[Egyptian mummies as anthropological artifacts]. 2013

Giovanni Bergamini
Soprintendenza ai Beni Archeologici del Piemonte e del Museo Egizio di Torino, Torino, I. giov.bergamini@gmail.com

Ancient human remains like Egyptian mummified bodies cannot be considered on a physical anthropological perspective only. So severe and invasive were the operations on the body, so various were the materials involved in the preservation techniques, so complicated was the embalming and wrapping procedure according to specific rituals, that the final result, the mummy, is to be considered a highly composite product. The human remains are a relevant part of it indeed, but a very wide set of information can be taken.also from the other components, relating to environment, resources, technology, religious beliefs, cultural and technical traditions, skills and arts at the time of the individual's life. That a plain anthropological approach could not be exhaustive on cataloguing such a kind of archaeological finds emerged during the sessions of the scientific board charged by the Italian ICCD of defining a data track for filing anthropological remains as a special kind of cultural heritage.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D009106 Mummies Bodies preserved either by the ancient Egyptian technique or due to chance under favorable climatic conditions. Mummy
D004615 Embalming Process of preserving a dead body to protect it from decay. Embalmings
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000076144 Egypt, Ancient A civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in the area of Egypt. It was active from 3100 B.C. until its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. Ancient Egypt
D000884 Anthropology, Cultural Study of social phenomena which characterize the learned, shared, and transmitted social activities of particular ethnic groups with focus on the causes, consequences, and complexities of human social and cultural variability. Ethnography,Cultural Anthropology,Material Culture,Culture, Material,Ethnographies,Material Cultures
D000885 Anthropology, Physical The comparative science dealing with the physical characteristics of humans as related to their origin, evolution, and development in the total environment. Physical Anthropology
D049690 History, Ancient The period of history before 500 of the common era. Ancient History,Ancient History (Medicine),Ancient History of Medicine,History of Medicine, Ancient,Medicine, Ancient History,Ancient Histories (Medicine),Ancient History Medicine,Ancient History Medicines,Histories, Ancient (Medicine),History Medicine, Ancient,History Medicines, Ancient,History, Ancient (Medicine),Medicine Ancient History,Medicines, Ancient History

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