INTRODUCTION

As neophyte paleopathologists, five of us in Detroit (Aidan and Eve Cockburn, Robin Barraco, William Peck and Theodore Reyman) were involved in the autopsy of two mummies, DIA I (Detroit Institute of Arts) in 1970 and PUM I (Pennsylvania University Museum) in 1971. The findings from the examination of these two bodies were minimal. Both mummies were poorly preserved and without personal data or provenance. Although we were able to learn little from the gross and microscopic examination, we did establish one thing – we didn't know much about identifying and testing ancient tissues.

Aidan Cockburn was interested in extracting gamma globulin from mummified organs, theorizing that if this were possible, we could use modern testing techniques on this material in order to survey disease patterns in ancient times. With these data, we would then be able to track infectious diseases from antiquity to the present time and perhaps determine whether alterations in life cycle, virulence and other epidemiological parameters had changed over the years. We were able to extract and identify small amounts of serum albumin and globulin, although the reactivity in modern tests for infectious diseases never came to fruition. We learned that many proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids were present in mummified tissue but generally in very fragmentary form (Barraco 1980).

Chemical elemental analysis told us whether the mummy had been treated with natron and how the heavy metal content of ancient tissues correlated with modern equivalents (Barraco et al. 1977).