PhD Scientific Days 2017

Oral Presentations: Mental Health

The mummification as a body preservation process - based on the Ptolemaic period mummies from Gamhud, Egypt

Előadó neve

Szvák, Enikő

Előadó munkahelye

University of Szeged,Ph.D. School in Biology, Humanbiology-Antropology, PhD student

Előadó telefonszáma

06204648178

Előadó e-mail címe

szvakeniko@gmail.com

Az előadás címe

The mummification as a body preservation process - based on the Ptolemaic period mummies from Gamhud, Egypt

Szerző(k) neve és munkahelye

Enikő Szvák1, Ildikó Pap2, György Pálfi 1, Hedvig Győrfy 3, István János4, Ildikó Szikossy 2
1 University of Szeged, Ph.D. School in Biology, Humanbiology-Antropology
2 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Anthropology
3 Museum od Fine Arts,
4 University of Nyíregyháza, Institute of Environmental Science

Szekció

Oral Presentations: Mental Health

Data of the presenter

Doctoral School: Ph.D. School in Biology, Humanbiology-Antropology
Program: Antropology, The mummification as a body preservation process
Supervisor: Ildikó Pap
E-mail: papildi@hotmail.com

Text of the abstract

The excavation of the Gamhud cemetery was initiated by Fülöp Back, a Hungarian merchant in 1907. The excavation was started by Taudeusz Smolenski, the Polish archaeologist and due to the decline of his health it was finished by Ahmed Bey Kamal from the Cairo Museum during 7 days. After Smolenski’s death at August 29 in 1909, Kamal published the general report on the finds of Gamhud. All coffins were described in detail. The half of the artefacts and mummies remained in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Kairo. The other half was shared by the National Museum of Budapest, Hungary, the ’Muzeum Archeologiczne w Krakowie, Poland and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Austria. The archaeological artefacts are now housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, and the human remains are located in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Anthropology.
The study is a multidisciplinary examination of the Hungarian Natural History Museum of Egyptian mummies. The purpose is to learn more about the mummification process and present data on the demography and on the health condition of the people ones lived in Gamhud, Egypt during the Ptolemaic Period.

By the time of the Gamhud cemetery was used, the mummification has become widespread in Egypt, and developed into a social and commercial practice, which led to a decline in standards. The process concentrated more on the elaborate and permanent outer wrappings than on the preservation of the body (Győry 1998a; 1998b). That is why the Gamhud mummies are in poor condition. The most of them are skeletonized. Beside the remains of some soft tissues bitumen and resin can be found.
During sex and age estimation and paleopathological investigation the standard anthropological methods were followed with using X-ray and CT scanning. For the physical and chemical analyses FAAS and GC-MS were used.

Kind

Szabad

Előadás fájl jóváhagyás

nem rendelkezett róla

Előadó

1295

Authors (legacy)

Enikő Szvák1, Ildikó Pap2, György Pálfi 1, Hedvig Győrfy 3, István János4, Ildikó Szikossy 2
1 University of Szeged, Ph.D. School in Biology, Humanbiology-Antropology
2 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Anthropology
3 Museum od Fine Arts,
4 University of Nyíregyháza, Institute of Environmental Science