Forensic anthropology and radiography in the examination of an unknown mummified hand

Abstract

The medical museum collection of the UCD School of Medicine & Medical Science at University College Dublin (UCD) incorporates anatomy specimens, pathology specimens, and physical anthropology specimens. The medical museum collection is not open to the public but may be accessed by medical students, researchers, and academics upon request. The history of each of these collections is linked to the former site of the UCD Medical School at Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin City Centre, established there in the early twentieth century. The Medical School subsequently moved to the Belfield campus on the southern side of the city in 2006, now named UCD School of Medicine & Medical Science (UCD SMMS). The oldest identifiable specimens in the anatomy and physical anthropology collections date to the early twentieth century, while the pathology specimens are of a more recent date, probably mid-twentieth century. During the move from the Earlsfort Terrace campus, a few specimens were discovered which had lost some of their provenance due to old age and damaged catalog entries. One of these is the specimen of a severed hand which forms the subject of investigation in this paper. Specimen description