Rare South Korean mummies contain something even rarer: Samples of hepatitis B (alphagalileo.org)

"Mummies that have recently been unearthed in South Korea may provide clues on how to combat hepatitis B, according to Prof. Mark Spigelman of the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This is the first time that samples of hepatitis B have ever been found on a mummified body. When the virus was discovered in the liver of a 500 year old child, researchers at Dankook University and Seoul National University invited Hebrew University Prof Spigelman to South Korea to verify the findings. Spigelman and the Liver Unit at Hadassah University Hospital-Ein Kerem in Jerusalem are now part of an international team to conduct research on the mummies, bringing together experts from Dankook University, Seoul National University and University College London. Spigelman known for his pioneering studies of ancient diseases (palaeoepidemiology) found on mummified bodies from Hungary to Sudan, in his quest to provide answers to the development of diseases affecting us today, such as tuberculosis, leishmania and influenza. The South Korean mummies are particularly well preserved, and could provide crucial information in the evolution of the hepatitis B virus...."

Zanjan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department to organize international conference regarding fate of Salt Mummies (theseoultimes.com)

"In an international conference organized by the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department of Zanjan province, the status of Iranian salt men and the existing problems on the way for preserving them will be discussed by Iranian, German, and British experts. Currently despite all efforts have been made so far for preserving these salt men, the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Zanjan province is worry about the fate of these mummies. Explaining that this international event will be organized in conjunction with the Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) during the coming September, Farhang Farokhi, head of ICHHTO Zanjan’s provincial department, told CHN: 'Unfortunately despite all efforts have been made so far for preserving Iranian salt mummies in Zanjan’s Museum, they are not in a satisfactory situation. Evidence show that they have even being a bit eroded compare to the time they were unearthed.' Farokhi further pointed that keeping Iranian salt mummies in vacuumed glass coffins which have been done currently is considered a short term alternative for preserving them and it can not last for a long time. Considering the importance of these unique salt mummies, brings into light the importance for finding the best approaches for preserving them for next generations...."

Remodeling contractor finds newspaper-wrapped mummified infant inside wall of Toronto house (ctv.ca)

"Toronto homicides detectives are investigating what could be an 80-year-old murder mystery after a mummified infant wrapped in a 1925 newspaper was found in the wall of an east-end home. Renovator Bog Kinghorn made the grisly discovery Tuesday night at the home on Kintyre Avenue, near Broadview Avenue and Queen Street East.... Kinghorn, who lives two doors away from the three-storey, semi-detached home, was about to drill a hole through a ceiling joist for wiring when he noticed a bundle of newspaper. He first thought it was insulation in the second-floor bedroom of the empty home, the Star reports. The 37-year-old and a co-worker had noticed a strange smell in the room, but didn't realize what it was until he removed the package from the wall.... The infant, who he guessed was about four months of age, was in a fetal position wrapped in a bundle of newsprint dated Sept. 12, 1925. The baby's toes were sticking out.... "

Scythian mummy and 6000 artifacts on display in Berlin (theseoultimes.com)

"Almost all that glitters is indeed gold when it comes to the Scythians, as is demonstrated most impressively in a major exhibition in Berlin's Martin Gropius Building, which opens to the public on Friday. It portrays the history and culture of the feared equestrian people who lived in the first millennium BC in an area stretching from Southern Siberia to the Carpathian Basin. Around 6000 exhibits, including magnificent gold treasures and an impeccably preserved mummy, will be on show, some for the first time in Europe. The patrons of the exhibition – "Under the Sign of the Golden Griffin. The Royal Tombs of the Scythians" – are German President Horst Köhler and Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as the Presidents of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The exhibition, organized by the Museum of Pre- and Early History and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), will go from Berlin to Munich and Hamburg. Six hundred exhibits are on loan from Moscow alone, and 160 are from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg...." 

Ötzi gets his own research center in Bolzano (upi.com)

"A new research center is being developed in Bolzano, Italy, to lead research into the famed Iceman mummy. The 5,000-year-old prehistoric hunter was found in a glacier in the Oetz mountain valley in 1991. The mummy is housed in a Bolzano museum. The lab will be headed by German researcher Albert Zink of Munich University, one of the world's leading experts on the mummified Neolithic man -- also known as Oetzi -- ANSA said Thursday. Until now, most of the major research work on the project has been done outside Bolzano, the news service said...." 

More on Queen Hatshepsut's discovery

Archaeology magazine's summary of the Queen Hatshepsut program on the Discovery Channel: Archaeologist Mark Rose puts the show in its rightful place (archaeology.org)

"...Discovery Channel's "Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen" tries to cover a lot of ground: who was Hatshepsut, the early 18th Dynasty queen and pharaoh, where's her mummy, and who obliterated many of her images and inscriptions? That's a lot, even for a two-hour program. I've watched the film twice, consulted with a couple of Egyptologists who know the subject, interviewed Egypt's archaeo-honcho Zahi Hawass, and talked with the producer, Brando Quilici (who did last year's Tut special and, before that, a documentary on the Iceman). As an archaeologist, journalist, and some-time docu consultant, I have mixed feelings about "Lost Queen." Overall, I do think it's better than many shows out there (but is that good enough?) and unlike some past offerings from Discovery it isn't larded with superfluous re-enactments. The science is pretty neat, but I have some questions about its applications here, and there are some gaps and things that are not really explained adequately. So, it is worth watching, but although I have some criticisms. Does it matter if we find, or identify, Hatshepsut's mummy? If you think of it only in terms of "Royal Mummies Musical Chairs" as Dennis Forbes, editor of KMT, called it in his Tombs, Treasures, and Mummies (1998), it is little more than an intellectual jigsaw puzzle. Fascinating, yes, but not necessarily a gateway to understanding ancient Egyptian culture. It's laudable that the film tries to go beyond that simple game, but it really is the hook for the show and Discovery isn't shy about playing that card. It also matters because this is an important test case. There are new techniques being applied here, especially the DNA work, that have the possibility to replace decades of conjecture with scientific evidence--if the analysis and interpretation is done right. If it isn't, then things just become more obscure than ever...."

The Philadelphia Daily News wonders: Could the recent 'discovery' of Hatshepsut be a publicity stunt for a Discovery Channel show? (philly.com)

"If it's ever confirmed, this is one of the biggest announcements in the history of archeology. If See, there's this tooth. But before we get to the tooth, let's look at the hype. When the King Tut exhibit opened in February at the Franklin Institute, special guest Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, gave a stirring speech, predicting stunning Egyptological finds soon, including the identification of: The mummy of Maatkare Hatshepsut, one of the first female rulers in history; Antony and Cleopatra's tombs. Either one, if confirmed, would be a wow with exclamation points. Hawass, it should be said, is both an eminent archaeologist and a tireless promoter. He tromps the globe, militating for Egyptian antiquities to be returned to Egypt. (Rightly: If Egypt can prove that specific items have been stolen, the countries in possession should return them. Failing such proof, it'll be a hard fight.) Hawass likes TV. He's been helping the Discovery Channel make a documentary about the search for Hatshepsut. Airtime: July 15. Oh, hey - We found her! We have proof! Just in time! Maybe they have found The Bearded Queen. But it's no sure thing. This announcement is premature. Hatshepsut is among the weirdest and most mysterious of Egypt's pharaohs (a weird, mysterious bunch). She ruled from around 1479 BC to 1458 BC or so, moving aside her underage stepson, Thutmose III, and taking power for herself. She is not the earliest known woman to rule, but she was the longest reigning and most powerful of the Egyptian woman-rulers. And the oddest. She apparently wore male attire on the throne, including a false beard...."

Is an unidentified mummy really Tuthmosis I? His DNA will be compared to other known mummies of Tuthmosis's family...including Queen Hatshepsut (msnbc.msn.com)

"Egypt will run DNA tests on an unidentified mummy to determine whether it is the pharaoh Tuthmosis I, who ruled over a period of military expansion and extensive construction, state news agency MENA said on Tuesday. Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said the findings would be compared with DNA from mummies of known members of Tuthmosis’s family, including Queen Hatshepsut, whose mummy was identified last week, and Kings Tuthmosis II and III, according to MENA. Hawass said on Wednesday that he had recently concluded that a mummy once assumed to be that of Tuthmosis I was not in fact his, but belonged to a much younger man who died from an arrow wound. According to MENA, Hawass said the conclusion had prompted a new search for Tuthmosis’s mummy. Tuthmosis, who took the throne somewhere around 1506 BC, led a series of successful military expeditions, expanding Egypt’s territory into Nubia and the Levant...."

10,000-year-old baby mammoth discovered--almost completely intact (bbc.co.uk)

"A baby mammoth unearthed in the permafrost of north-west Siberia could be the best preserved specimen of its type, scientists have said. The frozen carcass is to be sent to Japan for detailed study. The six-month-old female calf was discovered on the Yamal peninsula of Russia and is thought to have died 10,000 years ago. The animal's trunk and eyes are still intact and some of its fur remains on the body. Mammoths are an extinct member of the elephant family. Adults often possessed long, curved tusks and a coat of long hair. The 130cm (4ft 3ins) tall, 50kg Siberian specimen dates to the end of the last Ice Age, when the great beasts were vanishing from the planet. It was discovered by a reindeer herder in May this year. Yuri Khudi stumbled across the carcass near the Yuribei River, in Russia's Yamal-Nenets autonomous district. Last week, an international delegation of experts convened in the town of Salekhard, near the discovery site, to carry out a preliminary examination of the animal...." 

Fossil-mummy of Asia's heaviest dinosaur found in Henan Province (dnaindia.com)

"Chinese scientists have claimed to have unearthed fossils of the heaviest dinosaur in Asia in central China's Henan Province. The fossils were discovered in an area between Santun and Liudian townships in Ruyang County, and the dinosaur, which has an unusually large coelom, the body cavity that contains the digestive tract, has been identified as Asia's heaviest, general engineer of the provincial land resources department, Wu Guochang said. The dinosaur measures 18 meters long and its sacrum, part of the vertebrae in the lower back, is as broad as 1.31 meters, making it broader than that of the dinosaur fossil unearthed in Gansu Province last year, which was then identified as Asia's heaviest dinosaur, Xinhua news agency quoted Wu as saying. Scientists had thought the land where the fossils were excavated was formed in the Cenozoic Era, which dates back 65 million years, and that the former existence of dinosaurs was not possible, but local residents kept on digging up what they called 'dragon's bones' to use as traditional Chinese medicine...."