Call up Brendan Fraser—because we have an ancient mummy mystery on our hands. (Yes, this is Tom Cruise erasure.) A team of researchers used 3D imaging technology to analyze several centuries-old mummies. In the process, they uncovered evidence of their grisly murders.
In a new paper published on Friday in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, the authors utilized 3D computer tomography (the same CT scan you find in hospitals) to analyze three pre-Columbian South American mummies (two male and one female).
“The availability of modern CT scans with the opportunity for 3D reconstructions offers unique insight into bodies that would otherwise not have been detected,” Andreas Nerlich, a pathology researcher at the Munich Clinic Bogenhausen and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “Previous studies would have either destroyed the mummy, while X-rays or older CT scans without three-dimensional reconstruction functions could not have detected the diagnostic key features we found here.”
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Radiocarbon results estimate that the mummies died between 740 and 1120 years ago. However, it was the cause of death that’ll raise the hair on your head.
The 3D imaging showed that the two male mummies died due to intentional violence. “[One] assaulter hit the victim with full force on the head and [a] second assaulter stab[bed] the victim (who still was standing or kneeling) in the back,” the authors wrote of one mummy found in northern Chile.
Meanwhile, the other male mummy, which likely came from southeastern Peru, showed “massive trauma against the cervical spine which represents most likely the cause of death.”
The female mummy, on the other hand, died of natural causes.
The authors added that part of the reason they were able to get such good insights into the causes of death is that they were so well preserved. “The types of trauma we found would not have been detectable if these human remains had been mere skeletons,” Nerlich said.
3D imaging revealed that the mummy found in northern Chile had been stabbed in the back.
A-M Begerock, R Loynes, OK Peschel, J Verano, R Bianucci, I Martinez Armijo, M González, AG NerlichWhile studying mummies for evidence of murder is a great way to get an ancient curse bestowed on you, it’s also a good way to study how frequently violence occurred in the past. Using 3D imaging, anthropologists and archeologists are able to gain a wealth of insight into how and why prehistoric people died—giving us a glimpse into past cultures that have long died as well.
So far, 21 percent of male pre-Columbian remains have shown signs of violence and trauma—which is a lot compared to modern-day society. That suggests that violence was a much more common occurrence in their societies and cultures.
“[The] study of human mummified material can reveal a much higher rate of trauma, especially intentional trauma, than the study of skeletons,” Nerlich said. “There are dozens of South American mummies which might profit from a similar investigation as we did here.”
