Human mummies

About this book

This volume comprises the proceedings of the International Mummy Symposium held in Innsbruck, Austria, on 15-17 September 1993. The variety of the reports is considerable, ranging from the 10,000 year old mummies of the Andes and the corpses found in various fens and bogs to less well known finds from central China. In the context of the Tyrolean Iceman, the permafrost corpses of the Arctic region are highly meaningful, of course, especially with regard to the comparability of the natural processes of mummification. In addition to providing a thorough overview of the various mummies found worldwide, the International Mummy Symposium focused especially on aspects of conservation and the preservation of soft parts. As far as visualisation techniques are concerned, the emphasis is on non-invasive methods such as computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The book closes with a separate section devoted to the progress made to date in researching the Tyrolean Iceman. In keeping with the topic of Symposium, the research results relate to the natural processes of conservation in this five-thousand year old glacial mummy from the Austrian Alps.