The study of mummies is an extremely fascinating chapter of archaeology. It involves the study of the bodies of individuals who lived even many thousands of years ago and who deeply arouse the curiosity not only of ‘non-experts’ but also of scientists and scholars because of the great amount of precious historical and cultural information they contain as if in a treasure chest. The analysis of these ancient artefacts allows us to plunge our gaze into the past in a sort of challenge with death that reveals to us the secret of the preservation of the body for a very long time to the point of making it the symbol of the dream of eternal life.
Science has always played an important role in archaeology since the 1950s when the method of radiocarbon dating was developed by nuclear physicists. But already in the late 1800s, radiological techniques had been applied to some mummies.
In more recent times, the analysis of mummified remains has made use of methods from physics, chemistry, medicine and molecular biology. With the use of these techniques, a mummy becomes an archive of information in a wide variety of research fields. From a historical and anthropological point of view, it is a source of information on the techniques used by ancient civilisations to care for the dead; as far as the study of biological tissues (skin, bones, etc.) is concerned, it represents a veritable research laboratory on the ‘survival’ mechanisms of the biological macromolecules that make them up and that have been preserved almost intact down to us through hundreds and thousands of years, and therefore, in the field of museum conservation, it can suggest suitable tools for the treatment and conservation strategies of cultural heritage assets. In short, a mummy represents a ‘window on the past’ and the starting point for extensive multidisciplinary research.
In this lecture, Prof. Maria Grazia Bridelli will present the results obtained by applying Optical Spectroscopy (InfraRed, Raman) and Electron Microscopy techniques to many examples of mummified bodies from Egyptian mummies (Anthropological Museum of the University of Turin, VI-XI century B.C.), to late medieval mummies (Roccapelago, Modena, XVI-XVII century) and other finds.