“Art”Aufderheide: remembering a friend, a superb mentor and scholar

Abstract

This presentation honors Arthur Aufderheide (1922-2013), or “Ar t,” as he liked to be called. He was a full Professor at the University of Minnesota, Medical School for 31 years. His many contributions can be summarized in two lines of research: (a) soft and hard tissue mummy pathology and (b) biochemical analysis on prehistoric bodies. He found ancient Andean populations that had suffered from pneumonia and tuberculosis. His isotopic dietary reconstructions revealed that prehistoric populations of South America relied heavily on maritime resources, supplemented with wild plants and land mammals. His research was synthesized in more than 100 articles and several books.Two of his most cited works were published in the PNAS journal “Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in a pre-Columbian Peruvian mummy,” 1994 and “A 9,000-year record of Chagas ́ Disease,” 2003. Finally, he was the founding father of the World Con- gress on Mummy Studies. His commitment has certainly flourished.