Mummies, dating

Anthraquinone Dyes. This second most important class of dyes also iacludes some of the oldest dyes they have been found ia the wrappiags of mummies dating back over 4000 years. In contrast to the a2o dyes, which have no natural counterparts, all the important natural red dyes were anthraquiaones (see Dyes, natural). However, the importance of anthraquiaone dyes is declining due to their low cost-effectiveness. 

The axe of "Otzi the Iceman (well-preserved mummy dated to 3300 BC) is made from copper. 

Ligon WV Jr, Dorn SB, May RJ, et al. 1989. Chlorodibenzofuran and chlorodibenzodioxins levels in Chilean mummies date about 2800 years before the present. Environ Sci Technol 23(10) 1286-1290. 

Tuberculosis (TB) is a slowly growing bacterial infection of the lung, which often disseminates to other parts of the body. It is a disease probably leaped from cows to humans around 10,000 years ago when people first settled down in communities with cattle and crops. Tubercular lesions have been found in Egyptian mummies dating back to 3,700 BC. In ancient times, tuberculosis was rife and was especially dangerous for women during childbirth. TB was so horrendous that it claimed one out of seven Uves, accumulating 2 billion lives in the last two centuries. 

The use of the various tempera and of wax has been identified on objects dating back to ancient Egypt. The Eayum mummy portraits are beautiful examples of encaustic painting, ie, using molten wax as medium. A rather special variation was the technique used by the Romans for wall paintings. In these, the medium, referred to by Pliny as Punic wax, probably consisted of partially saponified wax. In Europe, wax ceased to be used by the ninth century. 

It is said that Alexander the Great introduced Indian cotton into Egypt in the fourth century BC, and from there it spread to Greece, Italy, and Spain. During the year AD 700, China began growing cotton as a decorative plant, and AD 798 saw its introduction into Japan. Early explorers in Pern found cotton cloth on exhumed mummies that dated to 200 BC. Cotton was found in North America by Columbus in 1492. About 300 years later, the first cotton mill was built in Beverly, Massachusetts, and in 1794 EH Whitney was granted a patent for the invention of the cotton gin. 

Silk. Silk, the only natural fiber that comes in filament form, has been and still is one of the most appreciated and valued textile fibers. Silk filaments are secreted by the larvae of several types of silk moths to make their cocoons. Most silk is derived, however, from the larvae of the Bombyx mori moth, which has been widely cultivated in China for over 5000 years. Fragments of silk fabric dated to the late fourth millennium b.c.e. were found at Qianshanyang, in the province of Zhejiang, in China. There are, however, even earlier indications of the use of silk silk remains were found together with an eleventh-century b.c.e. mummy in Egypt, probably also providing evidence of ancient trading routes between the Far and Middle East. 

The case of Oetzi (or the Iceman), the frozen mummy found in 1991 on the Alps on the border between Austria and Italy and now kept at the Archaeological Museum of Bolzano (Italy), is also well known. AMS radiocarbon measurements from the laboratories of Zurich[78] and Oxford[79] on tissue and bone samples from the Iceman dated him to 4550 19 years BP. When calibrated, this radiocarbon age corresponds to three probable calendar time intervals between 3350 BC and 3100 BC. Consistent measurements were obtained by dating some of his equipment and also botanic remains from the discovery site. [80] In this context, it is important to note that dating of Oetzi represents a good example of the relevance of the behaviour of the calibration curve in the final precision of a radiocarbon measurement. Actually, in this case, despite a very high precision of the radiocarbon age ( 19 years), the special trend in the calibration curve around the dated period, i.e. in particular the so-called wiggles, prevents a more exact and unambiguous absolute age determination. 

The two manuscripts taken together foi m an interesting collection of laboratory recipes of the kinds which Diocletian ordered destroyed and which apparently were very generally destroyed. The date ascribed to them is about the time of the decree of Diocletian, and it may be presumed that, in the mummy case, they escaped the execution of that decree. 

This method was used in the examination of an Eskimo who died 1600 years ago. The body was discovered in a frozen state on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska in 1972 and remained frozen until it was brought to Fairbanks in 1973. Examination of the female individual revealed that she had a skull fracture, probably resulting from instant bunal caused by a landslide. Aspaitic acid laceiuization analysis of a tooth from the mummy yielded an age at death of 53 5 years, which correlated well with earlier estimates based upon morphological features. This method is an example of the need to preserve mummies (Alaskan. Egyptian, and Peruvian, among others) for application of new dating techniques as they develop. 

Biblical scrolls are found in a cave near the Dead Sea. Are they authentic A mummy is discovered in an Egyptian tomb. How old is it The burned bones of a man are dug up near Lubbock, Texas. How long have humans lived in the area These and many other questions can be answered by archaeologists using a technique called radiocarbon dating. (The Dead Sea Scrolls are 1900 years old and authentic, the mummy is 3100 years old, and the human remains found in Texas are 9900 years old.)... 

Radiocarbon dating places the age of this Egyptian mummy at 3100 years. 

One type of nuclear reaction can help scientists figure out the age of certain artifacts, such as dinosaur bones, mummies, or wooden tools left behind by ancient people. This technique, called carbon-14 dating, can be used on any organic material. Organic materials are things that are living or were once living. 

Possibly, as presumed by Frausto Da Silva and Williams (2001), some hitherto essential elements lost their biocatalytic functions altogether or are about to do so (ibid.) yet, this issue is open to speculations only because there is no way to determine former biocatalytic functions in fossil samples even if they are fully preserved, like inclusions in amber (with chitin retaining the metals) or dry mummies. Moreover, very few such samples date back beyond the Cretaceous (dinosaur xeromummies from Mongolia, Arabic amber) whereas most of the changes we consider here took place far back in the Precambrian. Changes of enviromnental conditions may also contribute to stabilization of changes by substitution of some redox-inert ion with 3 func-... 

How do scientists determine the ages of artifacts from archaeological excavations If someone tried to sell you a manuscript supposedly dating from 1000 B.C., how could you be certain of its authenticity Is a mummy found in an Egyptian pyramid really three thousand years old Is the so-called Shroud of Turin truly the burial cloth of Jesus Christ The answers to these and other similar questions can usually be found by applying chemical kinetics and the radiocarbon dating technique. 

Figure 7, (a) Polarized light micrograph of soft-rot cavities formed within a hardwood sample from an Egyptian mummy coffin (Code No. FP-F-S) dated 1000-2000 B.C. Chainlike arrangement is characteristic of cavities as seen in LS of macerated fibers. Bar 50.0 pm. (b) TEM micrograph of soft-rot cavities formed within a hardwood sample from an Egyptian mummy coffin (Code No. FP-F-S) dated 1000-2000 B.C. Cavities appear in TS formed in both ray... 

The use of chemicals dates back to the ancient civilizations. For example, many chemicals were known and used by the ancient Egyptians—they used soda (known to them as natron ) mixed with animal fats as soap to wash corpses, and on its own in the mummifying process which followed. Glass objects and glazed pottery, which were buried with the mummies for their use in their assumed after-life, were made from soda and sand. 

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