Network Science in Egyptology

Patrick Coulombe,Clifford Qualls,Raffaella Bianucci,Robert Kruszynski,Andreas Nerlich,Christine Mermier,Richard Harris,Otto Appenzeller,Chad A Dickey

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050382

Abstract

Egyptology relies on traditional descriptive methods. Here we show that modern, Internet-based science and statistical methods can be applied to Egyptology. Two four-thousand-year-old sarcophagi in one tomb, one within the other, with skeletal remains of a woman, gave us the opportunity to diagnose a congenital nervous system disorder in the absence of a living nervous system. The sarcophagi were discovered near Thebes, Egypt. They were well preserved and meticulously restored. The skeletal remains suggested that the woman, aged between 50 and 60 years, was Black, possibly of Nubian descent and suffered from syringobulbia, a congenital cyst in the brain stem and upper spinal cord. We employed crowd sourcing, the anonymous responses of 204 Facebook users who performed a matching task of living persons' iris color with iris color of the Udjat eyes, a decoration found on Egyptian sarcophagi, to confirm the ethnicities of the sarcophagus occupants. We used modern fMRI techniques to illustrate the putative extent of her lesion in the brain stem and upper spinal cord deduced from her skeletal remains. We compared, statistically, the right/left ratios, a non-dimensional number, of the orbit height, orbit width, malar height and the infraorbital foramena with the same measures obtained from 32 ancient skulls excavated from the Fayum, North of Thebes. We found that these ratios were significantly different in this skull indicating atrophy of cranial bones on the left. In this instance, Internet science and the use of modern neurologic research tools showed that ancient sarcophagus makers shaped and decorated their wares to fit the ethnicity of the prospective occupants of the sarcophagi. We also showed that, occasionally, human nervous system disease may be recognizable in the absence of a living nervous system.

Highlights

Additional rare features of this find were: the smaller sarcophagus was placed within the larger one in a common tomb barely big enough to accommodate one coffin; grave robbers had broken the foot plates of both sarcophagi; and partially mummified skeletal remains were found in close vicinity to the sarcophagi
The two coffins of this unique find were entered into a small burial chamber stacked one within the other, and the putative ages of the coffins were deduced from the style of their decorations [3]
The inscriptions and elaborate hieroglyphs covering the walls of the sarcophagi led to speculations that the occupants were related to or royal officials at the court during the Middle Kingdom [3]

Summary

Introduction

Egyptology is a descriptive discipline where, normally, the details of a new find are put into appropriate context by analysis of the decorations and inscriptions found on artifacts and remains.We hypothesized that the size of sarcophagi (ancient coffins) was fashioned to fit the prospective occupant and their decorations were adjusted to reflect the ethnicity of the deceased, if different from the ethnicity of ancient Egyptians.Here we show that modern methods of crowd sourcing of the opinions of hundreds of Internet users, together with statistical methods, can contribute to the reliability of the interpretations of ancient finds.clinical paleoneurology—the examination of human nervous system function without the presence of a living nervous system—is possible only on very rare occasions [1].We report an unusual paleoneurological opportunity on a woman who died approximately 4000 years ago in Ancient Egypt. Egyptology is a descriptive discipline where, normally, the details of a new find are put into appropriate context by analysis of the decorations and inscriptions found on artifacts and remains. We show that modern methods of crowd sourcing of the opinions of hundreds of Internet users, together with statistical methods, can contribute to the reliability of the interpretations of ancient finds. We report an unusual paleoneurological opportunity on a woman who died approximately 4000 years ago in Ancient Egypt. To reach the diagnosis and place this into clinical and social context we enlisted the collective ‘‘brain power’’ of Facebook users and, for the first time in Egyptology, based our conclusions, in part, on ‘‘networked science’’ [2]

Methods

Results

Conclusion