Mummy from the Dachau moss

The mummy from the Dachauer Moos , also known as the bog corpse from the Dachauer Moos , is a South American dry mummy that was thought to be a bog corpse for a long time . The female mummy, which dates from the 15th to 17th centuries , came to Munich at the end of the 19th century . In the course of the first half of the 20th century it was mistakenly referred to as a bog body and was shown in the permanent exhibition of the State Archaeological Collection from 1977 to 2007 , until subsequent scientific research revealed its true identity.

history

Bust of Theresa of Bavaria in the Munich Hall of Fame

How the mummy got to Munich can only be vaguely reconstructed today due to the files. Most likely she was brought to Germany by the scientifically learned Princess Therese of Bavaria , the daughter of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria . At the end of the 19th century, Therese von Bayern undertook numerous research trips through Colombia , the Caribbean , the Andes and Peru , during which she collected exhibits for her private collection housed in the Leuchtenberg Palais . Among other things , she dug out a male mummy with her own hands on a trip through Peru in the cemetery of Ancóm near Lima in 1898 and sent it to Munich. After Princess Therese's death in 1926, it went to the Völkerkundemuseum in Munich along with large parts of her collection .

As early as September 1889, Therese von Bayern acquired a female mummy and grave goods for 38 Peruvian soles (around € 3,000) , which allegedly came from the Chuquitanta burial ground north of Lima in the Chillon Valley. This mummy was examined after it arrived in Munich and presumably given to the anatomical institute in Munich shortly afterwards . A female bog body has been listed in the inventory books of the anatomical institute since 1904, but no further evidence exists of its access. It is not certain whether the mummy listed as a female bog corpse is actually the female mummy Therese bought; it is also possible that this is a mummy from the estate of the artist and collector Gabriel von Max .

During the Second World War , the anatomical institute's collection was badly damaged by bombs in 1945. During the rescue work, the mummy was removed from the rubble of the building and placed in the sun to dry. However, she was then buried by workers who mistakenly believed she was a bomb victim. The erroneous burial is said to have been repeated a second time. Finally the mummy was dug up again, cleaned and marked as a bog body . When and for what reasons the supposed location of Dachauer Moos was assigned to the mummy is completely unclear. Brigitte Haas-Gebhard suspects a connection with the spatial proximity of the Dachau Moor to Munich, its fame through the Dachau artists' colony there and possibly also a connection with the inglorious history of Dachau due to the concentration camp there . In the years that followed, the mummy received little attention. In the 1970s it was examined anthropologically and a ¹⁴ C dating was done. Due to the supposed location of Dachau Moos and the dating, the mummy was given on permanent loan to the Archaeological State Collection in Munich in 1977 , where it was shown as a bog corpse from the Dachau Moos in the permanent exhibition in the Early Middle Ages department . In 2007, the mummy had to be taken out of its display case for the first time because it was suspected of being infected with parasites . On this occasion it was discovered that it could not be a bog body, whereupon a comprehensive scientific investigation was initiated.

Findings

The mummy is the corpse of a woman who is estimated to be between 20 and 25 years old due to the not yet completely fused apophyses . She lies on her left side in a crouching position with her legs strongly drawn up. Your arms are crossed between your stomach and thighs and your fingers are bent. Only the index finger of the left hand is straight out. Both lower legs and feet are missing. Imprints of constrictions on the thighs indicate that the woman's body was artificially brought into the extreme stool position by lacings. The woman's skin is leathery, medium gray to anthracite in color and slightly shiny. The corpse emits a smell of tar and wax . Muscle areas and ribs are clearly visible on thinner skin areas. The woman's head has a major fracture on the forehead and most of her face is destroyed. Her well-preserved hair and hairstyle are particularly striking . Her long hair is parted in the middle above her head, braided into six side braids , which in turn have been braided into two larger braids. At the ends, the ends of the hair are turned up and wrapped broadly with ribbons made of alpaca wool . The corpse was mummified through a purely natural drying process.

Medical findings

The x-ray of the woman's skull shows an inca leg , a non-pathological additional bone , which led to the assumption that the deceased could have come from South America, as this anomaly occurs particularly often there. In addition, the skull shows signs of an artificial deformation , which was also widespread in South America at the time. The head in the area of ​​the facial bones as well as the anterior skullcap were hit by massive violence during his lifetime. Both eye sockets and cheekbones are shattered and the upper jaw has a longitudinal fracture. Stepped fracture edges indicate several blows with a club-like object, which drove the blasted pieces of bone deep into the skull and resulted in fatal injuries to the brain with massive hemorrhages. Defensive injuries are not present on the arms. The spine is completely intact, the intervertebral discs are clearly visible in the X-ray and without any recognizable pathological findings. Only the fifth lumbar vertebra on the left side shows a small adhesion with the sacrum , which, however, is also not classified as pathological. Numerous fractures of the ribs and collarbones as well as displacements in joints can be traced back to post-mortem due to the drying process of the body or to their treatment after the discovery. Likewise, the lower legs were only separated from the body after death.

The woman's teeth are fully developed, free of caries and, due to age, only slightly worn . With the exception of an incipient but still harmless abscess on a tooth in the right upper jaw, it shows no pathological findings. The missing teeth from both jaws in the front area were only lost after death. A computed tomographic examination of the mummy confirmed the good state of preservation of the lungs, heart, liver and intestines, even if these organs are also strongly shrunk and displaced. However, other organs such as the spleen and kidneys could no longer be identified. The muscle tissue of the heart and the rectum show significant thickenings, which, in connection with calcined food residues in the intestine, indicate an infection with Chagas disease as a result of an infestation with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi . It is a disease that is still widespread in South America today and leads to the lasting destruction of some muscle groups. The findings of Chagas disease could also be verified histologically on the intestinal tissue and also molecularly biologically by means of DNA analysis on the mummy.

Scientific findings

Chemical analyzes of the hair in a sample showed increased concentrations of kaolin (aluminum silicate) and hematite (iron (III) oxide) as well as iron , arsenic and antimony as components of the hematite. These metals most likely originate from a hair coloring with the earth pigment ocher , which was also observed on many other South American mummies. Compared to samples of recent hair, the hair of the mummy has greatly increased levels of copper , zinc , mercury and lead , which were carried into the hair through food intake during its lifetime. In addition, a second hair sample shows high concentrations of magnesium , aluminum , potassium , calcium , barium and strontium , which most likely came from the bombing of the war. The signatures of the carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of some hair samples indicate that the woman's diet during her lifetime consisted almost exclusively of marine animals and guano- fertilized C ₄ plants such as maize , such as those found in coastal regions of Chile or Peru . In the last two months of life, however, a clear change in their food composition is noticeable. The proportions of marine animals and C ₄ plants grown near the sea are almost completely disappearing in favor of C ₄ plants grown inland .

Dating

Initially, a date of death in the 15th or 16th century was assumed for the bog body from the Dachau Moos . A ¹⁴ C analysis of a sample from the injured trunk using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) carried out at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel in the 1970s revealed a death date between 1440 and 1630 AD. Another one at the University of Erlangen The ¹⁴ C analysis carried out resulted in a calibrated death date between 1451 and 1642.

interpretation

The noticeable reduction of marine animals in the diet before death observed by isotope analysis could be due to a move from a coastal region to the interior of the country. Equally possible, but less likely, is a complete change in the woman's eating habits without a spatial change. After the South American ancestry of the mummy became known, numerous assumptions were made about the possible affiliation to individual tribes. Due to the red coloration of their hair, the Chinchorro and Chiribaya tribes were adopted, known to dye the skin and hair of their mummies red with ocher. Based on the alpaca wool used for the hairstyle and the isotope and trace element analyzes, it was assumed that the woman might have lived and died in the area of ​​the Atacama Desert . Skull injury can be assumed to be the cause of death with almost absolute certainty. The extent and nature of the injuries suggest targeted killing by one or more other people. One can only speculate about the reasons for the killing. Missing defensive injuries to the arms speak more against an attack or fight . The very massive shattering of the skull by at least half a dozen to a dozen blows with a club-like object could indicate a ritual killing. What is certain, however, is that the woman received a funeral typical of her culture .

Whereabouts

Since, after the scientific processing, the origin of the mummy from Europe could be excluded and for this reason it no longer fit thematically into the collection spectrum of the State Archaeological Collection, it was decided not to exhibit it publicly in future. The spectacular results of scientific studies have been presented for the last time together in public with the mummy in a farewell exhibition from February 28 to August 31, 2014 in the State Archaeological Collections, after which the mummy was in the magazine incorporated the state collection. Consideration is given to returning the mummy to South America once its exact place of origin has been determined.

literature

• Rupert Gebhard (Ed.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachau moss . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 .
• Miriam Meyer: Chemical analysis methods to identify a South American mummy . Technical University of Munich, Munich 2008 ( PDF, 2.95 MB [accessed June 25, 2010] thesis).
• Reinhard Aigner , Oskar Hellerer: About the bog body of the anatomical institute Munich . In: Peter Schröter (Ed.): 75 Years of the State Anthropological Collection, Munich. 1902-1977. Anniversary of the foundation on August 2, 1902 . State Anthropological Collection, Munich 1977, p. 159-163 .

Web links

• Mummification process with electron beam cleared up. Technical University of Munich , March 31, 2008, accessed on December 7, 2011 (press release with a photo of the mummy). 
• Birgit Frank: The mystery of the dead from the moss. Münchner Merkur , March 23, 2005, accessed on December 7, 2011 (with partially outdated research status). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The mummy from the Inca period. State Archaeological Collection, February 27, 2014, accessed January 21, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Rupert Gebhard (Hrsg.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachau moss . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 , pp. 9-14, 26-31 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Reinhard Aigner , Oskar Hellerer: About the bog body of the anatomical institute Munich . In: Peter Schröter (Ed.): 75 Years of the State Anthropological Collection, Munich. 1902-1977. Anniversary of the foundation on August 2, 1902 . State Anthropological Collection, Munich 1977, p. 159-163 .
4. ↑ Rupert Gebhard (Ed.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachauer Moos . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 , pp. 25 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Rupert Gebhard (Hrsg.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachau moss . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 , pp. 65-70, 78-81 .
6. ↑ Rupert Gebhard (Ed.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachauer Moos . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 , pp. 68-69, 71-77 .
7. ↑ Rupert Gebhard (Ed.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachauer Moos . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 , pp. 45-53 .
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Rupert Gebhard (Hrsg.): The mummy from the Inca period: News from the bog body from the Dachau moss . Wißner, Augsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-89639-960-1 , pp. 61-64 .
9. ↑ Birgit Frank: The riddle about the dead from the moss. Münchner Merkur , March 23, 2005, accessed on December 7, 2011 (with partially outdated research status). 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Miriam Meyer: Chemical analysis methods for the identification of a South American mummy . Technical University of Munich, Munich 2008, p. 22 ( PDF, 2.95 MB [accessed June 25, 2010] thesis).