Mummified soldier was still wearing wearing his gas cape, boots and helmet (scotsman.com)

The remarkably well preserved remains of a British officer, killed in one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, have been discovered in the mud of Flanders.The man, still wearing his gas cape, boots and helmet, was killed during the battle of Passchendaele almost 90 years ago.... The officer, who was found on Friday, is one of more than 58,000 men who fought in the notorious Ypres Salient in Belgium during the Great War with no known grave. Some half-a-million allied soldiers died in the mud and blood of this sector of the western front before the assault intended to smash the German line was called off after four months....

Mummified body of World War I soldier found near Ypres (abc.net.au) 

"Authorities in Belgium are trying to identify the remains of a World War I soldier whose remains have been found in a remarkable state of preservation on the battlefield at Passchendaele near Ypres. The soldier is thought to have been a British officer from the Lancashire Fusiliers...."

An Old Belfast case: Four dead children in a suitcase, two mummified (belfasttelegraph.co.uk) 

"Throughout the history of murders in Belfast the worst kind have always been those involving children and in particular the crime of infanticide, where an unwanted child is killed and the death is covered up. Although this crime is quite rare today - there is not as much stigma about childbirth outside marriage - attitudes were different in the 1930s and there were many cases of this distressing crime which came before the courts. In 1932 a particularly brutal and unusual case was heard in the Belfast courts and became known at the time as the 'four bodies in a suitcase'...."

San Francisco plastination exhibit draws Chinese-American protests (tucsoncitizen.com) 

"An exhibit showing Chinese bodies and organs is drawing protests from Chinese-Americans who say the display of corpses is offensive to their culture. Fiona Ma, a Chinese-American San Francisco supervisor, said yesterday she is working with city attorneys to draft legislation that would keep exhibits such as "The Universe Within" out of the city unless organizers verify the consent of people who donated bodies or their families....."

Is Ötzi decaying?

(discovery.com)

"Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, could be at risk of decomposition, according to the latest tests on the 5,300-year-old mummy. Eduard Egarter Vigl, Ötzi's official caretaker, said that X-rays show suspicious grey spots on one knee. Concerned that bacteria could damage the mummy, Egarter Vigl suggested a needle biopsy in order to analyze the 'bubbles.' He also advised tissue samples be taken. He warned that the mummy is dehydrating, dangerously losing weight by water evaporation despite an igloo-like refrigerated cell which recreates the conditions in the Similaun Glacier where the mummy was found...."

Pair of mummified legs found in woods by ATV riders (ksdk.com) 

"Authorities in central Illinois are looking for answers and other remains after a pair of mummified human legs were found in a wooded area off Interstate 55 near Divernon. A group of ATV riders discovered the legs Monday night and contacted authorities...."

First fossil-mummy of sleeping dinosaur found (sciencedaily.com) with photo

"The first fossil of a sleeping non-avian dinosaur has been described by a pair of American Museum of Natural History paleontologists. The small bird-like dinosaur is preserved in a remarkable life-like pose, with its head tucked between its forearm and trunk with its tail encircling its body. The pose matches the typical sleeping or resting posture found in living birds and thereby supports the already established evolutionary connection between extinct dinosaurs and modern birds (which are living dinosaurs) and the occurrence of bird-like features in early dinosaurian evolution. It also supports the hypothesis that non-avian dinosaurs, like the modern birds that evolved after them, were warm-blooded...."

Medieval knight's mummified body allows science to solve the mystery of his death (zoomata.com) 

"When fighting knight Cangrande della Scala of Verona buckled to the ground after drinking from a fountain in 1329, many called foul play. Some 675 years later, scientists took out his perfectly-preserved mummy hoping to solve this ancient murder mystery. A team of experts lead by Gino Fornaciari, also in charge of digging up 49 members of the Medici clan in Florence, took him from the crypt for a 48-hour work up with state-of the-art technology. Archeologists, paleontologists and forensic specialists ran a battery of tests, including DNA tests and CAT scans, then spent months analyzing them. The result?..."

Understanding disease through mummy study: the Manchester-Cairo Link (medicalnewstoday.com)

"Two world-renowned teams of experts on Egyptian mummies have joined forces in an international effort to better understand disease and its treatment in ancient Egypt. The University of Manchester's Centre for Biomedical Egyptology and Cairo's National Research Center have signed a formal agreement to enhance future academic research and teaching in the field. The Manchester-Cairo alliance will promote cooperation between the two institutions by supporting joint research activities and encouraging visits and exchanges by their staff and students...."

A large human hairball to amputated body parts: the National Museum of Health and Medecine (npr.org)

"The squeamish should think twice before visiting the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1862 to document the effects of war wounds and disease on the human body, the museum displays everything from a large human hairball to skull fragments collected after Abraham Lincoln's assassination. But some of the museum's most unsettling stuff is in storage -- including thousands of amputated body parts from more than 6,000 soldiers wounded during the Civil War. The body parts were sent to Washington on the orders of Surgeon General William Hammond, who had told medical officers to send interesting specimens from the battlefield for research and possible display...."

Over 60 tombs filled with mummy bundles found outside Lima (iol.ie)

"Archaeologists have uncovered a multi-level grave site at Peru’s ancient ruins of Pachacamac, including mummy bundles containing whole families. There were also bodies of pilgrims who presumably sought cures from an oracle deity for diseases like syphilis, tuberculosis and cancer, the project’s leader said.... Pachacamac, 20 miles south of the capital, Lima, was a sprawling ceremonial centre of 18 mud-brick pyramids with ramps and plazas ruled by the Ychsma lords from 900 AD to 1470. Today, the ruins are a major tourist attraction...."

Condition of Emmett Till's body may allow investigators to pinpoint cause of death and identify possible accomplices in 50-year-old crime (dailysouthtown.com) 

"Five decades after Emmett Till's brutal murder and the public display of his battered body to an outraged nation, investigators expect him to reveal what happened in 1955 and finally bring those involved to justice. But what medical investigators might find when they exhume the 14-year-old Chicago boy's body from an Alsip cemetery plot may be another mystery.... Various factors, including coffin materials, the strength of the vault's seal and how well Till was embalmed would affect how well (or poorly) his body has been preserved, experts said...."

Diver's attempts to free mummified body from one of world's deepest underwater caves causes his own death (heraldsun.com.au)

"The underwater struggle to retrieve the body of a fellow diver that cost Australian Dave Shaw his life in South Africa this year has been revealed in astonishing footage filmed by Shaw himself. His last courageous moments were spent desperately trying to disentangle the mummified body, his dive line and his torch, it has emerged...."

The final verdict? King Tut killed by gangrene (discovery.com) with photos

"Egyptian scientists have finally lifted the veil of mystery surrounding famed pharaoh Tutankhamun's death, saying he died of a swift attack of gangrene after breaking his leg...."

King Tut's face revealed by CT-scan: Chubby cheeks and overbite (msnbc.com) with photos

"The first ever facial reconstructions based on CT scans of King Tutankhamun's mummy have produced images strikingly similar to the boy pharaoh's ancient portraits, Egypt's top archaeologist said Tuesday. One of the models shows a baby-faced young man with chubby cheeks and a round chin — with a resemblance to the famous gold mask of King Tut found in his tomb in 1922 by British excavation Howard Carter. Three teams of forensic artists and scientists — from France, the United States and Egypt — built models of the boy pharaoh's face based on 1,700 high-resolution photos from CT scans of his mummy to reveal what he looked like the day he died nearly 3,300 years ago...." 

Additional Story (news24.com)

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Review of Bowers Museum's mummy exhibit: In a word, 'creepy' (ocweekly.com)

"To get there, you traverse a maze, wading through little cat statues and Anubises, a few gold necklaces, some steles with beautifully carved hieroglyphics, educational texts about Saqqara and how the pyramids were built, a map with distances between ancient Egyptian cities, and cute little miniature vessels and bowls you’d be forgiven for cooing over like precious dollhouse toys. You pass under a few lamps with spooky ambient fire, reminiscent of Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure, minus the motion sickness. The Bowers Museum knows how to make the most of its 10 mummies on loan from the British Museum. When you finally reach them, you’ve been primed. You’re excited. And then, gazing at the oily linens wrapping the thousands-of-years-old dead, you might feel just a bit disgusted. With the Bowers, with the entire British Empire, and with yourself...."

New Silver Lake boutique displays fashion, chandeliers--and, oh yes, mummified animals and body parts (laweekly.com)

"...Just inside the entrance of the store is an entire wall of dead mammals and sea creatures — exotic snakes, baby pigs, even Griffin’s own post-hysterectomy uterus — floating in formalin and alcohol and tightly sealed in glass jars. Elsewhere: antique polio leg braces, old syringes, forceps, specula and a massive, $200 Albertus Seba tome with drawings of three-headed dragons from the 1700s. And Griffin crafted a series of night-lights out of 1930s and 1940s Magic Lantern slides (precursor to the View-Master) that picture, among other things, deformed skulls and throat tumors. Despite Griffin’s flair for the macabre, Sometimes Madness Is Wisdom is also a neighborhood shop that you could wander into with your visiting mother, because there are plenty of traditional, exquisite objects of desire strewn about: a vintage Italian damask bedspread, beaded silk purses, Louise Green hats, a smattering of limited-edition kelly-green flats by Canadian designer John Fluevog. All the antique furniture in the store is for sale, including 28 vintage chandeliers...."

More on the well-preserved mummy discovered in tomb beneath peach orchard Photo of Hanoi peach orchard mummy released (thanhniennews.com)

"A tomb dating back about 200 years containing a well-preserved corpse has recently been discovered only 30 cm underground a peach farm in Tay Ho district in Hanoi. The tomb and corpse were found a week ago by cemetery guard Chu Van Cong.  The body, about 1.57 meters tall, was laid in the wooden coffin about 200 years ago. But, it appeared that the tomb had only been buried a few days ago as the corpse still had hair, eyebrows and a complete visceral system.  Meanwhile, the skin and tissues of the corpse had not yet decomposed...."

Photo

Mummy of Egyptian child receives high-tech CT-scan in hopes of unraveling mystery (sfgate.com) with photos

"An Egyptian kid who apparently was born about the same time as Jesus posed for more than 20,000 pictures Friday at Stanford University Medical Center. It's all because doctors, anthropologists and techies hope to unravel the mystery of a mummy who has been at San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium for decades. The mummy, less than 3 feet tall, apparently was a child from 4 to 6 years old who died about 2,000 years ago, and researchers hope the more than 20,000 images taken by sophisticated CT scanning equipment and other technological tools will give them a detailed, 3-D view of what's inside the mummy without causing any harm -- possibly letting them know the child's age, sex and name, plus the cause of death and whether any jewels or trinkets are included...." 

Additional story (mercurynews.com)

Additional story (insidebayarea.com)

More on the well-preserved mummy discovered in tomb beneath peach orchard Sealed by a covering of limestone, sand, syrup and paper, mummy was accompanied by silk tunics and trousers (hindustantimes.com)

"The well-preserved remains of a 200-year-old mummy in Hanoi, buried in layers of fine silk, have been discovered in Vietnam, an archaeologist said on Saturday. The corpse -- estimated to be a man who died in his early sixties -- was unearthed last week by workers at a construction site, said Nguyen Lan Cuong of the National Institute of Archaeology, who was involved in the excavation...."

Well-preserved mummy discovered in tomb beneath peach orchard (vnagency.com.vn)

"A tomb dating back about 200 years has been discovered in a peach field in Tay Ho district in Ha Noi, with a mummy almost intact. The mummy was an old man, about 1.57 m tall, and the corpse looks like it was buried only a few days ago. He was put in a fragrant steep in a wooden coffin...."

San Francisco's 'The Universe Within' prompts thoughts about plastination exhibits (charlotte.com)

"...'The Universe Within' [is] one of at least three "corpse exhibits" now touring the country. The collection of bodies and organs in San Francisco was once used to instruct medical students in Beijing. The exhibits have been wildly successful. The "Body Worlds" shows currently on view in Chicago and Cleveland claim more than 16 million visitors in 27 cities in Asia, Europe and Los Angeles. "The Universe Within," whose recent opening prompted copycat complaints from "Body Worlds" organizers, is proving popular as well. The proliferation of such shows raises questions: Are they art, exploitation or science? Do they speak to our innate fascination with the human body, a voyeuristic desire for a cheap thrill or our fear of death?"

Excellent CT-scan of British Museum mummy (signonsandiego.com) with photos

"...Six of the British Museum's mummies – part of a new exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana – were recently "cat-scanned" by a team of Orange County radiologists. Some of the mummies had been scanned before, but with less advanced technology.... Shepenmehyt is the name of one of the six British Museum mummies scanned, a process that works pretty much the same whether the subject is a living patient or has been dead 2,700 years. Removed from her coffin and outer casing or cartonnage, Shepenmehyt's linen-wrapped remains are placed on a table that slowly glides back and forth through a large doughnut of X-ray scanners and receivers...." 

'The most beautiful mummy' from Egypt unveiled (msnbc.com)

"A superbly maintained 2,300-year-old mummy bearing a golden mask and covered in brightly colored images of gods and goddesses was unveiled Tuesday at Egypt's Saqqara Pyramids complex south of Cairo. The unidentified mummy, from the 30th pharaonic dynasty, had been closed in a wooden sarcophagus and buried in sand at the bottom of a 20-foot shaft before being discovered recently by an Egyptian-led archaeological team. 'We have revealed what may be the most beautiful mummy ever found in Egypt,' Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said as he helped excavators remove the sarcophagus' lid to show off the find...."

Photo of decorated wrappings

A grisly forensic medicine museum in St. Petersburg (sptimes.ru)

"There are more than 300 museums in St. Petersburg, but few are as fascinating, bizarre and downright grisly as the Museum of Forensic Medicine. Located on the outskirts of the city, here you will encounter mummified corpses, anatomical displays and models describing fatal accidents and murders. The museum at the State Medical Mechnikov Academy is not for the squeamish. Visitors are given an intensive lesson on the history of forensic medicine and the chance to explore one of the last taboos - death and the transitory nature of human existence...."

Famous corpse artist is not a professor in Germany (boston.com)

"A German anatomist whose exhibit of preserved corpses sparked international controversy received reduced fines Tuesday by a German administrative court for illegally using the title 'professor.' The Heidelberg administrative court found Gunther von Hagens guilty of misusing the title in four instances by not making it clear that it was earned in China, not Germany. He was fined $140,000...."

After mother dies natural death, man freezes her body to collect social security checks (msnbc.com)

"A man told police he kept his mother’s corpse in a basement freezer for more than four years while he collected her Social Security checks, authorities said Monday. A body was found encased in ice, in a sitting position. Philip Schuth, 52, told police his elderly mother, Edith, died of natural causes in August 2000, but that he didn’t tell anyone because he was afraid police would blame him, according to documents filed in court Monday. He said his mother years beforehand was attacked by a cat and her blood was on the walls in the house they shared, and he feared police would think he killed her, according to the documents...."

Curse of Ötzi: A skeptic's view (independent.co.uk)

"Konrad Spindler did not believe in curses. The professor of pre- and early history at Innsbruck University was a rational man, believing in cause and effect. He did not believe in spells cast by the ungrateful dead. But last Sunday Professor Spindler died. The cause of death was complications arising from multiple sclerosis, but that has not deterred those who claim the professor was the latest victim of Ötzi the Iceman. Ötzi is dead too, of course: he is one of the oldest and best preserved corpses in the world. Since his tattooed body was discovered in 1991 on the Austria-Italy border, it is said that Ötzi has steadily taken revenge on those who disturbed him in his glacial grave, somehow causing them to die in mysterious circumstances. So is there really a curse of the ice mummy? And if so, who's next?..."

Summary: Curse of the Ice Mummy (thesun.co.uk) with photos

"The curse of a frozen mummy is being linked to six deaths. Archaeologist Konrad Spindler — the leading expert on the 5,700-year-old corpse — has become the latest victim.... His other victims — and their grisly ends — are detailed below. And now others involved with the iceman, named Oetzi after the region where he was found, are trembling. Pathologist Dr Eduard Vigil, who examined the mummy, said...."

The latest Curse of Ötzi?: Scientist Konrad Spindler dies (guardian.co.uk)

"He had lain in his icy tomb on an Alpine glacier in northern Italy for 5,300 years, a perfectly preserved Stone Age warrior, complete with fur robes, leather shoes and bow and arrow. But since being found 14 years ago, five of the people who came in close contact with Oetzi the Iceman have died, leading to the inevitable question: is the mummy cursed? Konrad Spindler, head of the Iceman investigation team at Innsbruck University, died on Monday, apparently from complications arising from multiple sclerosis. But that has not stopped his name being linked to a string of strange deaths related to the mummy...."

Battle of the best-preserved mummies: Xinjiang or Egypt? (xinhuanet.com) 

"The mummies have been well preserved in the Xiaohe Tomb Complex in the Lop Nur Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, experts said. 'The mummies were unbelievably well preserved, even better than the mummies in Egypt,' said Zhu Hong, director of the Frontier Archeology Study Department of the Jilin University in northeastern China's Jilin Province...." 

Two predynastic tombs with seven corpses discovered in Egypt (fortwayne.com)

"Archaeologists digging in a 5,600-year-old funeral site in southern Egypt unearthed seven corpses believed to date to the era, as well as an intact figure of a cow's head carved from flint. The American-Egyptian excavation team made the discoveries in what they described as the largest funerary complex ever found that dates to the elusive five millenia-old Predynastic era, Egypt's Supreme Council of antiquities said Wednesday.... Although the tomb and its surroundings were severely plundered in antiquity, excavators unearthed four bodies at one end of the tomb. The position of the corpses suggests that they may belong to sacrificed servants or prisoners who were buried at the foot of the grave, a common practice in the first Dynasty.... A second tomb housed well-preserved remains of three adults as well as textile and padding used to wrap the corpses before covering them with thick matting."

MUMMY TOMBS COMMENT:  At least four of the seven "corpses" are described as well-preserved; the condition of the other three is less clear. Stay tuned for updates.

More on the stolen mummy from the California Body Worlds exhibit Women leave note about theft in exhibit guest book (sanluisobispo.com)

"The suspects who stole a preserved 13-week-old fetus last month from an exhibit at the California Science Center left behind a taunting note, police said Wednesday. The fetus was part of a traveling display entitled Body Worlds 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies. In the guest book containing comments by viewers of the display, police found a one-line note that read: 'Amazing ... Although it'd be better had the 15-19 wk old fetus hadn't been stolen.' It was signed 'Susan....' "

More on the Body Worlds 2 opens at Great Lakes Science Center A thoughtful review of the exhibit (usatoday.com)

"These life-like naked corpses literally let it all hang out: the veins, the muscles, the bones, everything. One is leaping downward to grab a soccer ball, another is mounted on a bicycle, a third stands with his arms out sporting a big grin and a white hat as though at any moment he'll break out in song. As ghoulish as that sounds, record crowds are lining up to see dead people — actual, preserved humans who in death have become rock stars of the natural-history museum world — at Body Worlds exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. Both remain until September...."

Man who stole medical school body parts to practice dissection sentenced to two years in jail (cnn.com)

"A morgue assistant accused of stealing body parts from a medical school so he could practice dissections at home was sentenced to more than two years in prison. David Lawrence Beale, 47, was arrested in 2003 after more than 150 pounds of decomposing body parts, including two heads, were found near his Davis home. He pleaded no contest Monday to stealing human remains from the medical center at the University of California at Davis and possessing methamphetamine....."

DNA tests of Silk Road mummies create controversy in China (khaleejtimes.com) with photo

"After years of controversy and political intrigue, archaeologists using genetic testing have proven that Caucasians roamed China’s Tarim Basin 1,000 years before East Asian people arrived. The research, which the Chinese government has appeared to have delayed making public out of concerns of fueling Uighur Muslim separatism in its western-most Xinjiang region, is based on a cache of ancient dried-out corpses that have been found around the Tarim Basin in recent decades. ... In the preface to the 2002 book, “Ancient Corpses of Xinjiang,” written by Chinese archeologist Wang Huabing, the Chinese historian and Sanskrit specialist Ji Xianlin soundly denounced the use of the mummies by Uighur separatists as proof that Xinjiang should not belong to China...." 

Silk Road mummies to go on permanent display in new Urumqi museum beginning October 1 (iol.co.za) with photos

"The Xinjiang ancient mummies found along the legendary Silk Road are to go on permanent display at a new museum scheduled to open this year to mark China's annexation of the restive Uighur Muslim region.... Although the museum project began in 1999, work stopped in 2002 due to the corruption scandal.... "

Suggested reading:

Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt opens today in Santa Ana (artdaily.com)

"Among the peoples of the ancient world, the Egyptians occupy a unique position with their approach to death and the possibility of resurrection, particularly since so much of the evidence that has survived over thousands of years comes from a funerary context. The largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Egyptian funerary material outside of Cairo is housed at The British Museum. As part of its joint venture with the British Museum, the Bowers Museum has drawn upon this world-famous collection of mummies and funerary objects to present Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt…Treasures from the British Museum, opening April 17, 2005...."

CT-scan at Auckland Museum reveals mummy's gender, occupation and name! (nzherald.co.nz)

"An ancient Egyptian at Auckland Museum has had the benefit of that most modern of medical inventions, CT scanning, to help solve the mystery of her identity. The name, gender, occupation and probable age of the mummy were revealed during a four-year process to preserve the remains, which also involved repositioning some of the bandages and building a special low-oxygen display case.... The scan showed the mummy was a young woman, aged between 20 and 30, who was part of a harem.... "

Fossil-mummies: Pair of eggs with shells found inside oviraptor solve mystery of how dinosaurs laid eggs (newscientist.com)

"The first dinosaur eggs found complete with shells in the body of the mother has solved the long-standing mystery of how dinosaurs laid their eggs. The evidence shows they laid a clutch in a series of sittings, like birds, rather than all at once like crocodiles and other living reptiles. The pair of eggs come from a fossil found in the Jiangxi province of China which includes the pelvis and part of a leg of an oviraptor - a two-legged dinosaur that roamed between 100 and 65 million years ago...."

Additional article (sciam.com)

As exhibit prepares to open, first CT-scan image released  (msnbc.com)

"There's a unique meeting taking place in southern California between ancient mummies and 21^st century medical technology. The mummies are getting their pictures taken using the very latest techniques in C.T. scanning — the kind of thing that's used to perform full body scans on living people.... The public will be able to see the mummies and the computerized images starting Sunday, April 17 at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana...."

CT-scan of six mummies solves some mysteries (dailynews.com)

"This much experts know: One was a priest from a wealthy family. Another was a young girl who sang during religious rituals. A third was a child, buried in a finely carved wooden coffin. But there is much more to learn about the six Egyptian mummies.... On Thursday, the researchers announced their initial findings. Dental analysis showed the child previously thought to be about 18 months old was at least 4 when its body was compressed to fit into a coffin. They also found the body of a man from 700 B.C. had been crushed at the time of burial and a wooden pole had been placed in his chest in an apparent attempt to correct the problem...."

Why wasn't the Pope embalmed? (slate.com)

"...the unembalmed body of John Paul II may have been partially preserved without being subjected to the whole process. A full-scale embalming (which is most common in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia) takes several steps. The embalmer first disinfects the outside of the body, then inserts tubes into a major artery and a major vein. Next, he pumps a mixture of fixatives, dyes, and perfume into the artery using an "embalming machine" and flushes blood and other fluids out through the open vein. Finally, he sucks gases and liquids out of the abdominal and chest cavities through a long tube and replaces them with more fixative. The pope's body did not go through all these steps, but it's possible that his corpse was treated only in the cavities or partially fixed with surface injections...."

Forensic specialist provided alternative to embalming (latimes.com; free registration required)

"...few events are more public, and more momentous, to church faithful than the death of a pope, particularly one as widely admired and well-traveled as this one. Yet the papal afterlife has long been marked by intense Vatican secrecy, bitter professional rivalries and occasional calamity. In centuries past, the corpses of some pontiffs were set upon by mobs or looted for relics. Until the beginning of the last century, the internal organs of popes were preserved in jars and interred separately from their bodies, but Pope Pius X, who considered the practice gruesome, put a halt to it before his own death in 1914. John Paul's corpse ... did undergo [some type of temporary] treatment to preserve it during public viewing...."

In break with tradition, the Pope has not been embalmed (guardian.co.uk)

"As morbid details go it was repulsive, but fascinating. And perhaps not quite what it seemed. The Vatican's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, told journalists yesterday that the Pope had not been embalmed before his lying in state in St Peter's Basilica, merely that his body had been "prepared". With the high spring temperatures in Rome, putting a corpse on display without preservatives for four days might seem a high-risk strategy. There are plenty of tales from history of exploding bodies (Henry VIII was apparently quite spectacular) and disintegrating cadavers (Pius XII turned black in 1958 and his nose fell off - and that was in October)...."

Additional article (reuters.co.uk)

Additional article (news.yahoo.com)

Additional article (guardian.co.uk)

Related article (azcentral.com)

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20 years later, preserved remains of prisoner cast doubt on cause of death (news.com.au)

"An Aboriginal widow has buried her husband for the second time in 20 years, after a new autopsy threw doubt over his cause of death. Surrounded by family, Letty Scott reburied her husband Douglas Bruce Scott in a Townsville cemetery, after his body was exhumed and an autopsy carried out in her quest for a review of a case she is convinced had racial overtones. Mr Scott, 26, was found hanged in a Darwin prison in July 1985, and a subsequent inquest found there were no suspicious circumstances.... Mrs Scott today said the autopsy, conducted on the weekend, showed her husband died a 'brutal death'...."

Body Worlds 2 opens at Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland on Saturday (cleveland.com)

"The California Science Center in Los Angeles wasn't sure what to expect when it opened the Body Worlds 2 exhibit in July. After years of traveling around Europe and Asia, the display of skinless human bodies and parts was coming to the United States for the first time. Body Worlds was wildly popular elsewhere, drawing more than 16 million visitors, but criticism and controversy had followed it on tour.... The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, where the exhibit opens Saturday, is not taking chances, either. It followed the California institution's advice and assembled its own advisory panel...."

Reconstructing the past: Patent obtained for recovering degraded DNA from dinosaurs and cold crime cases (yahoo.com)

"The US Patent Office issued Patent # 6,872,552, 'A Method of Reconstituting Nucleic Acid Molecules' today to Burt D. Ensley, Ph.D, Chairman of MatrixDesign, and CEO of DermaPlus, Inc. The patent covers methods for recovering and reconstituting genes from "degraded" DNA samples, and could allow scientists to reassemble everything from prehistoric, extinct animals to unsolved crime scenes...."

Women steal mummified exhibit in Body Worlds show (nynewsday.com)

"The preserved remains of a 13-week-old fetus, part of a traveling international exhibit of human bodies and body parts, was stolen from the California Science Center by two young women captured on videotape, police said Tuesday. The women appeared to wait for the crowd to thin at the round-the-clock exhibit before one reached into a plexiglass case and took the 4-inch specimen just before 3 a.m. Saturday, police said...."

NIH ready to destroy rare human brain collection (washingtontimes.com)

"The National Institutes of Health may discard part or all of a rare collection that includes hundreds of human brain samples from patients that suffered from a disorder similar to mad cow disease -- unless another researcher or institution takes them on, United Press International has learned. Several scientists said the collection, which is held by the NIH's National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md. ... is irreplaceable and could even provide insight into treatments for the fatal disorder.... However, NIH officials in control of the collection's fate told UPI the remaining samples are of little scientific value and may be disposed of if researchers outside the agency do not claim it.... The collection is badly in need of organization and no one is certain how many brains or other tissue samples it contains.... "

Twice acquitted, Vladimir Novosyolov is tried for third time in Russian court for sending cadavers and parts of brains to Vomn Hagens' Heidelberg Institute of Plastination (kommersant.com)

"...In October 2000, the large shipment of macro and micro anatomical parts containing 51 bodies and 440 fragments of brains were exported to Germany. After sending the first shipment, medics came to gather new material. Dozens of bodies gathered from psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, tuberculosis centers were already kept in formaldehyde in the morgue of the medical academy. But in that very moment, the prosecutor office showed interest in the dealings. The investigators found six victims, relatives of the dead. The remains of their loved ones were already either exported to Germany or awaiting their turn. According to the victims, the forensic bureau told them that their relatives had been cremated and they received urns with ashes...."

Einstein's brain, Beethoven's ears, Descartes' finger, Lincoln's blood and bones: What are the ethics of preserving the newly dead and digging up the long dead? (ohmynews.com)

"Pilferers cannot resist snipping body parts. While Einstein was being autopsied, his ophthalmologist, Dr. Henry Abrams, dropped by and filched Einstein's brown eyes as a keepsake, storing them in a jar in a Philadelphia bank vault. There were rumors that singer Michael Jackson, a collector of body parts, offered Abrams several million dollars for the eyes...."

Using infrared technology, researchers find tattoos on ancient Siberian mummies (tass.ru)

"Infrared photography methods, used for the first time by researchers at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, have made it possible to discover tattoos in ancient mummies excavated in the Pazyryk mounds in the south Siberian Altai Mountains. The mounds date back to the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The discovery was made on three mummies – two that used to be female bodies and one male body -- that were produced by special treatment for burial ceremonies...."

British Museum mummies begin exhibit at Bowers Museum with largest collection of CT-scans (artdaily.com)

"On April 7, 2005 at 11 a.m. at the Bowers Museum, a team of radiologists and curators will conduct computed tomography (CT) scans of six ancient Egyptian mummies from the renowned collections of the British Museum. The mummies are the focus of the Bowers’ upcoming landmark exhibition, Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, which opens April 17, 2005. This is the largest collection of CT scans ever performed on Egyptian mummies utilizing the newest, state of the art technology...."

News or advertisement?: Mud from the peat bog may rejuvenate living skin (emediawire.com)

"Over the past centuries, remains of many hundreds of people--men, women, and children--have come to light in peat bogs in northwestern Europe, especially in Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark. Peatlands are most extensive in northern regions. They develop where drainage of water is blocked, precipitation is retained, and decomposition of organic matter is slowed. Because of their highly acidic nature, wetness, low temperature, and absence of oxygen, northern bogs have become a repository of past life. The bog people are amazingly well-preserved with fingernails, hair, and teeth in excellent condition. How is this possible when the dates range from 8000 B.C. to the early medieval times? In fine spas Moor Peat (or Moor Mud) is regularly used as bath, body wrap, and facial treatments. Cost for these treatments can be as high as $150 for a body wrap, $100 for a bath, and $85 for a mud mask or facial mask. These spa treatments can be done successfully at home for fraction of the cost by purchasing fine quality Moor Peat from a quality supplier...."

More on California mummy mystery (April 2004) Positive identification of woman's mummified body not possible (hidesertstar.com)

"A mummy that was found in the garage of Robert Adams and Virginia Beiser after they died in a fire in April 2004 can not be positively identified as Adams' wife.... However, with all the evidence in the case, including the missing-person investigation of Adams' wife, who disappeared in the San Diego area in 1975, detectives believe the mummy is Francis' remains, said the detective...."

More on the mummified woman found in Fairfield house Son charged with felonies in death of his mother (news10.net)

"The son of a Fairfield woman whose decaying body was found last week in the home they shared is facing charges of manslaughter and elder abuse. Jack Wilson, 58, heard the charges against him in Solano County Superior Court Tuesday. The district attorney is charging him with involuntary manslaughter, elder abuse causing death, and two counts of felony elder abuse.... The partially mummified body was later identified as that of 79-year-old Kathleen Wilson, the mother of the suspect. According to police, the son said his mother was injured by a fall in the home's kitchen in October 2003. Wilson, and the woman's husband, who lived in the home, gave her food occasionally as she lay there. She died about two-and-half weeks later. Police said Wilson made no attempt to call anyone after his mother died.... "

Preserved soft tissue from T. Rex discovered! (msnbc.com)

"A 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil dug out of a hunk of sandstone has yielded soft tissue, including blood vessels and perhaps even whole cells, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. Paleontologists forced to break the creature's massive thighbone to get it on a helicopter found not a solid piece of fossilized bone, but instead something looking a bit less like a rock. When they got it into a lab and chemically removed the hard minerals, they found what looked like blood vessels, bone cells and perhaps even blood cells...."

More on the mummified woman found in Fairfield house No foul play in death of elderly mother after her partially mummified body found on kitchen floor (latimes.com; free registration required)

"The Solano County coroner said there was no foul play in the death of a woman whose partially mummified body was found in a home last week. An autopsy of Kathleen Wilson, 79, found that she died naturally. Wilson's son, 58-year-old Jack Ronald Wilson, said his mother fell in the kitchen in October 2003 and died there a couple of weeks later, according to a police report. 'They tried to take care of her, fed her for a few weeks' as she lay injured, police said...."

'Mummy Autopsy' discovers lost queen of Egypt residing in Edinburgh (theherald.co.uk)

"Skeletal remains held by the National Museum of Scotland have been identified as a lost Egyptian queen and her child. The discovery has been made by scientists who used forensic investigative techniques to attempt to solve the mystery of the remains. The bodies were acquired for the collection a year after being discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1909 at Qurna, a village on the west bank of the Nile, which has been the focus of illegal excavations.... The lost queen is believed to be a Nubian princess... "

More on the mummified woman found in Fairfield house Son arrested in death of his elderly mother after her partially mummified body found on kitchen floor (dailyrepublic.com)

"Jack Wilson, 58, was booked on charges of elder abuse after police found a decaying body on the kitchen floor of the Utah Street house he and his parents lived in. Health and Social Services workers discovered the body Friday, and Wilson was outside of the house waiting when law enforcement arrived. He was taken at gunpoint for questioning, but didn't have a weapon and didn't resist.... Wilson and his father, 81-year-old Harry Wilson, were living in the house with the desiccated body, Gresham said.... Because the body is unidentified, police are still looking for Kathleen Wilson, Jack Wilson's mother and Harry Wilson's wife, who also lived in the house. Officials wouldn't speculate the body was Kathleen Wilson...."

Memory of the 1969 Nelson County flood: Unidentified mystery bodies still puzzle investigators (hamptonroads.com)

"The last of the eight [bodies] was uncovered right at Woods Mill. It was late morning on Sept. 6, more than two weeks after the flood and long after anyone might have expected to recover fresh remains. But so they were, apparently preserved by their tomb of mud and debris...."

Mummified mammoth placed on display at Japan's Aichi Expo 2005 (iol.co.za)

"A frozen mammoth dug up from the Siberian tundra has been unveiled in central Japan in a preview of the six-month World Exposition, which is expected to draw millions of tourists. The beast, believed to have lived 18 000 years ago, has been preserved in a giant refrigerator. It is a key exhibit at the Expo, which will open next Friday and largely feature modern wonders such as robots. Full-bodied mammoths have been unearthed in the past, but this exhibit is billed as the most successful attempt yet to display the animal almost fully. The mammoth on display has tusks, a front leg and a nearly intact, soil-coloured head covered with muscle tissue and some woolly hair..."

Additional article

For more information about the Expo's Yukagir mammoth

Information about the Expo

Photo of mammoth

Mummified woman found in Fairfield house (timesheraldonline.com)

"The partially mummified body of a woman was found Friday in the kitchen of a Fairfield home, and two men who live there were questioned by police. The dead woman was discovered by police officers who were called to the 1500 block of Utah Street by a county worker who deals with abuse of the elderly. The worker reported a foul smell emanating from the house. Witnesses said neighbors had recently become suspicious because an elderly woman who lived in the residence had not been seen for more than a year. That suspicion prompted a call to Solano County's elder abuse telephone line, neighbors said. Still, discovery of the body came as a shock...."

Mummified man found in Aix apartment may have died two years ago (expatica.com)

"The mummified remains of a Croatian man have been found in his apartment in southeastern France, police said Wednesday, adding that the man likely died two years ago. Forensics experts were to determine the precise date of death from samples taken from the remains...."

Mummies found in ancient Marib cemetery by drug gang; gang members arrested (yementimes.com)

"Two mummies of a man and a woman have been found in Marib, in the area of Darb al-Dhabi, the ancient city of Braqish. The place is believed to be an ancient cemetery dating back to the Othmani era.... Sheik Ahmad Mohammad Al-Sharif from al-Ashraf Tribe, Marib, told The Yemen Times that the two mummies were discovered by a gang who was in search of opium in one of the local cemeteries in the locality...."

Mummified cat found under floor of art center to be auctioned on eBay (currypilot.com)

"The reconstruction of the old wing at Manley Art Center has uncovered what some considered disgusting, but at least one artist considers a treasure. In fact, Jean Beebe is excited about the mummified cat discovered when the sagging wooden floor was removed. Beebe said she is sure sale of the cat will provide a fortune for her and the Pelican Bay Arts Association, owner of the center. The property was donated to the art association by Virginia Manley in 1981...."

More on Von Hagens' plan to build Polish plastination factory Polish town council says no to corpse preservation, will permit cold storage only (expatica.com)

"Controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens has been barred from preserving corpses for exhibition in the western Polish village of Sieniawa Zarska, it was reported on Friday. Dubbed "Dr. Frankenstein" or "Dr. Death", von Hagens and his 89-year-old father Gerhard Liebchen have plans to make the sleepy village their global headquarters for preparing corpses for von Hagens' "Bodyworld" exhibitions. But Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper said on Friday that the village council had only permitted him to make cold-storage chambers and wooden models of the bodies...."

More on the cause of King Tut's death Interview with Zahi Hawass: Tut's death will remain mystery, but publicity for new exhibit will not (travelvideo.tv)

In this interview Hawass gives what may be the final word about the study of King Tut and the cause of his death: "There’s no way to find out if he was poisoned even if you look at his internal organs. They will not show any signs. It is impossible to prove foul play. I declare the case on King Tut close! He will not need any further examination. We should leave the King now in peace. His death shall remain a mystery for the rest of his afterlife!  King Tut’s mystery will continue. After all, he is the most important discovery in the Valley of the Kings." He also explains that the scan of King Tut was, in some ways, publicity for the upcoming tour of a new King Tut exhibit (beginning in LA in June 2005).

Additional article (medicalnewstoday.com)

Additional article (guardian.co.uk)

Additional article (reuters.co.uk)

Additional article (discovery.com)

Visit Zahi Hawass's King Tut CT-scan page (with photos)

Photo of Tut's full-body CT-scan

Close-up photo of King Tut's face

And if you want to read about King Tut in more detail, try one of these books: