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16 - New investigative techniques
- from PART IV - Mummies and technology
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- By Theodore A. Reyman, Michigan, Henrik Nielsen, University of Copenhagen, Ingolf Thuesen, University of Copenhagen, Derek N. H. Notman, Minnesota, Karl J. Reinhard, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Edmund Tapp, Lancashire, Tony Waldron, University College London
- Edited by Thomas Aidan Cockburn, Eve Cockburn, Paleopathology Association, Theodore A. Reyman, Formerly Mt Carmel Mercy Hospital, Detroit
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- Book:
- Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures
- Published online:
- 05 February 2015
- Print publication:
- 30 April 1998, pp 353-394
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- Chapter
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
As neophyte paleopathologists, five of us in Detroit (Aidan and Eve Cockburn, Robin Barraco, William Peck and Theodore Reyman) were involved in the autopsy of two mummies, DIA I (Detroit Institute of Arts) in 1970 and PUM I (Pennsylvania University Museum) in 1971. The findings from the examination of these two bodies were minimal. Both mummies were poorly preserved and without personal data or provenance. Although we were able to learn little from the gross and microscopic examination, we did establish one thing – we didn't know much about identifying and testing ancient tissues.
Aidan Cockburn was interested in extracting gamma globulin from mummified organs, theorizing that if this were possible, we could use modern testing techniques on this material in order to survey disease patterns in ancient times. With these data, we would then be able to track infectious diseases from antiquity to the present time and perhaps determine whether alterations in life cycle, virulence and other epidemiological parameters had changed over the years. We were able to extract and identify small amounts of serum albumin and globulin, although the reactivity in modern tests for infectious diseases never came to fruition. We learned that many proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids were present in mummified tissue but generally in very fragmentary form (Barraco 1980).
Chemical elemental analysis told us whether the mummy had been treated with natron and how the heavy metal content of ancient tissues correlated with modern equivalents (Barraco et al. 1977).
2 - Disease in ancient Egypt
- from PART I - Mummies of Egypt
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- By A. T. Sandison, Scotland, Edmund Tapp, England
- Edited by Thomas Aidan Cockburn, Eve Cockburn, Paleopathology Association, Theodore A. Reyman, Formerly Mt Carmel Mercy Hospital, Detroit
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- Book:
- Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures
- Published online:
- 05 February 2015
- Print publication:
- 30 April 1998, pp 38-58
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
All men and women share certain experiences. All are born; all suffer illnesses during their lives; and all must sooner or later die, whether from disease, degenerative process, accident, or violence. The historian's overall view of ancient peoples is incomplete if he or she fails to take into account these phenomena of health or disease. The major lines of study of ancient diseases comprise examination of literary sources by scholars in collaboration with physicians, study of artistic representations in sculpture and painting, and study of skeletal remains and mummies by macroscopic examination, supplemented by radiography and by histological examination using light, polarizing, and electron microscopes.
The major literary sources for our knowledge of disease processes in Egypt are the Ebers, Edwin Smith, and Kahun papyri (Dawson 1953). The first deals with medical diseases and includes, among many others, descriptions of parasitic gut infestations and urinary disorders, most certainly including schistosomiasis. The second is surgical and contains accurate prognostic comments on traumatic and certain inflammatory diseases. The third concerns obstetrical and gynaecological disorders. Precise diagnoses are, in many instances, difficult to make from the symptoms listed. Nevertheless, the papyri will continue to engage scholars and medical historians for many years. From these, as well as other literary sources, specialist scholars have adduced evidence of trachoma, seasonal ophthalmia, skin diseases, hernia, haemorrhoids, and so on.
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