)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: This study focuses on the multidisciplinary investigation of three stucco-shrouded mummies with mummy portrait from Egypt dating from the late 3rd to the middle of the 4th century AD, corresponding to the late Roman Period. These three mummies were excavated in the early 17th and late 19th 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.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Nepřihlášeným uživatelům se plný text nezobrazuje