Mummy with beaded overlay found in Saqqara tomb (philly.com; free registration required)

"...Now 60, Silverman is curator of the Egyptian section of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Last week he spoke excitedly about a tomb uncovered by an Australian expedition in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, just south of Cairo. No one at Penn was involved in the Saqqara finds, but Silverman and other university archaeologists have been digging there since 1990 - and these latest discoveries were announced by an old friend, Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and a man with many Penn connections.... Hawass could not be reached in Egypt last week. But his friends at Penn were buzzing about a mummy and some beads found in the tomb in Saqqara. The beads, which date to the 26th Dynasty (664-525 B.C.), had been fashioned into what is called a "net overlay" and placed atop a linen-wrapped mummy inside a wooden, person-shaped coffin. Such coffins were particularly beloved by Egyptians, who believed they would serve as a substitute body after death.... "

More on mummified female body found in Marshall Missing Shreveport woman identified as mummified Texas body; murder trial postponed (chron.com)

"A mummified body discovered in East Texas is that of a Shreveport woman who had been missing since she disappeared from a bloodied hotel room. Medical examiners in Dallas matched dental records from the body with those of Marjorie Smith, 39, today. She had been missing for a year and a half...."

More on preserved remains found by federal corruption investigators Human and animal remains preserved in formaldehyde puzzle investigators (bostonherald.com)

"The human fetal remains investigators found last week buried in jars behind a housing complex were less than 20 weeks developed and preserved in formaldehyde, according to a state medical examiner. Hampden District Attorney William Bennett told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the preliminary examination done by Dr. Joan Richmond indicated the jars contained 'two or three human fetal remains.' Other jars that were dug up behind the Riverview Apartment complex contained a cat brain preserved as an anatomical specimen and turtle remains, Bennett said. The DA said the animal remains also were in formaldehyde...."

King Tut's curse moves to South Africa? (iol.co.za)

"Is it a fake, a hoax borrowed from a soapie, or has the world's most famous curse wrought havoc on South African shores? Controversy still surrounds a Paarl, Western Cape, woman who claims she owns a piece of jewelry that carries the 3 000-year-old "curse" of King Tutankhamen. This week, the woman refused to ... explain the strange circumstances concerning a scarab that she says has brought death to her family and others...."

Identification of mummified murdered woman leads to suspect's arrest  (sltrib.com)

"Nearly every day for 13 years, Millard County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Masner thought about the murdered woman whose preserved, unidentified remains lay on a shelf in the evidence room across the hall from his office. 'You just had the feeling that she belonged to someone,' said Masner at a news conference Thursday, when officials announced that murder and kidnapping charges have been filed against a suspect in the case. The case began 15 years ago, when the woman's mummified body was found near the mouth of a canyon in Millard County."

New theory: The Iceman wore high-tech snowshoes (discovery.com) with photos

"Ötzi, the copper ax-wielding iceman found frozen in the Alps where he had trekked over 5,300 years ago, wore high-tech snowshoes, according to a closer look at artifacts found with his remains. If the new theory holds, Ötzi's footwear would become the world's first known snowshoes, and in a landslide victory. The current likely record-holders are not even actual shoes, but rather carvings of what look to be snowshoes found within Iron Age petroglyphs that date to approximately 500 B.C...."

More on mummified female body found in Marshall Alabama murder trial delayed to await identification of mummified Texas body (tuscaloosanews.com)

"A murder trial has been postponed because a mummified body discovered in East Texas could be the victim authorities have been looking for since she disappeared from a bloodied motel room. Jury selection had been scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of Edward Roberson Jr. on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Marjorie Smith, a 39-year-old Shreveport mother of four, in August 2003. It would have been the first homicide case to be tried in Bossier or Caddo Parish without the victim's body...."

Mummified carcasses help authorities nab animal 'rescuer' (scotsman.com)

"A self-proclaimed animal rescuer was convicted of cruelty after investigators raided his compound and found dead tiger cubs stored in a freezer and dozens of big cat carcasses strewn about the property.... Investigators allegedly found 11 newborn tiger and leopard cubs living in an attic space, 58 frozen tiger cub carcasses and the rotting or mummified carcasses of at least 30 exotic cats scattered around the property, some tied to abandoned cars."

Manchester Museum team studies Egyptian mummy non-invasively (manchesteronline.co.uk)

"EXPERTS from Manchester University are trying to unravel the mysteries of an Egyptian mummy. Using X-rays, DNA testing and an endoscopy, Dr Rosalie David and her team from the Centre for Biomedical Egyptology have looked inside the body of the mummy. Dr Caroline Wilkinson, from the university's school of art in medicine, will produce a three-dimensional reconstruction of its face. Whatever the experts reveal, it is possible the mummy's biggest secret has already been uncovered...."

More on mummified female body found in Marshall Long-missing Oklahoma woman may be match (ktbs.com)

"Authorities will examine the dental records of a missing Oklahoma woman to see if they match those of body found in an abandoned house in Harrison County, Texas. The body, which was mummified, was found last week...."

The sad story of an invisible man who became a mummy (nj.com)

"Fred Hagmann walked off the stage of life years ago, hiding from the rest of the world behind the front door of his Livingston home. When police pried open that door on Sept. 7, they discovered Hagmann's mummified remains in the bathroom in front of the tub. Hagmann, 76, had been there for at least nine months. No one missed him. He had no relatives and no friends. His body was taken to the morgue, where it languished for months. Unclaimed, it was put to rest in a cemetery two weeks ago. No one attended the burial except the funeral director hired by the county. It was a lonely ending to a lonely life...."

King Tut exhibition opens in Bonn (

"Ancient Egyptians believed that the preservation of a person’s name in funerary texts was essential for his or her survival in the afterlife. If that’s the case, King Tutankhamen — better known as “King Tut” — can rest easily, thanks to all the advertising about an exhibition bearing his name in Bonn, Germany. Fifty funerary pieces in “Tutankhamen — The Golden Beyond; Tomb Treasures from the Valley of the Kings” are on display through May 1 in the city’s Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. The exhibition also includes 70 pieces from other temples and tombs of the 18th Dynasty (about 1550 to 1308 B.C.), considered by experts to be the high point of advanced ancient Egyptian civilization...."

More on preserved fetuses found by federal corruption investigators Logical explanation for burial of preserved fetuses? (masslive.com)

"Minutes after FBI agents dug up four fetuses preserved in jars behind a Springfield Housing Authority project Thursday night, federal agents and the public alike began asking the same questions about the macabre discovery: Where did they come from and why were they dumped there? Investigators conducting a corruption probe at the authority suspect the fetuses might have belonged to a doctor whose son, a top authority official, ordered a worker to bury them three years ago. But one area professor said the discovery might be less sinister than it appears...."

Mummies tell tale of early oil trading (news-journal.com)

"New research suggests that oil and its by-products were valued and traded in the Mideast at least 3,000 years ago, the same region that dominates world production and export of crude oil today. Evidence for the discovery came from surprising sources — mummies...."

Mummified female body found in Marshall (news-journal.com)

"A mummified female body was found Thursday evening in an abandoned house on U.S. 80, seven miles east of Scottsville, said Mike Alexander, captain of criminal investigations for the Harrison County Sheriff's Office...."

Mummy-fossil of prehistoric crocodile exhibited in Rio de Janeiro (msnbc.msn.com) with photo

"The discovery of a nearly intact fossil of a prehistoric crocodile is teaching scientists what the world was like before the continents were separated by oceans, a Brazilian paleontologist said. A reproduction of the previously unknown creature -- dubbed Uberabasuchus Terrificus, or the terrible crocodile of Uberaba -- was unveiled Wednesday at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro...."

Preserved fetuses found during housing project excavation by federal corruption  investigators in Springfield (masslive.com)

"In a bizarre twist in a city corruption investigation, federal agents spent 10 hours digging behind a Springfield Housing Authority project yesterday before finding four fetuses preserved in jars. Wearing masks, goggles and hazardous materials suits, a team of FBI agents discovered jars holding fetuses in various stages of development just before dusk behind a housing project on Sanderson Street. Shortly after the first containers were unearthed from a four-foot crater, a van from the state Medical Examiner's Office rolled up and investigators stretched blue tarp around the dig site...."

Was King Tut murdered? Experts to release CT-scan results in March (reuters.co.uk)

"A team of experts expects to announce in March whether the latest test results on the mummified body of Tutankhamun will provide evidence for the theory that the boy pharaoh was murdered. Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian government's Supreme Council for Antiquities, told Reuters that results from a high tech x-ray scan of the mummy would help explain a bone chip in the skull that has sparked the murder theory...."

Review of Iceman findings...and more on his curse (reuters.co.uk)

"Some 5,300 years after his violent death, a Stone Age man found frozen in the Alps is slowly revealing his secrets to a global team of scientists. But despite more than a decade of high-tech efforts by geneticists, botanists and engineers many questions about his life and death remain unsolved. And rumours of a deadly curse on those who found him continue to swirl...."

Preserved Tasmanian tiger pup will not be used to create clone (news.yahoo.com)

"An Australian museum said Tuesday it has abandoned a project to clone a Tasmanian Tiger — the extinct, wolf-like striped creature that carried its young in a pouch. The Australian Museum began research in 1999 to clone the tiger from cells of a pup found preserved in formaldehyde in a museum in the island state of Tasmania. The museum said the project had ended because the preservative had degenerated the DNA samples...."

Unusual Roman gypsum mummy unearthed at York building site (yorkshiretoday.co.uk)

"The remains, found on a building site near The Mount, in an extensive Roman cemetery, were unusual because the body had undergone a form of mummification. Yesterday the stone sarcophagus and its contents were lifted out and taken away for testing. A white material, probably gypsum, was used to preserve the body of what archaeologists hope is a Roman, buried around 300AD. Other examples of Roman gypsum burials have been found in York, usually of high status individuals, but none has been subjected to such modern scientific analysis...."

30 years after death, woman's remains are well-preserved (thestar.com.my)

"Relatives of a woman buried about 30 years ago at a Christian cemetery in Teluk Intan, Perak, are in shock after seeing the coffin still intact and her remains in good condition....He said that following his father’s death recently, they dug his mother's grave and found the coffin intact and after opening the coffin cover, found the remains also intact...."

More on the Hertfordshire animal mummy exhibit Slideshow displays animal mummies on display (bbc.co.uk) with slideshow

"Most of us have heard about mummified people, but a new exhibition unravels the secrets of how the Ancient Egyptians also preserved their pets. The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Hertfordshire has put on a show of animal mummies - some of which have never been seen by the public...."

Did Kyrgyzstan medical academy illegally supply corpses of starved patients to Von Hagens? (timesonline.co.uk) 

"...Police believe that Gerasimenko’s body was among more than 100 sold illegally by Kyrgyz psychiatric hospitals and prison colonies to the Bishkek medical academy. The academy, in turn, helped to supply Gunther von Hagens, the German anatomist, whose controversial Body Worlds exhibition of skinned corpses has earned gross revenues of more than £45m across the world. After a two-year investigation Valery Gabitov, the former head of anatomy at Bishkek’s medical academy — who has admitted supplying von Hagens with more than 500 corpses — has gone on trial with five other doctors...."

More on the Chicago Body Worlds exhibit Review of the exhibit (ccchronicle.com)

"...It is not just the draw of a few cadavers that has brought a reported 16 million people to see this exhibit in 10 countries—it is the presentation. On display is a man considering his next chess move with, his brain exposed to demonstrate how his body is working. There is also an athlete holding a torch high above his head to show the human digestive tract and a family made entirely of only their veins and arteries. Brightly colored organs, bones and tissues, both healthy and unhealthy, complement these full-body specimens....." 

Cryonics makes frozen mummies of the living dead (nytimes.com; free registration required)

"The live-in customers at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation here reside in eight 10-foot-high steel tanks filled with liquid nitrogen. They are incapable of breathing, thinking, walking, riding a bike or scratching an itch. But don't refer to them as deceased. They may be frozen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit and identified by prisonlike numbers. But to Alcor, the 67 bodies - in many cases, just severed heads - are patients who may live again if science can just figure out how to reanimate them...."

Mummified Ötzi-like antelope helps scientist determine threat of receding glacier (masslive.com)

"The antelope carcass lay in the grainy glacier ice at 19,000 feet, exposed to the tropical sun. Below the clouds that ringed the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, a menagerie of African wildlife roamed the rain forests and savannah. Doug Hardy could think of no reason for an antelope to have died here in these arctic heights, where snow squalls arise in an instant and there is not a single blade of grass.... The antelope had apparently been encased in the ice until recently. Its mummified condition suggested that it had died long ago. If Hardy could pinpoint when, it would give him a new insight into the dynamics at work on the glaciers of Africa's highest mountain...."

More on the 300-year-old rat catcher Cat mummy makes its debut (bbc.co.uk) with photo

"A mummified cat unearthed in the grounds of the Duke of Bedford's estate is to go on show for the first time. The creature, which is thought to be 300-years-old, was found preserved in the foundations at Woburn Abbey in 1915 when work was being carried out. It goes on display at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire, from Monday...."

Mummified body of young boy found on Rockaway Beach (timesledger.com)

"The body of a young boy found washed ashore on Rockaway Beach Saturday has stumped authorities so far as to its identity, origin and cause of death. 'He's been in the water for so many months we don't know where he came from,' said Officer Kenneth Beecher of the 100th Precinct. Beecher said police received a call at 4:50 p.m. Saturday that people walking their dog on the beach had spotted the small child swaddled in a Mickey Mouse blanket and stuffed in a yellow canvas bag. 'He was so tightly wrapped up that most of his body was mummified. It was barely decomposed,' Beecher said...."

More on the 300-year-old rat catcher Best naturally-preserved cat mummy in UK goes on exhibit this week (independent.co.uk)

"After three centuries buried in an airtight brick container, the Duke of Bedford's beloved cat is to take centre stage at an exhibition of mummified animals next week. While he is undoubtedly showing his age, experts believe the cat, discovered in the foundations of Woburn Abbey, is by far the best preserved example they have seen. Tradition once decreed that good rat catchers were buried in foundations to protect the house after their death and across the capital similar mummies remain interred beneath houses...."

More on von Hagens' 4-night autopsy special Review of the series: Plastinated tongue in cheek? (concrete-online.com)

"We all, squeamishness aside, tuned in to Channel 4 to watch Prof. Gunther Von Hagens don his Fedora and chop up a few of his nearest and dearest in Anatomy for Beginners.  If the name does not spark a knowing and wary ‘mmm’ from your lips, cast your mind back to 2002 and the furor over Prof. Von Hagens’ Body Worlds exhibition.  Corpses preserved by a plastination process, skinned and sometimes dissected but always striking, were all over the place as backpacked tourists wandered around gawping at the splayed out red and white matter.  The Autopsy followed, as autopsies often do, and there could have been little more public disapproval of his actions if Prof. Von Hagens had come onstage laughing manically with a huge drill in one hand and a half drunk bottle of whiskey in the other and proceeded to splatter his subject up the walls. Now with an entire series at his disposal, Prof. Von Hagens has enlisted the help of Prof. John Lee, as official explainer of what on earth is going on, and is delving into torsos like nobody’s business.  Like a jazzed up version of a 4Learning programme for sofa-bound medical students, Anatomy for Beginners is the newest way to get your mortality-based kicks on the box...."

New collection of Egyptian animal mummies unravels some mysteries (newscientist.com)

"A new collection of mummified creatures could help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding ancient Egyptian society. The Egyptians mummified both humans and animals to preserve them for the afterlife. Mummified cats, birds, monkeys and even gazelles have in the past been found buried alongside their owners. Researchers say the new collection - including mummified cats, birds, baboons and crocodiles gathered from a variety of collections - adds weight to the idea that the humble house cat was first domesticated animal to provide a source of ritual offerings for the gods...The collection will also go on display at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Hertfordshire, UK, from 14 February in an exhibition called Animal Mummies of Ancient Egypt."

300-year-old rat catcher, found in well-preserved condition (thisislondon.co.uk)

"He was one of the best rat catchers of the 17th century. For years, the Duke of Bedford's cat protected the original Woburn Abbey against mice and rats. The cat was so successful that when he died, the Duke decided to bury him in the foundations of the building to protect it. Now, experts have discovered the cat was perfectly mummified. Despite being more than 300 years old, his whiskers are still visible, and only his fur has been lost...."

Plastinated mummies on display at Museum of Science and Industry (suntimes.com)

"Frozen in time, somewhere between death and decay, stands the newest addition to Chicago's museum offerings -- the plastinate. That description belongs to Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a controversial German scientist who has added a chapter to the world of anatomical studies by preserving bodies with hardened resins and polymers. His creations now stand inside a Museum of Science and Industry exhibit hall, a startling collection of bodies stripped of their skin and displayed to highlight organs, nerves and muscles -- but also to appeal to the curious...."

More on exhumation of naturally mummified horse Preserved remains of Wild-Eyed and Wicked cut up during exhumation (wkyt.com)

"Piece by piece, the body of a champion show horse was removed Friday from its grave on a Woodford County farm, and its remains now are being stored by a coroner in a neighboring county. Wild-Eyed and Wicked was one of three horses euthanized after suffering injuries inflicted by an unknown assailant in 2003. The horse is being exhumed as part of the continuing investigation into the attacks...."

Body of naturally mummified horse may reveal clues about its death (kansas.com)

"The body of a champion show horse which was euthanized after being injured by an unknown assailant more than 18 months ago is "completely intact," according to the forensic anthropologist leading the animal's exhumation in Woodford County. Elizabeth Murray, of Cincinnati, the leader of a four-person crew exhuming Wild-Eyed and Wicked, said the 11-year-old gelding's body 'is almost not decomposed at all, because it's so deep in the ground. Because of the depth of the grave, it's been preserved.'..."

Animal rights activist will auction off the tattoo from her arm for pick up after her death (abc.net.au)

"The British founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the world's biggest animal rights group, is auctioning off a lizard tattoo on her right arm - with proceeds going to the charity. Billed as "waterproof and weathered" and "suitable for making into a wallet or watch strap", the tattoo is being offered on website eBay to draw attention to the plight suffered by skinned animals.... But the winning bidder might have a long wait to get hold of the tattoo: it will only be delivered after its owner has passed away."

Man offers $10,000 reward for missing Pedro Mountain mini-mummy (casperstartribune.net)

"In the name of poking holes in the theory of evolution, a Syracuse, N.Y., man says he will pay $10,000 for one of the most mysterious artifacts ever dug up in Wyoming -- the Pedro Mountain Mummy. John Adolfi says he wants the Pedro Mountain Mummy, sometimes referred to as Pedro, in order to conduct DNA tests, X-rays, and magnetic resonance imaging on the little fellow...."

MUMMY TOMBS NOTE: Some believe that this mummy is a hoax. Decide for yourself by checking out a photo of the mummy

Writer asks: Is display of Egyptian mummies hypocritical in New Zealand? (nzherald.co.nz)

"Auckland Museum is putting the mummified remains of a long-dead Egyptian back on display by the end of March. Does this mean the scary tattooed Maori heads that were a highlight of my boyhood visits in less politically correct times will return from the storeroom too? One suspects not. Years of pressure from Maori, Aborigines, American Indians and other indigenous peoples have forced museums around the world to treat human remains of "first peoples" with respect. Only the poor old Egyptian "first people" seem to get left out of this international protocol. Why remains a mystery...."

Bog body exhibit opens in Manchester (independent.co.uk)

"Judging by the terrified look on his face, the German horseman who has come to be known as 'Red Franz' harboured few hopes of 21st-century fame in the moments before he was murdered and deposited in a bog 1,800 years ago. But after a world tour which has already introduced him to half a million people, he arrived in Manchester yesterday in an exhibition which sheds light on the fate which befell him and many others. Red Franz - who takes his name from the colour his hair turned to after thousands of years in bog water - was joined by other 'Bog People', including the Dutch "Girl from Yde" and a pair whose dying embrace earned them the name 'the married couple'...."

Mummified digit points finger at alleged killers (pretorianews.co.za)

"Nelson Chisale was alive but seriously injured when he was thrown into a lions' enclosure near Hoedspruit last year, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard yesterday.... According to fingerprint expert Superintendent Hugo Coetzee, there were nine points of similarity and no differences between a fingerprint obtained from a mummified left index finger found in the lions' camp and Home Affairs records of the same fingerprint of Chisale...."