More on von Hagens' 4-night autopsy special Not 'must-see' TV: A carnival-style approach to autopsy (sundayherald.com)

"...the subject was dead, a 54-year-old who had gamely volunteered to be chopped up on television by the infamous Professor Gunther von Hagens. To protect his identity, the subject was masked, which actually made things even creepier. It also didn’t help that he was strung upright like a grotesque marionette – apparently to help demonstrate how limbs operate.... I’d be surprised if the...audience actually learned anything – the reaction shots confirmed that they could do little more than stare at the exposed body and wince. It was like the opening of Quincy, where Jack Klugman introduces raw recruits to the most fascinating sphere of police work – forensic medicine – then proceeds to make them faint and fall over like skittles during his autopsy. Over four consecutive nights, Anatomy For Beginners was way too much. If you missed it, there’s a compilation show on tonight. Good luck...."

Dribbling brains: Von Hagens demonstrates plastination autopsy for British television audience (rednova.com)

"...Channel 4's series - running on four successive nights this week - is a bolder version of the televised autopsy with which it stirred up a certain amount of fuss a few years ago. Where that programme masked most of the knifework, simply displaying a series of dissected organs to the camera, this one shows the disassembly in close-up and it opened with an anatomist's coup de theatre: von Hagen peeling away the skin of his anonymous volunteer in one piece and draping it over an adjacent stand...."

1,500-year-old skeletons and partially-mummified remains provide evidence to unravel mystery of Roopkund Lake (navhindtimes.com)

"The mystery of the hundreds of skeletons in the Roopkund lake has begun to unravel with a few of the DNA samples matching with those of a particular group of people living in Maharashtra.The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad director, Dr Lalji Singh, talking to UNI, said the centre had conducted studies on the DNA of 31 samples of bone and muscle taken out from a relatively well-preserved body and several skeletons found in a frozen state at Roopkund lake in Chamoli district of Uttaranchal...."

End of the line: Body Worlds I closes in Los Angeles (latimes.com; free registration required)

"Despite the midnight hour, Jim Kohn decided to top off a night at the opera with a visit to a museum. So — decked out in a tuxedo — the 41-year-old Los Angeles man very early Sunday caught the last act of the California Science Center's 'Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies.' Drawing more than 650,000 spectators since it opened in July, the collection of "plastinated" cadavers proved so popular that museum officials kept the doors open for the final 41 hours. The exhibit closed at midnight Sunday...."

Milwaukee archaeologist ponders King Tut's CT-scan: What will it reveal?  (jsonline.com)

"For 15 minutes, the fragile, mummified body of King Tut was sliced and diced in the back of a van - by a CT scan. Egyptian researchers removed the young king's body from his 3,300-year-old tomb and surveyed it in a portable coffin-sized CT scan machine, situated in the back of a running van in the Valley of the Kings. Their hope: to determine whether King Tut died of natural or unnatural causes. But while the international media was abuzz about the king's foray into high technology, Carter Lupton, an Egyptologist at the Milwaukee Public Museum, was shrugging his shoulders. He's been using CT-scan technology on mummies for decades. And he's not sure that the manner of Tut's death will be revealed with such technology...."

The literature of bog bodies (theglobeandmail.com)

"...In archeological terms, bog bodies are the remains of individuals preserved through a combination of environmental factors, chiefly bog-water acidity. Viewed through a more human lens, these bodies, of course, were people. Most lived between 8,000 BC and the early medieval period. As both object and metaphor, bog bodies have appeared frequently in literature -- in poetry, fiction and non-fiction -- as if in some small way, we are comforted by the presence of the long-dead around us, by what they can teach us about ourselves. Almost all of the books I've read on bog bodies begin by recounting a bog-body discovery. P. V. Glob begins his seminal account, The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved, with the unearthing of "Tollund Man," a 2,000-year-old body found in Central Jutland in 1950...."

Policy for returning human remains: What museums take into consideration (scotsman.com)

"The Toi Moko are going home. Two preserved tattooed Maori heads, which have been mouldering in Perth Museum for more than a century and a half, are to be returned to their Antipodean homeland. They were rudely removed in 1822 by David Ramsay, a Perth-born ship’s surgeon. Two similar Maori heads, plus a bone, are also being returned to New Zealand by Glasgow Museums, rather like the much-publicised Ghost Dance Shirt, returned by Glasgow to the native American Lakota people in 1999. Ethiopia, meanwhile, has been celebrating the return of the Aksum obelisk, removed from the holy city of Aksum by Italian fascists in 1935...."

Profiling the controversial mummymaker: Gunther von Hagens (sundayherald.com)

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But would the star of Anatomy For Beginners provoke the same reactions if he wasn’t called Professor Gunther von Hagens? Would he get as much screen time on Channel 4? Von Hagens, who found fame and infamy in 2002 when he performed the UK’s first public autopsy in 170 years, originally made his name as inventor of the mummification process “plastination” which, preserving and solidifying tissue, allows organs, muscles or whatever other body bits you fancy to be displayed as though they were anatomical models. Encouraging people to see dead people, his Bodyworks exhibition of pickled cadavers has toured since 1995, making him a multi-millionaire. (His corpses are contributed by “body donors”, fans who figured being plastinated was a hip alternative to the burn-or-bury option.) It’s hard to escape the thought that, in addition to turning corpses into models, von Hagens has modelled his own image around his work, teasing out the house-of-horror hints whispering among the gothic peaks of his name...."

Near-perfect 3,700-year-old Egyptian mummy found at Dahashur North (mainichi.co.jp)

"A team of Japanese researchers from Waseda University's Institute of Egyptology has found a mummy believed to be almost 3,800 years old at an archaeological site in Egypt, university officials have announced. The mummy, thought to be about 3,750 years old, was found at a site in Dahashur North in Egypt. Researchers said it was found in good condition, and is believed to be one of the oldest mummies not to have been plundered or damaged...." with photo

Krefeld police find mummified body in compost bin (xtramsn.co.nz)

"A German woman hid her father's corpse in a rubbish bin for three years so she could collect his pension and old age benefits, police said on Thursday. Police became suspicious after the woman, 55, failed to give a credible account of her father's whereabouts following a routine check by local authorities...Police found the partially mummified corpse wrapped in plastic and buried under leaves. The woman told police she had found him dead at home and had hidden the body to claim his benefits, the spokesman said.... " 

Controversy surrounds recent CT-scan of King Tut: Was it simply done for publicity? (weekly.ahram.org.eg)

"When the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) launched a five-year project to examine and study all Ancient Egyptian mummies by means of CT scanning in order to ascertain how they can be best conserved, the idea was applauded. Eleven mummies in the Egyptian Museum were scanned. However, when it came to the turn of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, some archaeologists and scientists were none too happy. While the project's supporters saw it as a revolutionary endeavour to resolve the mystery surrounding the early death of Tutankhamun, its opponents suggested it was more of a media circus than pure science. A media campaign launched to question the usefulness of the procedure and its results accused the Egyptian mission who carried out the CT scan of being unprofessional, ambiguous, reckless and impatient to implement its attempt. What triggered the controversy was the sudden withdrawal -- a week before Tutankhamun's scanning -- of orthopaedist professor Saleh Bedeir, who was leading the scientific team, and his statement regarding Tutankhamun's computed tomography...." 

Preserved remains in jar raise suspicions about controversial medical examiner (tennessean.com)

"An old jar of preserved tissue found in the former home of a controversial forensics doctor might be the autopsied remains of a family pet, Metro officials said yesterday. The jar, boxes of old case files and personal financial records were found in a home once owned by Dr. Charles Harlan, a former Metro medical examiner who has been fighting a long-running state effort to strip him of his medical license...." 

Third salt man discovered in Iran (mehrnews.ir)

"The remains of a skeleton of a man were recently discovered at the Chehrabad salt mine near Zanjan in northwestern Iran. The third Salt Man’s body was buried under a two-ton rock, Amir Elahi, the director of the excavation team at the mine, said on Monday. Several items such as a leather sack full of salt, a clay tallow burner, two pairs of leather shoes, and two cow horns were also discovered near the skeleton...." 

See also the November 2004 archives

The mummies of Loulan (washingtontimes.com)

"In past decades, scores of naturally preserved, freeze-dried mummies with European features have been unearthed on the edges of the Taklamakan. One of the most famous, known as "the Beauty of Kroran," was found by Chinese archaeologists in 1980 north of the old Lop Nor. Buried about 3,800 years ago, clad in a woolen shroud and leather boots, she was in a very good state of preservation. Her blondish-brown hair, about 12 inches long, was rolled up in a headdress made of felt over a woven base, and topped with two goose feathers. With her in the grave were a comb and a long, narrow straw basket...." 

Preserved horse faces major move (ljworld.com)

"Brad Kemp has been losing sleep the past few months, hoping he doesn't beat up a dead horse. Kemp is helping devise a plan to move Comanche down a story to a new exhibit space. The stuffed warhorse is, of course, an icon of the nation's Western expansion, one of the most beloved artifacts at the Kansas University Natural History Museum and the most famous survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand...." 

Preserved and plundered Maori heads to be returned to New Zealand (bbc.co.uk)

"A dispute over human heads which were plundered by a Scottish adventurer is set to reach a peaceful conclusion - after almost 200 years. Councillors in Perth are likely to agree on Wednesday to return the ancestral items to the Museum of New Zealand. The tattooed heads, known as toi moko, are stored in Perth Museum. But they are sacred to the Maori, who are demanding the return of the preserved remains...." 

Additional story at nzherald.co.nz

Mummy in the basement may lead to People's Museum (nytimes.com; free registration required)

"The Sepanski collection is so Sepanski: peculiar in choice, limitless in possibility. At last count it contained more than 30,000 items, from a dinosaur egg to a Zulu ceremonial dance shield, from two elephant tusks to five whaling harpoons, from a 1944 movie poster for "The Mummy's Curse" to - a mummy. Its namesake and curator, Mark Sepanski, keeps some curios in his Queens home's basement, but most of his collection is in one of those storage warehouses that people rent to stash winter clothes, and not, say, a Civil War cannonball. This arrangement followed years of Mr. Sepanski's coming home and asking his wife to guess what he had in a box this time. One time, a dinosaur tibia. Another time, a mummified hand that she said looked more like a piece of bacon. It was like living in a museum...."

1,700 CT images may solve  the mysteries of King Tut's life and death (azdailysun.com)

"A team of researchers briefly removed King Tut's mummy from its tomb Wednesday and laid bare his bones for a CT scan that could solve an enduring mystery: Was it murder or natural causes that killed Egypt's boy pharaoh 3,000 years ago? Tut's toes and fingers and an eerie outline of his face could be seen as the mummy, resting in a box to protect it, was placed inside the machine in a specially equipped van parked near his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings. The 1,700 images taken during the 15-minute CT scan could answer many of the mysteries that shroud King Tutankhamun's life and death -- including his royal lineage, his exact age at the time of his death -- now estimated at 17 -- and the reason he died...." with photo 

California Science Center to open Body Worlds 2 with over 200 "all-new plastinated real human body specimens" as Body Worlds 1 heads for Chicago (monstersandcritics.com)

"In response to the tremendous popularity of BODY WORLDS: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies, the California Science Center's President Jeffrey N. Rudolph is pleased to announce the debut of BODY WORLDS 2 scheduled to open January 29 and run through March 27, 2005. Since July, more than half a million guests have visited BODY WORLDS, distinguishing it as the most well attended special exhibit in California Science Center history. Visitor surveys reveal that numerous guests are visiting the exhibit three and four times. To accommodate the crowds, the Science Center opened on Christmas and New Years Day. BODY WORLDS closes on January 23 and travels to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry where it will open in February. BODY WORLDS 2 equals its predecessor in size and proportion, comprising 20,000 sq. feet, and more than 200 all-new plastinated real human body specimens including more than 20 whole bodies, healthy and unhealthy organs, body parts and slices...." with photo

New theory proposed about Iceman's death: Ötzi died in power struggle (discovery.com)

"Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, might have been murdered in a struggle for power, according to a new theory that identifies the 5,300-year-old mummy as the powerful leader of a Neolithic community...." 

Mummified footprint found in shoe belonging to one of Hunley's crew members (thestate.com)

"A charred and ragged matchstick looks like a piece of trash, but for archaeologists working on the H.L. Hunley, it's a revealing piece of history. Since scientists began pulling artifacts from the Civil War-era submarine in 2001, a small staff of experts have been working to preserve them. The variety of material - metal, wood, textiles, leather, cork and even rubber - forced the Hunley lab staff to consider a number of different restoration techniques.... Although most of the shoes had disintegrated, scientists have cleaned and preserved some to the point that they have the fossilized imprint of the skin of one crewman in a shoe...." 

Relics of mummified Spanish missionary displayed in Goa (newkerala.com)

"...About 2.2 million people have visited the Se Cathedaral to venerate the body of St. Xavier, in a ritual that only takes place once a decade. The Spanish missionary's body, placed in a glass-topped intricately carved silver casket, was on a ceremonial display for more than 40 days...." 

Minnesota artists use preserved roadkill to create art (nytimes.com; free registration required)

"Three artists in Minneapolis are trying to breathe new life into the art of preserving the dead. Dead animals, that is. The three, Scott Bibus, Sarina Brewer and Robert Marbury, are passionate about taxidermy, a practice they consider an art form and one that they say has suffered from the bigotry of the art world and the provincialism of professional taxidermists. The artists call themselves the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, and they are dedicated to exploring the artistic possibilities of stuffing and mounting animal remains - and not without a certain sly humor...." 

Woman who died alone eight years ago is finally discovered--naturally mummified (wpherald.com)

"A woman who died in a Moscow apartment lay undiscovered for eight years before neighbors reported they had not seen her 'for a while....' Police officers found her mummified body slumped over a newspaper dated 1996." 

NYC's Freakatorium, including preserved body parts, closed at end of 2004 (nytimes.com; free registration required)

"With a live two-headed turtle named Fric and Frac, Sammy Davis Jr.'s glass eye and Tom Thumb's clothing, the Freakatorium, El Museo Loco, a Lower East Side emporium of oddities, would seem to be a good fit in a city that prides itself on nurturing eccentricities. But even with a $5 admission fee, the Freakatorium never attracted more than a handful of visitors daily. Yesterday, it closed up shop...The collection will move to [the owner's] new house in Connecticut, perhaps into the attic...."