Detmold children's mummy

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The Detmold children's mummy at the 2010 World Mummy Exhibition in the USA

Detmold child mummy ( English Detmold Child ) is the name of a baby mummy , which in Peru was found. It is around 6,500 years old, which makes it one of the oldest preserved mummies in the world.

Origin and investigations

The mummy was named after the owner, the Lippisches Landesmuseum in Detmold in North Rhine-Westphalia . The previous owner was the Witzenhausen Ethnological Museum , which had received the mummy in 1987 as a private donation. When the children's mummy was attacked by mold, the museum donated it to the Lippe State Museum in 1987, where it was professionally preserved.

It was not until 2010 that scientists from the Reiss Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim recognized the cultural and historical significance as part of their German Mummy Project . Through their investigations, the old age of the mummy became known. Until 2014, the children's mummy was shown for three years in the “Mummies of the World” exhibition in the USA.

Physical characteristics

According to the research carried out by the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen as part of the German Mummy Project , the Detmold child died at the age of 8-10 months. She had a rare heart defect ( hypoplastic left heart syndrome ). It also suffered from vitamin D deficiency and has an abnormal skull shape caused by early closure of the skull bones. The child also had a lung infection, possibly caused by tuberculosis or pneumonia , which may have contributed to the death. The body is in a burial posture that is typical of the region and the culture and was wrapped in linen . An amulet had been placed around the mummy's neck , a CT scan revealed.

literature

  • Rogier Meyer: Of "gray" and "brown" mummies - pre-Columbian mummies from the Lippe State Museum in Detmold . In: Alfried Wieczorek (Ed.): Mumien. The dream of eternal life . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007, ISBN 978-3-8053-3779-3 , p. 353–355 (volume accompanying the special exhibition “Mummies - The Dream of Eternal Life”).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ n-tv news television: Riddle about the famous child mummy: the cause of death of the "Detmold Child" clarified. In: n-tv.de. July 5, 2014, accessed December 31, 2016 .
  2. ↑ DPA: Cause of death found for ancient baby mummy ( English ) In: The Hindu . Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  3. ↑ Mummies of the World: an exhibition at the California Science Center in Los Angeles ( English ) In: Telegraph.co.uk . Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  4. ↑ Return of the mummy "The Detmold Child" in: Die Glocke from February 7, 2014
  5. ↑ a b Gallery - Mummies of the world gather in Los Angeles - Image 1 - New Scientist ( English ). Accessed November 21, 2014.
  6. ↑ From a Peruvian child to a Baron from Budapest ( English ) In: KATU.com . Archived from the original on July 16, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2014.