The face of Meresamun, a priestess who sang in the temples of Ancient Egypt hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, has been revealed to the world for the first time thanks to a X-ray with a light ten billion times brighter than the sun.
Known as Joint Engineering, Environmental and Processing beamline or Jeep, the cutting edge technology uses intense radiation known as synchrotron light to see through solid objects.
The Jeep beamline showed astonishing 3D images of the a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy, still wrapped in her linen bandages.
According to an inscription on the casket, Meresamun (whose name means “She Lives for Amun”) served as a “Singer in the Interior of the Temple of Amun”. She was in her late twenties or early thirties when she died.
An exhibition featuring the mummy is running at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum ("The Life of Meresamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt”, until December 6, 2009)
Here is a video showing the virtual unwrapping of the mummy. One roughly oval-shaped amulet covers each of Meresamun's eyes. Her eyeballs are shrunken but intact.
The people of Iran’s 5200-year-old Burnt City used their teeth as an extra hand, according to anthropological studies on 52 skeletons unearthed at the cemetery of the city.
Teeth were used in weaving wicker, nets and textiles, and in creating artwork with ornamental stones.
They simply were "the extra hand of people in these professions,” according to anthropologist Farzad Foruzanfar.
Evidence comes from various shapes of abrasions.
“People pulled fibers with their teeth and also moisturized them with saliva for weaving wickerworks, which have previously been discovered in the Burnt City,” Foruzanfar said.
Here is the full story
New research suggests that the Nasca, those ancient South American people known for collecting heads, may have taken them from their own people, rather than slain enemies.
Get my full story here.
Also, don't miss the Nazca Slide Show
Ötzi the Iceman, the 5300-year-old mummified "Iceman" discovered in 1991 in a melting glacier in the Ötztal Alps, is back in the news .
An international team of researchers led by Franco Rollo and Luca Ermini at the University of Camerino, Italy, has sequenced Öetzi's entire mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome - which is passed down through the maternal line – and found that he belonged to a previously unknown branch of the human family tree.
The sequence represents "the oldest complete Homo sapiens mtDNA genome," according to the report published in Current Biology.
The study overturns previous research that suggested Öetzi has some living relatives, since he belonged to a genetic lineage known as K1 -- a line shared by about 8% of modern Europeans.
Using advanced genome-sequencing technologies, Rollo's team investigated the K1 haplogroup, which in turn, can be divided into three clusters.
Surprisingly, the Iceman's DNA did not fit any of the three known K1 clusters. On the contrary, Ötzi's DNA was found to belong to a novel branch of K1. The researchers named it "Ötzi's branch", or K1ö.
"This doesn't simply mean that Ötzi had some 'personal' mutations making him different from the others but that, in the past, there was a group of men and women sharing the same mitochondrial DNA. Apparently, this genetic group is no longer present. We don't know whether it is extinct or it has become extremely rare." Rollo said.
At least for the moment, he said, that means no one can claim to be the descendant of Ötzi.
My latest news story on Egyptian mummies, from today Discovery News:
Egyptian Mummies Yield Earliest Evidence of Malaria
Basically, there are two reasons why this discovery is important. First, it reveals that malaria was endemic in ancient Egypt (this was only been speculated on the basis of the report by Herodotus and some very faint evidence form ancient Egyptian papyri).
Most importantly, the identification of ancient DNA for the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum may help develop new treatments: researchers are now hopeful to identify the “precursor” of the malaria pathogens.
"A Greek Mummy," a new episode of "One The Phone: Archaeorama interview podcast series", is available on the iTunes Store and on this blog.
Archaeorama's friend Dan Kirsch joined me in this production as I interviewed Dr. Frank Rühli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich and one of the world's top mummy experts.
In this podcast, we talk about the first real piece of evidence of embalming in ancient Greece. Dating to 300 A.D., when the Romans ruled Greece, the partially mummified remains belong to a middle-aged woman who led a privileged life.
A GREEK MUMMY -- Length: 00:07:00 -- Rossella Lorenzi and Dr. Frank Rühli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich and one of the world's top mummy researchers, talk about a middle aged woman whose mummy is the first real piece of evidence of embalming in ancient Greece.
Written and produced by Rossella Lorenzi. Narrated by Dan Kirsch.
Image courtesy of Christina Papageorgopoulou
Listen:
Download audio file (just right click on this link)
Subscribe to Archaeorama Podcast, and you'll be kept up-to-date about the latest archaeology news.
A new research on Ötzi the Iceman: analysis of his clothes suggests he tended sheep and cattle.
Here is my article and here is a video clip about this Neolithic mummy. It's taken from one of my past interviews with Dr. Eduard Egarter. He talks about what is like being the official caretaker of the world's oldest intact human mummy.
Two great cold cases of the Renaissance have been solved.
Italian scientists say they can prove that Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Agnolo Ambrogini, better known as Poliziano, were given a lethal dose of arsenic.
Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano, two of the geniuses at the 15th century court of Lorenzo de' Medici, died within a few weeks of each other in 1494.
Pico the philosopher, celebrated for his prodigious memory, died at only 31, Poliziano the poet at 40.
Rumours about poisoning spread quickly. Another theory was that they died from syphilis, which killed thousands in Europe at the end of the 15th century.
Now, more than 500 years after their mysterious deaths, DNA analysis on the exhumed remains has established beyond doubt that Pico and Poliziano were poisoned.
Clear evidence of poisoning comes from high levels of arsenic, especially in Pico’s tissues and nails, the Italian news agency Adnkronos reports.
The murder was ordered by Piero dei Medici, the son of Lorenzo “The Magnificent”, according to Silvano Vinceti, head of Italy's National Committee for the Valuation of Historical and Cultural and Environmental Assets.
"Combining the results of our analyses with historical documents that have only recently come to light, it seems that Piero de Medici is the person most likely to have ordered the assassination,'' he told the news agency Ansa . ''However, the person who actually carried out Pico's murder was probably Cristoforo da Calamaggiore, his secretary."
The analysis have also revealed how the writers looked like. Pico's skeleton suggests he was a robust man well over six feet tall. He suffered from a hammer toe and inflamed joints and had an extremely large head. His cranial capacity was 1,768 cubic centimetres, compared to an average capacity of 1,450 cubic centimetres.
On the contrary, Poliziano was just five foot tall, had a pronounced nose and some problems with his neck.
I’m finally back after a bad flu. Luckly, it wasn’t like the one that supposedly struck Francesco dei Medici and his wife Bianca Cappello 420 years ago. Remember the Medici trial?
The big issue there was: “poison or not poison”.
Did Francesco, the founder of the Uffizi gallery, and Bianca really die from malaria, or were they poisoned with arsenic by Ferdinando, Francesco’s brother?
Well, the verdict has finally come. It looks like this will remain one of the coldest of cold cases.
Forget the speculations of the “prosecutor” Donatella Lippi, professor of medical history at the University of Florence. Forget the questioning of the “public defender” Gino Fornaciari, professor of forensic anthropology at the University of Pisa.
After much debate, the “judge” Piero Pruneti, editor of the journal Archeologia Viva, declared that further investigation is needed.
“We do not have enough evidence for a judgement. The case is not closed,” he said.
Basically, the final evidence would come only if Bianca’s mummified body is found.
Extensive analysis on her body could finally tell whether the Medici couple was the victim of what seems to be the “perfect murder.”
Following the search for Bianca’s body will be one of my next adventures. Meanwhile, here is a video on the mock trial.
Recent Comments