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Dissecting the Mummies of Ancient Egypt

Uploaded by sls465 on Apr 18, 2007

Dissecting the Mummies of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians do not routinely check into hospitals complaining of chest pains or sore muscles. There are no current medical reports that outline the symptoms or diagnosis of an ancient Egyptian's stomachache and no ancient Egyptian has shown up to any contemporary clinics for blood tests. The only way, therefore, for modern scientists and anthropologists to examine the cause, result, and other factors of ancient Egyptians' diseases is to study the preserved mummies. Through CAT scans, DNA tests and other high tech methods, the life, sickness, and death of the ancients has become, in many cases, startling clear.

One of the earliest advances in the study of Egyptian pathology came in 1973, when the first successful autopsy was performed on a 2700-year-old male mummy. The hands, eyelashes, and most importantly, the internal organs were in surprisingly good condition and promised to provide scientists with numerous details. The results of the autopsy yielded an abundance of evidence that outlined the life and death of this young man. It was determined, from the amount of carbon in his lungs, that he had black lung disease, long suspected to be a common ailment of the Egyptians, as well as a quantity of sand in his lungs. Also found during the autopsy was evidence of arteriosclerosis, ear infection, and a parasitic roundworm. Aside from the astounding discoveries that this first mummy autopsy gave up, it also led to the founding of the Paleopathology Association, a group dedicated to the study and research of ancient diseases. Since this autopsy, the Association has been at work examining not only the causes of death of the Egyptians, but also how their illnesses fit into specific historical contexts.

One of the next projects for the Association was the examination of a body that had been identified as a weaver from Thebes who lived during the 20th Dynasty. Being able to place the body in a specific time and place, as well as ascertain details about his life, would lend greater importance to the facts discovered during the autopsy. Teams of specialists worked for weeks on the mummy, named Nakht, and were rewarded with the discovery that his organs were still in place inside of the chest cavity, organs that would reveal much about the mummy's quality of life and possible cause of...

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Uploaded by:   sls465

Date:   04/18/2007

Category:   Egyptian

Length:   6 pages (1,304 words)

Views:   5959

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