Mummy bones

An exploration of possible relationships between structural and chemical decomposition of bone. Proceedings of the I World Congress on Mummy Studies. Museo Arqueologico y Etnografico doe Tenerife, Islas Canarias (Spain) 549-558. 

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. 

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.)... 

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. 

Note All mummy samples and the modem bone samples were analyzed by INAA soil-buried samples were measured by XRF. "Average of 23 modern human bone samples analyzed after ashing at 500 °C (for more detail see ref. 13). 

Figure 1. Ca and P concentrations in Egyptian bones. Key o, samples from mummies A, buried bones O and buried samples corrected for dilution by the organic component and soil contamination.

The contamination of archaeological bone samples by the soil will affect many of the trace elements. For example, the bones buried in the soil (Table I) contain substantially more Ti, Si, Ba, and V than most of the mummy samples. That the Cr concentrations correlate well with the Si02 content suggests that Cr concentrations can be used as a measure of soil contamination. Hancock et al. found that, when using INAA, the Mn, Al, and V levels seemed to be the most sensitive indicators of soil contamination (16). Whether these same elements will indicate the effects of deposition of mineral phases from solution is not clear. 

These results confirm the great difficulty in using buried bone samples in any type of trace element study. Even some of the mummy samples we studied were also contaminated. These results confirm that the analysis of the inorganic components of archaeological bone must be approached with great caution, especially when the bones have been in contact with soils or ground water solutions. Even isotopic studies may be affected by changes caused by recrystallization processes. 

Today food and water are the main sources of lead in the body, and children are more likely to absorb and retain lead. With the elimination of lead additives in gasoline, their airborne combustion products contribute much less to pollution than in the past. The body burden of lead increases with age, beginning with the fetus as lead crosses the placental barrier. Today, the average adult body contains about 120 mg of lead, 10 times the amount found in Egyptian mummies. More than 95% of the body burden of Pb + accumulates in bones. 

AXUNGIA DE MUMIA — Fat of a dead body, sometimes written Mummy of Marrow, is the marrow of bones. 

Now we can ask, does the Shugborough Monument refer to taking the patriachs bones or mummies to Hebron, and later Jerusalem ... 

Genesis 50 deals with the death of Joseph and the dispatch of his bones to rest with his ancestors in Jerusalem. So perhaps the Knights Templar found Joseph s Egyptian mummy under the Temple in Jerusalem. This explanation is consistent with Shugborough s inscription and the additional ossuary with its Egyptian pyramid top. 

Now Lord Anson s mysterious letters at Shugborough have a solution. The inscription implies that Lord Anson knew the Knights Templar found Joseph s mummy under the Temple in Jerusalem. They removed it to a shrine in Mount Cardou. Poussin showed it in his famous painting Les Bergers d Arcadie II. The shrine may still be there. Possibly the bones or mummy of Jacob is there as well. 

Figure 25 Mummified avian tissue an Adelie penguin from a cold desert, Antarctica, dating to 1030 years bp, from which ice-mummified specimens of bone, feathers, skin, and claw (inset) have been subjected to Raman spectroscopic analysis to determine the survivability of different keratotic materials in an ice mummy.

Church (1901) wrote that mummy is inferior to prepared, but superior to raw, asphalt, inasmuch as it has been submitted to a considerable degree of heat, and has thereby lost some of its volatile hydrocarbons. Moreover it is usual to grind up the bones and other parts of the mummy together, so the resulting powder has more solidity and is less fusible than the asphalt alone would be. A London colourman informs me that one Egyptian mummy furnishes sufficient material to satisfy the demands of his customers for twenty years (although in his 1890 edition, he says a mummy lasted only seven years cf. Woodcock, 1996). 

Mummies manufactured during the historical period are made of preserved flesh, bone and asphalt whereas ancient mummies would be additionally rich in natron and plant-derived resins. Mummy was adulterated by the Roberson Company with Cappagh Brown (Woodcock, 1996) and probably with asphalt by other colourmen and artists. 

Since phosphate fibers are exclusively in the dominion of inorganic chemistry and therefore the mineral kingdom, these areas will receive our major attention. As a safety issue, inorganic phosphate s use in foods, fertilizers, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals will be considered. Returning to the fact that bones when dried are a calcium orthophosphate, hydroxyl apatite, approximately Ca5(P04)30H, the alliance of phosphates with life is again established. Most phosphates used in products mentioned above are from this source in one form or another. When a mummy s tomb is opened, about all that is left are phosphates he ate during his lifetime. Phosphates of his bones assisted him in his quest for immortality. 

---