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April 2006 |
EXHIBIT: HUNGARY
|
'Mysteries,
Fates, Mummies' opens at Budapest's Museum of Natural History
(budapesttimes.hu)
"Twelve years ago
a Dominican church in the picturesque town of Vác, north of Budapest, was the
scene of a remarkable discovery when a local priest found an underground crypt
that had been bricked up for over 200 years. Inside 256 naturally mummified
bodies were lying in caskets. At the Natural History Museum in Budapest these
corpses are now laid out fully-dressed in glass cabinets, with skin, nails and
hair intact. Two interlinked mummified hands form the symbol of the
exhibition. The unique micro-climate made mummification possible, due to
the cool dry air and ventilation from a narrow vent leading to the outside
world. Oil from the pine wood coffins is thought to have killed the fungi and
bacteria that normally break down body tissues, and their wood chip linings
absorbed bodily fluids. The Vác mummies are unique in Europe. Whilst the
catacombs in Palermo are famous for the thousands of skeletons and mummies
their underground cells contain, mummification ceased to be a natural
occurrence and turned into a fashion from the seventeenth century, with
corpses arranged according to status. The last mummy interred there was a
two-year-old child in 1920...."
|
April 2006 |
MUMMY SCIENCE:
MARYLAND
|
More on the preserved body of John Paul
Jones
The
story of John Paul Jones (smithsonianmagazine.com)
"In a softly lit crypt beneath the chapel of the U.S.
Naval Academy, a massive sarcophagus of veined marble rests on the backs
of four bronze dolphins. At a respectful distance from the tomb, two
midshipmen with gleaming swords stand vigil over a body and a mystery
nearly as old as our country itself. One hundred years ago, on April 24,
1906, amid pomp and fanfare the likes of which Annapolis had never seen,
an American president laid to rest a national hero who had died more than
a century before. The great man’s remains had only recently been
returned to these shores, rescued from an unmarked grave in a foreign
land—a discovery that was hailed, on two continents, as a triumph. Yet
even at the time, there were whispers that the cadaver brought home in
glory might be the wrong one. The whispers have never been completely
silenced...."
Should
John Paul Jones have to identify himself to remain buried? (hometownannapolis.com)
"You might think that if there's someone at the Naval
Academy who will never be asked to show an ID, it's John Paul Jones, lying
sedately in his crypt under the academy's Chapel. That will most likely
continue to be true. But a recent story raised at least a slim possibility
that the Revolutionary War naval hero (or at least the body presumed to be
him) might someday, in a manner of speaking, be asked for proof of
identity. As Washington College professor Adam Goodheart recounts in an
article in the April Smithsonian Magazine, the memorial service on
Jones' arrival in Annapolis, 100 years ago this Monday, was one of the
great ceremonies in the city's history. But was the body in the casket
really Jones? There have always been doubters, and Mr. Goodheart says we
now have the technology to shut them up - or vindicate them...."
Is
preserved body in Naval Academy crypt really John Paul Jones?
(hometownannapolis.com)
"Who's buried in John Paul Jones' crypt at the Naval
Academy? This isn't a trick question. Some say the grand state funeral at
the Naval Academy on April 24, 1906, for the father of the United States
Navy may have been held over the wrong body. According to Washington
College history professor Adam Goodheart, who wrote about Jones in the
April issue of Smithsonian magazine, Jones' body may have been
dumped in a landfill, used to fertilize vegetables or simply lost forever.
He said modern-day science should be used to determine who is - or isn't -
in the crypt...."
|
April 2006 |
MUMMY SCIENCE: UK
|
Mummy
expert called upon for facial reconstruction of unidentified Glasgow
corpse
(scotsman.com)
"Police have drafted in an expert on Egyptian mummies
to reconstruct the face of a
man
whose remains were found on a patch of waste ground more than three years
ago. They hope the image, which was released yesterday, will help identify
the man, whose skeleton was found in the east end of Glasgow. The remains
of the man, who police say was not murdered, were found at Barrack Street
near the Gallowgate in March 2003. Despite DNA testing and public appeals,
officers have never been able to discover who the man was or trace his
family...."
More
details about the reconstruction
(bbc.co.uk)
Refurbished
Egyptian gallery set to reopen next month at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam
Museum
(24hourmuseum.org.uk)
"The Egyptian
Gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum, which has been closed for refurbishment
since September 2004, is due to re-open on May 27 2006. Comprising three
rooms, the revamped gallery will now explore the lives of Egyptian kings
and the ordinary people of Ancient Egypt, as well as the fascinating
process of death, burial and the other funerary rituals of the Ancient
Egyptians.... The exhibition now includes fascinating information about
the intricate process of cartonnage, which involved layering pieces of
linen with animal glue and drying it to form a sort of coffin. This was
then painted and visitors will be able to see a finished example in the
display of the mummy of Nakhtefmut, dating from approximately 925 – 890
BC. The new exhibition also includes mummies of a hawk, a kitten and an
ibis which would have been sacrificed as offerings to different gods....
"
|
April 2006 |
DISCOVERY: CHINA
|
More on the mummy found near Lop Nur where
scientist disappeared 26 years ago
Will
Chinese authorities conduct DNA tests on mummified remains? Perhaps not.... (shanghaidaily.com)
"Chinese researchers
said yesterday they won't conduct DNA tests on human remains found in Lop
Nur Desert unless other analysis suggest the samples bear some resemblance
to Peng Jiamu, a scientist who disappeared 26 years ago. Lab analysis of
the samples will determine if there is any correlation to Peng's bodily
characteristics. The scientists said they will conduct a DNA test only if
they see a clear resemblance between the skeleton and the missing
scientist...."
Chinese
authorities begin search to reclaim and identify mummy (upi.com)
"The finding of a
mummy in China has set off a renewed search for a scientist who
disappeared 26 years ago in a remote desert region. The mummy was found by
an expedition near Lop Nur, a former nuclear weapons experiment site in
the northwest, the official Xinhua news agency reports. It was in the same
area that Peng Jiamu, a noted biochemist, was reported missing in June
1980 after he went to fetch water for his fellow scientists...."
Mummy
found in desert near Lop Nur salt lakes where scientist went missing 26 years
ago (people.com.cn)
"A Chinese
expedition has found a mummy on the brink of Lop Nur, where a well-known
scientist was mysteriously missing nearly 26 years ago. Another expedition
is now prepared for ascertaining identity of the mummy, which was found
near the place where Peng Jiamu, a recognized biochemist who led a
scientific investigation across Lop Nur, was reported missing. Xia
Xuncheng, a former deputy to Peng, said Thursday in an exclusive phone
interview with Xinhua, "We're not sure about identity of the mummy,
but it's really near the place we lost Jiamu." Xia, 72 years old, and
his expedition team are scheduled to leave their base in Dunhuang City,
northwest Gansu Province, for a mission to retrieve the mummy in desert of
Lop Nur, a former nuclear weapons experiment site. Peng and his fellow
scientists were stalled in June 1980 in the southeast brink of Lop Nur,
out of edible water and fuel. After asking for rescues via telegram, Peng
decided to look for water sources of his own. He left their camp on June
17, leaving a note: "I'm going eastward for wells, Peng, at 10:30
June 17." He has never appeared in any form since then...."
|
April 2006 |
MUMMY SCIENCE: MONTANA
|
Preserved
remains of cows from accidental mass drowning allows scientists to study
dinosaurs (helenair.com)
"Frankie Jackson and David Varricchio followed a trail
of rotting cows to see how the Yellowstone River dealt with them. Ewan
Wolff called on thousands of Australian crocodiles to find family
resemblances to extinct cousins. Mary Higby Schweitzer retrieved a
decaying ostrich from the back of a South Carolina barn and peered inside
its leg bones.... Scientists who investigate animals that have been dead
for 65 million years sometimes look for clues among the living or at least
the more recently deceased, said Montana State University paleontologists
who have dug and mapped dinosaur remains all over the world. Jackson and
Varricchio are among the MSU scientists who have turned to more modern
animals in their quest to understand dinosaurs. Wolff, an MSU graduate
student, and Schweitzer, a former MSU graduate student, have done the
same. 'The simultaneous drowning of these cows provided a unique
opportunity to examine the consequences of mass death within a fluvial
system,' Varricchio said about some 40 cows that died two years ago after
breaking through the ice on the Yellowstone River north of Glendive....
"
More on the
controversial new plastination exhibit in London
Were
missing Chinese dissidents killed and displayed in plastination exhibit?
(telegraph.co.uk)
"Demonstrators are
expected to hold a vigil today at the opening 
origins
of the human remains from China. Human rights groups fear that some of the
remains may be those of dissidents or political prisoners executed by the
Chinese authorities. Bodies - the Exhibition opens today at Earl's Court
showing 22 corpses and 250 organs and other body parts.... Premier
Exhibitions, an American company, says it obtained the bodies from the
Dalian Medical University of Plastination Laboratories in China. Dr Roy
Glover, the chief medical adviser to the exhibition, insisted yesterday
that he and Premier Exhibitions - which has paid a reported Ł12.5 million
to "lease" the remains from Dalian - have been assured by the
Chinese that the remains are all from people who died from natural causes
without next of kin...."
Controversial
plastination exhibit set to open in London next week
(thisislondon.co.uk)
"Plans
to exhibit 14 foetuses at Earls Court next week have been attacked by
human rights campaigners. The organisers of Bodies...The Exhibition, which
will also show 20 preserved adult cadavers, have been warned by police of
protests over claims that some of the bodies are of executed Chinese
political prisoners. The exhibition will show bodies preserved using a
process called plastinatino and, in an over-18s-only area, more than a
dozen foetuses at stages of development from five to 32 weeks. There will
also be a preserved placenta from twins. Visitors will be encouraged to
touch exhibits, which will also include a dehydrated human brain, a lung
turned black by cigarettes and other organs...."
Authorities
stop mummy smugglers (yementimes.com)
"Yemeni authorities have seized a shipment of stolen
antiques, including two mummies dating to 300 BCE, that were about to be
smuggled out of the country. A security source said on Monday the
suspected thieves were being interrogated to determine whether they had
stolen other pieces. He said a special team from the department of Museums
and Antiquities would examine the mummies, which were stolen from an
archaeological site in the province of Mareb in northeast Yemen. The
source said police also foiled an attempt to smuggle 800 antiques, some of
which dated back to the early Islamic era, and others to pre-Christian
times...."
|
April 2006 |
EXHIBIT: NEW YORK
|
Preserved
body of unusual kitten to be centerpiece of new museum in Phoenix, NY
(oregonlive.com)
"A one-eyed,
noseless kitten from Oregon that stirred international debate last year
over whether it was a hoax will become the "spokesanimal" for a
new museum of anomalies intended to launch discussions about how science
and religion intersect. John Adolfi plans to make the kitten the
centerpiece of The Lost World Museum in New York when it opens later this
year.... Allen said Thursday that she sold Cy's remains to Adolfi because
she liked his religious reasons for wanting them. Ripley's Believe it or
Not! and a private collector from Europe also offered to buy the remains,
she said...."
|
April 2006 |
DISCOVERY: CANADA
|
Fossil-mummy
of walking fish discovered on Ellesmere Island in Arctic Canada
(telegraph.co.uk)
"Fossils of a species
of fish in the act of adapting to life on land have been found by 
scientists,
shedding new light on one of the most momentous events in evolution. The
well-preserved remains of creatures with a crocodile-like head and
flattened body neatly fill a gap between fish and the first creatures to
walk on land. Previous fossils representing this milestone have
essentially been fish with a few land characteristics, or slightly fishy
land vertebrates. The newly-found fossils show an animal that sits between
the two...."
Another
article with photo (spaceref.com)
|
April 2006 |
MUMMY SCIENCE:
PENNSYLVANIA
|
Mummy
purchased for $8 in 1880s gets reconstruction
(post-gazette.com)
"Considering her long life and even longer afterlife,
it's not surprising that Westminster College's Egyptian mummy turns out to
look more like a grandmummy. In a newly constructed bust, Pesed, a
2,300-year-old mummy that was donated to the New Wilmington college in
1885 by a former student turned missionary, appears lined by age and the
Egyptian sun. Researchers yesterday unveiled the results of their efforts
to put a face to her name. Reconstructed mummy busts are usually sculpted
with a surface as smooth as a baby's bottom, noted Sam Farmerie, the
college's curator of cultural artifacts.... Pesed is thought to have been
born around 350 BC and to have died anywhere from 55 to 70 years later.
She had severe dental abcesses, so it's possible that she died from a
spreading infection, Dr. Farmerie said.... "
On
way to preservation, Texas longhorn goes missing
(dfw.com)
"Rawhide is missing. In life, the Longhorn steer was
recognized for an impressive 114-inch horn spread that earned him a
feature in a syndicated "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" newspaper
column. But in death, Rawhide is quickly gaining notoriety as the steer
who vanished over the weekend, before he could be preserved as an exhibit
for a Parker County museum. If the theft was an April Fool's joke,
officials with the Doss Heritage and Culture Center and Rawhide's owner,
Stockyards businessman Steve Murrin, aren't laughing...."
|
April 2006 |
CONTROVERSY: UK
|
New
plastination UK exhibit raises alarm about origin of bodies displayed (guardian.co.uk)
"A controversial exhibition of
preserved human cadavers and embryos which caused a storm of protest when
it was launched in America is to come to Britain. 'Bodies ... The
Exhibition' features 20 whole cadavers, preserved using a technique known
as 'plastination,' made famous by the anatomist Gunther von Hagens. It
will open at Earls Court later this month. Human rights organisations have
attacked the booming industry in travelling exhibitions featuring human
corpses. They warned that the bodies, which are from China, could include
those of executed political prisoners. The organiser, Premier Exhibitions,
acquired the cadavers in a $25 million deal with Sui Hongjin, a former
partner of von Hagens at the Dalian Medical University in China...."
