Brain vessels mummification in an individual of ancient Egypt

Abstract

The organs of the Central Nervous System are among the firstorgans to undergo postmortem autolysis. Their preservationis an unusual finding in ancient burials except those in whichthe adipocere formation or conditions of extreme-drynessleads to a different rate of preservation (Aufderheide, 2003).Perhaps the best-known feature of Egyptian mummifica-tion is the removal of the brain. Herodotus specifically men-tions excerebration as part of the most elaborate ofmummification rituals, restricted to the elite. In anthropo-genic or artificial mummies the brain had been removed bydifferent techniques using wire-like instruments and latersuperseded the calvarium by preservative substances,meningeal covering has been seldom found. This is due to thefact that few remains of brain tissue survive the first step oftheprocedure;thetrans-ethmoidalextractionofthebrainandthe subsequent introduction of resin-like substancescompleted the damage of neural tissue.Since 2006 a Spanish/German mission of the EgyptianMuseum in Barcelona and the Eberhard Karls University inTu¨bingen has been working in the Necropolis of Sharuna,Middle Egypt. This vast necropolis covers the period from thebeginnings of the 6th dynasty of the Old Kingdom (circa 2325BC) to the beginnings of the Coptic period (4the9th centuriesAD), and a total of 438 individuals have been identified andtheir pathologies studied. In the 2010 archaeological season atotal of 51 mummified bodies were recovered from theUE.4013. Mummies were dated in the Late Period to PtolemaicPeriod (550e150 BC) based on the characteristics of themummification.