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The University of Illinois Mummy Project

http://www.isas.illinois.edu/atam/research/mummy/

Photo by B. Wiegand, UIUC News Bureau, Sketch by A. Tsakiropolo

The Spurlock Museum (formerly the World Heritage Museum) at the University of Illinois owns an Egyptian mummy dated to the early second century A.D. (Roman period) by the style of the painted and gilded decorations on its cartonnage. Below a Roman face portrait are typical depictions of Egyptian gods and goddesses: the sky god Horus, represented by two falcons; the sky goddess Nut, with outstretched wings; and the god of the afterlife, Osiris.

The mummy, which has been in the United States since the 1920's, came from the Fayum oasis district, a center of Greek and Roman settlement in Egypt begining with the reign of Alexander the Great. The specific site or cemetery of origin is unknown.

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1990 X-ray, 2011 CT scan

Before the mummy was placed on exhibit in 1990, a research team led by the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials (ATAM)investigated the mummy's age, sex, medical history, cause of death, and embalming procedures. Over twenty university units and two local hospitals participated in the project. Researchers employed primarily non-destructive techniques such as X-ray radiography and CT-scanning in order to preserve the mummy. An exception was made at the lower end of the mummy, where loosened wrappings and protruding foot bones made possible the extraction of tiny samples of cloth, bone, wood, insects, and embalming fluids. Two three-dimensional renderings of the mummy's head and torso (computerized images and a sculpture) were completed using the CT scans. The scans were repeated in March 2011 to take advantage of new imaging and digital reconstruction technologies.

The mummy was re-CTscanned at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, IL, after a 20 year gap. David Hunt, a physical anthroplogist at the Smithsonian Institution, was a consultant on the new project and provided some of the new images.

2011 images of

brain tissue and

fractured skull

(D. Hunt)

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Results indicate that the mummy was a child, aged about 8.5 years at the time of death, who suffered post-mortem skull and spinal fractures. Beetle infestation indicated that the tissues were poorly preserved, yet the body received some special treatment by the embalmers. Extra cloth packings were placed under the fractured skull. The body was supported by a shaped cedar board (underneath the body, inside the wrappings), and the heart, lungs, and brain were left in place.

The 2011 CT scans yielded more precision on the child's age and higher resolution images of internal organs, fractures, and packing materials. Although the sex and cause of death of the child are still unknown, the combined archaeological and analytical information indicate that he or she belonged to a well-to-do family that could afford one of the better mummification treatments of the Roman period.

Age and Sex of the Mummy

How old was the person inside the wrappings?

The 1990 X-rays taken at the Large Animal Clinic at the University of Illinois and the CT scans taken at Carle Clinic, Urbana (1990 and 2011), were examined by a team including a radiologist, a radiographer, a forensic anthropologist, and a local dentist.

3-D images from 2011 CT scans (Carle Hospital, Urbana IL)

The teeth were the first clues. Adult teeth were visible coming in just behind the baby teeth, indicating that the individual was probably under ten years old. An orthodontist confirmed the

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findings, pointing out an unerupted bicuspid tooth in the upper jaw, and nerve roots that were only partially closed.

Moving down the body, researchers noted open epiphyses (growth plates at the end of the long bones) at wrists and knees. Again, this finding indicated a preadolescent child of about 7-9 years at the time of death. In addition, rib fractures and an occipital skull fracture suggested that the body suffered some trauma--probably post-mortem since no pooled blood appeared at the back of the skull.

2011 CT scan of legbones

The sex of the mummy is still unknown,

because the pelvis of the child is not

sufficiently develped to determine whether

the skeleton is male or female. DNA analysis

has been attemped by a Danish team of

researchers, but the result so far is

unreadable (perhaps due to contamination

from the resins and bitumen used in the

embalming).

Embalming Procedures

2011 CT scan showing cloth packing

At the height of Egyptian mummification during the

10th c. B.C., mummies underwent elaborate

procedures to preserve tissues and organs for the

afterlife. Internal organs (intestines, liver, lungs, and

stomach) were removed through a slit in the

abdomen, treated with salts and resins, and placed

in Canopic jars or in separate bundles to be buried

with the mummy. The brain was often extracted

using a metal hook through the nose bone. The

heart, the seat of the Egyptian spirit, was not usually

disturbed. The body was dehydrated with natron

salts, washed and purified with wine, honey, pine

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resins, and other materials, and carefully wrapped with many layers of cloth. Fingernail covers,

amulets, and jewelry were included in the wrappings for wealthy and important patrons.

By contrast, in the Roman period, most people were embalmed with less attention to the

preservation of organs and tissues and more attention to external wrappings. Roman-period

mummies had elaborate criss-cross or layered wraps, decorated with Egyptian gods in colored

pigments and gold gilt and Roman face portraits. Internal organs were often left in place.

Consequently, many mummies of this period show poor tissue preservation and insect

damage.

The University of Illinois mummy proved to be a typical embalming job for its period, with

organs left in the body and large quantities of resin used. Its closest parallel is the mummy of a

child studied at the University of Pennsylvania (PUM IV).

1990 2011

CT scans of our mummy revealed a "stiffening board," identified by an African woods specialist as African cedar. This board was carbon-dated by the Illinois State Geological Survey to about 190 B.C. Although this date is earlier than the stylistic date of the wrappings (early 2nd century A.D.), it can be explained by the fact that the wood belonged to a tree which was older than the board, and by the use of bitumen (a petroleum derivative) in the embalming fluids. The bitumen and coniferous pine resins in the embalming fluids were identified by the university's Department of Chemistry using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) and fast-atom bombardment (FAB) tandem MS.

The wooden board was revealed by computer imaging at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). It appears to have been deliberately shaped to fit the contours of the child's body.

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Textile Analysis

The mummy's wrappings were analyzed by a textile chemist who used both optical and scanning electron microscopy. Fabrics of three distinctly different weights were used, with the heaviest layer on the outside of the mummy.

The two inner layers showed the thick walls, nodes, and crosswise beat marks characteristic of

flax fibers, or linen.

The outer layer appears to be ramie, characterized by small ridges, striations, and deep

fissures. Since ramie contains matter that is resistant to microorganisms and insects, it may

have been chosen deliberately as a protective, outer covering for the mummy.

Pigment analysis

The red colorant on the mummy's stucco covering has been studied twice. In 1991, XPS analysis at the Center for Microanalysis at the Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois identified it as lead oxide.

A team from the J.Paul Getty Museum and Getty Conservation Institute repeated the analysis of the red pigment in 2009 provided more information. This lead oxide ("minium") comes from Rio Tinto Spain (a silver mining district in Roman times) and ties the UI mummy to nine other mummies around the world the red shroud group). This result also confirms that our

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mummy child was from a well-to-do family since the red pigment and the gold leaf used on the wrappings were expensive ingredients.

The red shroud mummy group is discussed in Lorelei H. Corcoran, Marie Svoboda, Herakleides: A Portrait Mummy from Roman Egypt (2011)

The Mummy's Diet

Chemical and isotopic analyses of collagen and carbonate preserved in ancient bone make it possible for archaeologists to reconstruct some human diets. Tiny samples of mummy bone were taken to the stable isotope laboratory in the department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois.

C4 plants such as maize and sorghum use different enzymes to fix atmospheric carbon than do C3 plants (wheat, rice, fruits and nuts). Carbon preserved in the mineral phase of bone (carbonate) reflects consumption of the different plant groups in the form of distinct ratios of the two carbon isotopes,13C and 12C. The difference between carbon isotope ratios of carbonate and the organic phase of bone (collagen) provide an estimate of the degree of carnivorousness (consumption of animal meat, milk, and blood).

The mummy's "collagen" turned out to be "noncollagenous." It was badly degraded and possibly contaminated by embalming fluids. Nevertheless, the carbon ratios are close to those expected for a typical Egyptian diet of bread and onions (C3 foods) with little animal fat and protein.

For a more complete account of the diet research: Proefke, M. L., et al. (1992). Probing the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt: Chemical Analysis of a Roman Period Egyptian Mummy. Analytical Chemistry 64(2):105A-111A.

3-D Imaging

At Carle Clinic, CT scans were taken of the mummy at close intervals to permit three-dimensional reconstruction by computer. This CT scan shows the cross-section of the mummy's brain, a skull fracture, a rolled up piece of linen under the head, and a board.

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1991 image, 2011 image showing hair

At the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the CT scans were digitized and volume-rendered to produce rotating images and cut-away views of the inside of the child's head and torso. In this digital autopsy, researchers were able to view the dessicated brain and skull fractures from new angles, as well as the dental development and likely organ placement inside the chest.

1991 detail of mummy's insides

The computer then stripped away wrappings and body to reveal the cedar board, complete with wood grain and knothole.

2011 CT scan

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The same CT scans enabled Ray Evenhouse, then at the Biomedical Visualization laboratory at the University of Illinois in Chicago, to produce a sculpture of the mummy's head in 1990. Evenhouse cut out Styrofoam CT slices by hand, stacked them to provide a model, and then rendered the head in hard plastic. Tissue markers were added, based on ultrasound and forensic studies of people of varying ages and populations, and then modeling clay was used to put flesh back on the bones.

In 2011, the new CT scans allowed Joe Mullins of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to revise the face slightly with more delicate features.

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Project Participants

X-ray radiography and CT scanning Richard Keen, Veterinary Medicine, UIUC Joseph Barkmeier, M.D., Carle Clinic, Urbana, Illinois

3-D Imaging and reconstruction Clint Potter, Rachael Brady, and David Lawrance, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), UIUC Raymond Evenhouse, Biomedical Visualization, University of Illinois at Chicago Micro-Cut Engineering, Streamwood, Illinois

Textile analysis Mastura Raheel, Textile Science, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, UIUC

Bone and teeth analysis Linda Klepinger, Anthropology, UIUC Stanley Ambrose, Anthropology, UIUC William Hutchinson, Champaign, Illinois Morgan Powell, DDS, Champaign, Illinois

Resin analysis Mark Proefke and Kenneth Rinehart, Chemistry, UIUC

Wood analysis and C-14 dating Jack Liu and Dennis Coleman, Illinois State Geological Survey Roger De Champs, Musee Royal de L'Afrique Centrale, Belgium

Insect analysis John Bouseman, Illinois State Natural History Survey

Stucco analysis Alwyn Eades, Alan Kahn, and Rick Haasch, Materials Research Laboratory, UIUC

DNA analysis Ingolf Thuesen and Henrik Nielsen, Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Copenhagen

Ultraviolet examination and sketch Philip Berge, Physics A. Tsakiropolou, World Heritage Museum

Project coordination Sarah Wisseman, Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials (ATAM), UIUC James Dengate, Classics and ATAM, UIUC Barbara Bohen, World Heritage Museum, UIUC

Special thanks to the Large Animal Clinic, College of Veterinary Medicine, UIUC; Burnham Hospital, Champaign; and Carle Clinic, Urbana for technical support and the use of X-ray, CT scanning, and MRI equipment.

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Selected Bibliography on Ancient Egypt and Mummies

- General Egyptology T.G.H. James, An Introduction to Ancient Egypt (Harper and Row 1979) Christine Hobson, The World of the Pharoahs (Thames and Hudson 1991) Alan K. Bowman, Egypt after the Pharoahs (California University Press 1989) Stephen Quirke and Jeffrey Spencer, The British Museum Book of Ancient Egypt (Thames and Hudson 1992) Miriam Stead, Egyptian Life (Harvard University Press 1986) John Rommer, Ancient Lives: Daily Life in Egypt of the Pharoahs (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1984)

- Mummies (general) Christine El Mahdy, Mummies, Myth and Magic (Thames and Hudson 1989) Carol Andrews, Egyptian Mummies (Harvard University Press 1984) Barbara Adams, Egyptian Mummies (Shire Publications Ltd. 1988) A.J. Spencer, Death in Ancient Egypt (Penguin Books 1982)

- Mummies (technical studies) A. Aufderheide, The Scientific Study of Mummies (Cambridge University Press 2003) A.R. David, The Manchester Museum Mummy Project (Manchester Museum 1979) A.R. David, Science in Egyptology (Manchester University Press 1986) Aidan and Eve Cockburn, Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures (Cambridge University Press 1980) Stuart Fleming et al., The Egyptian Mummy: Secrets and Science (University Museum, Philadelphia, 1980) S. Ikram and A. Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity (Thames and Hudson, 1998) G. Elliot Smith and Warren R. Dawson, Egyptian Mummies (Kegan Paul International, 1991 reprint of 1924 book)

- University of Illinois mummy project Sarah Wisseman, The Virtual Mummy (University of Illinois Press. 2003) John Spizzirri, "The Mystery of the Mummy," Illinois Alumni (July/August 2003) pp. 16-17. Karen Wright, "Tales from the Crypt," Discover (July 1991) pp. 54-58 Sarah Wisseman, Linda Klepinger, Richard Keen, Mastura Raheel, and Joseph Barkmeier, "Interdisciplinary Analysis of a Roman Period Egyptian Mummy," Archaeometry `90 (Basel 1990) pp. 345-353 Mark Proefke, Kenneth Rinehart, Mastura Raheel, Stanley Ambrose, and Sarah Wisseman, "Probing the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt...," Analytical Chemistry 64 (2) Jan. 15 1992, pp. 105A-111A Raymond Evenhouse and Tony Stefanic, "Image Processing and Solid Modeling Recapture a Mummy's Face," Advanced Imaging (October 1992) pp.40-43. Mark Proefke and Kenneth Rinehart, "Analysis of an Egyptian Mummy Resin by Mass Spectrometry," Journal of the American Mass Spectrometry Society 3 1992, pp. 582-589. Sarah Wisseman, "Imaging the Past...,"in Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials, Sarah Wisseman and Wendell Williams, eds., (Gordon and Breach Science Publishers 1994), pp. 217-234 Barbara Bohen, "Collaborative Investigation of the University of Illinois Egypto-Roman Mummy," Proceedings of the I World Congress on Mummy Studies (1997) pp. 515-522.

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More on Mummies and Ancient Egypt

Many Egyptology sites already exist on the World Wide Web. Here is an annotated list of a few of the most useful:

THE MUMMY MASTER Good place to visit for updates on current mummy research and publications.

INSTITUTE OF EGYPTIAN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS This page includes a "Color Tour of Egypt" and information on Egyptian sites and archaeology.

EGYPTIAN MUMMIFICATION This web page is part of the educational programming of the Spurlock Museum.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION MUMMY PAGE An excellent account of the Egyptian mummification process.

CYBERMUMMY A spin-off of the University of Illinois mummy project was participation in a video seminar for K-12 teachers, who used our mummy data to build an Egyptian gallery in a "virtual museum." Students and teachers in three schools in Urbana, Illinois, worked together to master on-line video technology and expand the museum during the 1996-1997 school year.

THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO This site includes mummy information and a virtual tour of the galleries.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN KARANIS PAGE This site displays images and information from the site of Karanis in the Fayum--the region from which the University of Illinois mummy originated.

ANCIENT HISTORY LINKS A useful site with many links to different museums.

HOW MUMMIES WORK Web article by Tom Harris with many useful links (April 2001).

Dr. Rosalie David and the Manchester Mummies Information about mummy research and an international mummy database.

ARTERIAL DISEASE IN MUMMIES A good site on paleopathology.

Mummy Video a Macintosh Quick Time file (4.8 MB)

http://www.isas.illinois.edu/atam/research/mummy/mummy_quicktime.mov

The mummy project generated several publications in technical journals and popular magazines, including an article in Discover magazine (July 1991).

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A complete account for the general public, The Virtual Mummy by Sarah Wisseman, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2003. It is recommended by the American Library Association and is available through the UI Press or the Illini Union Bookstore.

For a murder mystery based on the mummy research, check out Bound for Eternity (May 2005)

For a discussion of Egyptian embalming practices, see the journal Nature (Oct. 25, 2001).

ATAM Progam, ISAS Neil St. Lab University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MC 568)

704 S. Neil St. Champaign, IL 61820

tel: 217-355-0757 email: wisarc [AT] illinois.edu