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An Egyptian mummy known as M1 is being studied at the National Archaeology Museum of Lisbon in Portugal. The 2,250-year-old male is thought to have have been between 51 and 60 years old when he died a slow, painful death from cancer.
Several post-mortem fractures, possibly produced by mishandling when the mummy was transported to Europe, afflicted the body.
But that wasn’t all they found. A pattern of round and dense tumors, measuring between 0.03 and 0.59 inches, interspersed M1′s pelvis and lumbar spine.
“The bone lesions were considered very suggestive of metastatic prostate cancer,” wrote the researchers.
Indeed, prostatic carcinoma typically spreads to the pelvic region, the lumbar spine, the upper arm and leg bones, the ribs, ultimately reaching most of the skeleton.
Prates and colleagues considered other diseases as alternatives. But M1′s sex, age, the distribution pattern of the lesions, their shape and density, strongly argued for prostate cancer.
Only one older case of prostate cancer has ever been found, in a 2,700-year-old skeleton from Siberia. Read more at Discovery News. Link -via Breakfast Links
Mummy Dearest Apron – $26.95
Does your dear Mummy need a new apron to preserve her clean clothes? Get her the Mummy Dearest Apron from the NeatoShop. This spooktacular Apron looks like a mummy’s wrapping and is embroidered with “Mummy Dearest.” This apron is fit for a queen.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Halloween fun and fantastic Aprons!
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Love
your hair gel? How very ancient Egyptian of you! That's right: researchers
have discovered that ancient Egyptians use hair products in life and in
death.
Microscopy using light and electrons revealed that nine of the mummies had hair coated in a mysterious fat-like substance. The researchers used gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to separate out the different molecules in the samples, and found that the coating contained biological long-chain fatty acids including palmitic acid and stearic acid. The results are published in the Journal of Archaeological Science1.
McCreesh thinks that the fatty coating is a styling product that was used to set hair in place. It was found on both natural and artificial mummies, so she believes that it was a beauty product during life as well as a key part of the mummification process.
Genesis Medical Imaging, Inc. has allowed scientists from Chicago’s The Field Museum use of a mobile CT scanner to scan their ancient discoveries, and the results have been surprising. In one mummy they found nothing but straw under the wraps, in another only a skull and legs, and although some of their findings have been disappointing overall the Field Museum has been happy to know exactly what they have in their collection. Read more about it at Art Daily.
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You know about Lenin’s body and Mao’s body, embalmed and on display to inspire the citizens of their countries. But there are plenty of other communist leaders in the same boat, and they all have a story behind them. Atlas Obscura has the stories of the mummies of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Vietnam, North Korea, and even a couple of non-communists who remained above ground many years after their demise. Joseph Stalin is one who is no longer on display.
Seen now as one of the worst dictators in history, in his personal life Stalin lived like he meant it; a heavy smoker and drinker, most historians and specialists agree that vice-induced atherosclerosis led to a series of debilitating — and ultimately fatal –strokes. Others claim that Stalin was assassinated by means of warfarin, an odorless and tasteless poison that causes strokes.
Regardless of the cause, Stalin’s dead body was embalmed and placed along side Lenin’s mummy immediately after his death in 1953. Mourners could gaze up on both of the Republic’s founding fathers in conjunction until Halloween of 1961 when Stalin (sort of) rose from the dead. Officials had him buried next to the Kremlin as part of the process of de-Stalinization. Lenin has been lonely ever since.
Stalin is only one of ten corpses profiled at Atlas Obscura. Link
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In a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the Egyptian desert lies a truly remarkable catacomb containing the mummified remains of dogs and jackals.
Now, since this is Egypt, mummies aren’t exactly unusual – what made the Dog Catacomb so different is that it contains an immense amount of mummified puppies:
They estimate the catacombs contain the remains of 8 million animals. Given the sheer numbers of animals, it is likely they were bred by the thousands in puppy farms around the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, according to the researchers. The Dog Catacombs are located at Saqqara, the burial ground for the ancient capital Memphis.
"Our findings indicate a rather different view of the relationship between people and the animals they worshipped than that normally associated with the ancient Egyptians, since many animals were killed and mummified when only a matter of hours or days old," Nicholson said. "These animals were not strictly ‘sacrificial.’ Rather, the dedication of an animal mummy was regarded as a pious act, with the animal acting as intermediary between the donor and the gods."
Link (Photo: Scott Williams/Cardiff University) | More at the Daily Mail
Monster Plushies – $11.95
Move over cute, lovable plushies – here comes gruesomely cute, loveable monster plushies from the NeatoShop. They’re the perfect gift for your fellow B movie lovers: Link | More Fun and Unusual Plush Toys
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The perfect Halloween entree, composed of meatloaf, noodles, and olive eyes. Complete directions with meatloaf recipe can be found at Gather and Nest. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
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“The Curse” is a new song from Josh Ritter about an archaeologist who falls in love with a mummy. The video was produced by Ritter’s drummer, Liam Hurley, who is also a puppeteer. See the video and read more about it at NPR’s All Things Considered. Link -via mental_floss
Funeral director Richard Parson was remodeling his house when he found something surprising in the walls: a 400-year-old mummified cat that might have been placed in the walls to ward off evil spirits.
"Apparently 400 years ago people put cats behind walls to ward off witches. It clearly works as, since we have lived in the village, we have not seen sight or sound of any witches."
Mr Parson said neighbours have told him the cat was previously found behind the wall 20 years ago, but was put back by another resident. He added: "There has been a local myth, a legend, that there was a cat buried in the house but of course we had no idea where that was. We were also told about a child’s boot left in the house because it was once used as a cobblers’, and was supposed to bring luck.
"I am not a superstitious man but the cat is a little bit of village history and adds charm to the property."
Link (Photo: APEX)
For a small fee, you can tour the underground catacombs of the Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Sicily, where 2,000 well-dressed but decaying bodies, mostly from the 19th c., are on display. Nobody knows exactly why they have been preserved.
From the February issue of National Geographic:
“Their jaws hang open in silent yowls, rotting teeth grin with menace, eye sockets stare bleakly, shreds of hard skin cling to shrunken cheeks and arthritic knuckles. These people are mostly small, their arms crossed as they sag against the wire and nails that hold them upright, their heads lolling on shoulders, bodies slowly collapsing with the effort of imitating a past life…”
