How did they die? Why were they buried together? What had been the nature of their culture and beliefs? How had they survived in the harsh Arctic climate? To solve this icy mystery, a team of archaeologists, historians, and medical specialists used modern, innovative investigative techniques. They carried out their detective work with keen scholarly curiosity, combined with respect for these people of the past. While many puzzles have been answered, others remain unsolved. The investigation has revealed that the younger child was buried alive at the age of only six months, while the other, two and a half years old, had been born with Down's syndrome. Analysis of the hair of the mummies revealed evidence of air pollution at levels similar to those of today. Speculating on reasons for a mass grave -- a form of burial the Inuit normally used only because of some catastrophe -- the researchers have reconstructed the possible events of the past. The contents of the grave shed light on the every-day life of these people, allowing the investigators to place this evidence within the larger context of Thule culture and knowledge of Inuit contact with the Norse settlements which dotted the outer margins of Greenland during the medieval era. The Greenland Mummies brings the compelling story of this fervent collaboration to the attention of the world. Not only does it provide a fascinating and insightful look into the life and culture of the Inuit in the fifteenth century, it offers an impressive testament to one of the most successful archaeological investigations ever conducted.

In 1972, eight five-hundred-year-old mummies were discovered in Qilakitsoq, Greenland. Buell explains how scientists were able to determine how old the mummies were when they died and what may have caused their deaths. Information is also given on how the bodies avoided natural decay. Additionally, the book relates what the lives of these Thule (Eskimo) people may have been like: where they lived and how they dressed to protect themselves against the elements, how they hunted food, and how they used tattoos for luck and to show familial relationships.

Description of eight bodies found in two graves at the small Inuit settlement of Qilakitsoq on the west coast of Greenland. Carbon-dating suggests that the time of burial was 1475 A.D.

On 15-17 September, 1993, Innsbruck, Austria, search. Another remarkable case, that of the pre-Colum hosted the International Mummy Symposium. This bian miner from Restauradora Mine near Chuqincamata does not mean that beautiful North Tyrol was the setting in northern Chile, is the result of impregnation with for a gathering of the world's most prominent mummies copper salts, and the mummy became an attraction as themselves, but rather the exciting discovery of a Late "Copper Man" at various fairs around the country. As he Neolithic glacial mummy released from the ice of the was found with a complete set of miner's tools, the Otztal Alps provided the focus of attention for numerous mummy offers a unique insight into the life and working scholars from many different parts of the world to come conditions of an Indio miner of the first millennium AD. together to address various questions relating to mum Even so, the mummified remains comprise only the skel mified human remains. eton with a completely rigid covering of skin, whereas Normally researchers studying the remains of histori the other soft parts have not survived. calor prehistoric human bodies will at best have bony In contrast, mummification in ice, and especially in substance to work on. It is rarely the case that soft parts the permafrost, can produce much better results.

Owing to their unique state of preservation, mummies provide us with significant historical and scientific knowledge of humankind’s past. This handbook, written by prominent international experts in mummy studies, offers readers a comprehensive guide to new understandings of the field’s most recent trends and developments. It provides invaluable information on the health states and pathologies of historic populations and civilizations, as well as their socio-cultural and religious characteristics. Addressing the developments in mummy studies that have taken place over the past two decades – which have been neglected for as long a time – the authors excavate the ground-breaking research that has transformed scientific and cultural knowledge of our ancient predecessors. The handbook investigates the many new biotechnological tools that are routinely applied in mummy studies, ranging from morphological inspection and endoscopy to minimally invasive radiological techniques that are used to assess states of preservation. It also looks at the paleoparasitological and pathological approaches that have been employed to reconstruct the lifestyles and pathologic conditions of ancient populations, and considers the techniques that have been applied to enhance biomedical knowledge, such as craniofacial reconstruction, chemical analysis, stable isotope analysis and ancient DNA analysis. This interdisciplinary handbook will appeal to academics in historical, anthropological, archaeological and biological sciences, and will serve as an indispensable companion to researchers and students interested in worldwide mummy studies.