Ecology of knowledge: It's hard to believe, but it's simply impossible to imagine that, according to scientists, the recently found mummy of a Tibetan monk, which is already more than 200 years old, is still "alive". Scientists in Ulaanbaatar came across a 200-year-old mummy of a Tibetan
It's hard to believe, but it's simply impossible to imagine that, according to scientists, the recently found mummy of a Tibetan monk, which is already more than 200 years old, is still "alive".
Scientists in Ulaanbaatar came across a 200-year-old mummy of a Tibetan monk, which was discovered in the province of Songinokhairkhan.
The mummy is in a sitting position in the “lotus-vajra” position, that is, the palm of the left hand is open, and the right palm is turned down and clamped, symbolizing the sermon of the Sutra. According to the ancient traditions of Buddhist lamas, this state of a person indicates that the monk did not die, but is in a deep state of meditation, and the longer he stays in such an unusual oblivion, the closer he is to the Buddha.
In a detailed study of the mummy and after a number of different examinations, scientists made an unequivocal conclusion that the protein functions of the mummy's body have a vital state, and "the monk is still alive," he is simply in a very long and deep trance.
According to scientists led by Professor of the Mongolian Institute of Buddhist Art Genkhugiyun Purevbat, such a trance into which the monk entered is called “tukdam”, and the monk himself is the teacher of Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, who voluntarily sat in the same lotus position and read the posthumous prayer , died. This event took place on June 15, 1927.
Before sitting down and dying, Itigelov prepared himself mentally and physically for almost ten years, and bequeathed to his students to be buried intact in a sitting position. Then, after 30 years, they dug up and looked at it again, and finally it was returned only after 75 years. So everything was done by his disciples. A cedar box was built, in which a seated lama was placed and covered with ordinary rock salt, and then buried with full honors in the ground. After 30 years (in 1957) Itigelov was dug up again. Those present were amazed by what they saw - the monk, as if alive, was still sitting in the same position, only he was not breathing. They changed his robe, read the necessary prayers, and the improvised same sarcophagus with the monk was buried again, and was dug up again only in 2002.
In fact, the lama returned to our world, as he wanted after 75 years. The forensic medical examination of the city of Buryatia documented the fact that there is no natural decomposition of the body, even a putrid smell is absent. The soft tissues are elastic, the joints are flexible and have retained their mobility, there is no sign of any embalming or the application of any oils on the body. Even the lama's orange robe has not lost its strength and brightness of colors.
By the way, Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov (Pardito Khambo Lama XII) is a religious Buryat figure, and in 1911-1917 he was the head of the Buddhists of Siberia.
Until now, the lama sits on the podium, in his solemn lotus position, in the Ivolginsky Monastery specially built for him. His body can be said to be imperishable, for 88 years now it has been in the same state and has not been subjected to either decay or decomposition. Many believe that the llama is alive and could return to our world only if his body was dug up a little earlier. Or simply the revival of the lama does not occur because there are no longer alive those to whom he promised to return.
But be that as it may, in fact, we don’t really know this for sure, but with these examples of “living” mummies, we can accurately state the fact that the power of faith is simply omnipotent and immense, and in many ways, it’s not yet possible for a person to understand this, not explain.published
About the riddle of imperishability and about hidden resources human body we are talking with Galina Ershova, Dr. historical sciences, Professor of the Russian State University for the Humanities. By the way, it was thanks to her that science learned about the phenomenon of Itigelov. When, in 2002, Buryat lamas unearthed a wooden box containing the monk's perfectly preserved body, Yershova found funds and went to Ulan-Ude to sort things out and, if possible, conduct laboratory research.
Promise kept
Dmitry Pisarenko, AiF: Galina Gavrilovna, as far as I remember, in Buryatia you were given not so much biomaterial - sections of the nails of the deceased, pieces of skin and five hairs. Was that enough to make a splash?
Galina Ershova: Of course, I wanted more. But it was immediately clear that large-scale studies (for example, X-rays or MRI) could not be counted on: no one knew how Itigelov entered this state (and many Buddhists still consider him alive) and what could destroy him. But it's good that we managed to do at least something, thanks for that Khambo Lame Ayusheev, the current head of the Buryat Buddhists, who provided the biomaterial for research. Otherwise, now everyone would be saying: here, they put a mummy in order to fool the people. And so we can say with complete confidence: sorry, here are the results of the tests, from them it is clear that this is not a mummy.
- Then who?!
- It was assumed that if this is a mummy, then protein compounds, organic matter in the tissues will be destroyed. But it turned out that the protein component did not disintegrate, it had the characteristics of a living person. Professor Zvyagin, forensic expert with a worldwide reputation, who at one time studied the remains of members royal family, was amazed. And for me, the most striking thing was that on the peeled skin - on the arm and leg - drops of blood appeared, and of different color shades! The blood, however, was in a jelly-like state. But it certainly wasn't a mummy, mummies don't have any blood.
And in the samples taken, the concentration of bromine was exceeded tenfold. It is known that this element, contained in some plants, is able to suppress sensitivity and limit the flow of stimulating impulses from the outside. At the same time, it has almost no effect on the areas of the brain that control breathing and blood circulation.
Studies have shown that since 1927 Khambo Lama Itigelov, former head Buryat Buddhists, sat in a pose of meditation, having previously ordered to place himself underground, he remained alive. That is, he didn’t die, but went into some other state, similar to suspended animation, and stayed in it underground for 75 years! At the same time, he seems to have expected that after decades he would be removed from the sarcophagus and taken out of suspended animation.
Unfortunately, there are no exact instructions for 2002. During the Soviet era, there were persecutions of believers, including Buddhists. Monasteries were ravaged, documents were burned, monks were exiled or shot. Of those who saw Itigelov during their lifetime, by the beginning of the 21st century. there was only one person left.
- And how could Itigelov be brought out of suspended animation?
— Indian yogis have a similar practice. Hot dough or oil is placed on the head and shoulders of a person, warmed, massaged. After that, the mechanism of oxygen supply is turned on and the person comes out of suspended animation. But the output requires a lot of energy. And there is a limit beyond which it is impossible to withdraw a person.
- But now Itigelov can still be "revived"? Can he get up and go?
- No. He died. This happened shortly after his removal from the grave. He was then put in a glass box, and at some point the glass was covered with moisture from the inside. The Buryats said: "He is giving us some kind of sign." But any pathologist knows: when a person dies, there is a release of moisture from his body. This is a sure sign of death. When they say that the soul flies out of the body and it loses a few grams in weight, it means just the loss of weight due to the release of moisture. The same Zvyagin confirmed: at that moment it was all over, Itigelov died. And after that, his body began to turn into a mummy.
But notice, Itigelov kept his promise: he returned to us alive after 75 years, as he intended.
How a person puts himself into a state of suspended animation has yet to be studied. Photo: Reuters
It's all about fat
- What kind of state is this in which a person can be for decades without showing signs of life? What does science know about him?
- The state of anabiosis as a temporary cessation of life is well known to biologists. In nature, it is often found - every child knows that a bear hibernates in winter. And in a state of hypothermia (cooling), the body even increases resistance to many external influences. The cells of the cerebral cortex withstand a long absence of blood circulation and do not die, apparently, starting some kind of backup power. Say, it happens that they find a drowned man who drowned in the winter, and he suddenly comes to life.
The biologists who studied the state of anabiosis constructed a scheme for artificial entry into it: breathing training leads to an increase in the carbon dioxide content in the body and a decrease in body temperature. This stops the processes associated with decay and the activity of microorganisms. Thus, the incorruptibility of the body is ensured.
This mechanism is triggered, as a rule, under conditions of stress. And his work is provided by brown fat cells - it is located between the shoulder blades and along the spine. Previously, it was believed that brown fat is necessary for babies, it serves as a kind of heating pad for them, maintaining the desired temperature. But recent studies show that brown fats determine almost all processes in the body. And, perhaps, they include the backup mode of oxygen-free nutrition in which Itigelov was. And not only him, similar cases occurred in other countries. There were especially many of them in India.
Can any of us learn to enter into such a state?
- This mechanism was laid down in us by evolution as a protection against stress, danger. It was formed at a time when living organisms came out of the oceans onto land. In some people, this mechanism is able to turn on spontaneously (as in the same drowned people), in others it is not. However, you can train this skill in yourself. Of course, this is hard work, you need a lot of work on yourself. And if a person thinks only about how to eat delicious food and take a cool selfie, he is unlikely to have enough resources for this. And religious consciousness, prayer and meditation, apparently, help to achieve this state. They excite the deep regions of the brain that turn on this mechanism.
I have a dream: to conduct an experiment with the entry of a person into such a state and explore everything that happens to him. While everything is at the stage of ideas and conversations. But who knows, maybe sooner or later we will conduct this experiment? And then every person will learn to make his body incorruptible...
Who else turned himself into a mummy?
Thailand
Luang Pho Dang. Photo: flickr.com / Andrew Yang
Abbot of a Thai Buddhist monastery on the island of Koh Samui. Lived in the twentieth century. It is believed that he predicted the possible mummification of his body. At the age of 79, a week before his death, he stopped eating and talking, plunging into deep meditation. The only thing that decomposed after death were the eyes. For ethical reasons, they were covered with sunglasses.
Vu Khac Minh, Vietnam
Abbot of a Buddhist monastery, lived more than 300 years ago. By the end of his days, he plunged into fasting and meditation, allowing his students to come to him only when his prayer wheel stopped beating.
For a long time, his body was considered a sculpture, regularly covered with paint and varnish. But something rattled inside the sculpture, and the monks asked to take an X-ray of it. It turned out that the torn-off heart rattled! In addition, bones and many organs were preserved.
Italy
Holy Rose of Viterbo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Jose Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro
The girl died in 1251 and was buried in the ground. After 20 months, they decided to rebury her, opened the grave and found the body without signs of decomposition. As a result, Rose was recognized as a saint and placed in the monastery of Clarisse. After some time, the body was mummified and remains in this state to this day. Scientists believe that the girl could introduce herself into a state of suspended animation spontaneously.
Japan
Kukai. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Religious and public figure, lived in the VIII-IX centuries. He founded a school that combined elements of Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism and other religions. At the age of 61 he gave up food and water and plunged into meditation. On the 21st day, his breathing stopped. He was placed on top of Mount Koya-san, then buried. After some time, the grave was opened and Kukai was found in a state similar to a dream: the body had not changed, the hair looked healthy.
At the mention of mummies, the imagination draws a lot of standard images: the bodies of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt wrapped in cloth, the death mask of Tutankhamun, or the terrible mummy of the Andean child. In all these cases, the mummification process took place after death. But a sect of Buddhist monks in Japan was engaged in the transformation own bodies into a mummy while still alive, striving to become sokushinbutsu - "Buddhas in the flesh."
1. Why would anyone do this
On the one hand, self-mummification is terrifying, and it's hard to imagine that someone would like to do this. The first person who aspired to become a living mummy was Kukai, later known as Kobo Daishi. Kukai was a Buddhist priest who lived over 1000 years ago in Japan. During his lifetime, he founded the Buddhist school of Shingon ("true words"). Kukai and his followers were convinced that spiritual power and enlightenment could be achieved through self-denial and an ascetic lifestyle.
Shingon monks would often sit for hours under an icy waterfall, ignoring all inconvenience. Inspired by Chinese tantric practices, Kukai decided to take his ascetic lifestyle to the extreme. His goal was to transcend the limitations of the physical world and become sokushinbutsu. To achieve this goal, Kukai took certain measures that turned his body into a mummy while he was still alive.
2. First stage - 1000 days
The process of turning yourself into a mummy is long and exhausting. There are three stages, each lasting 1000 days, which eventually lead to the person becoming a mummy. During these roughly nine years, the monk is alive most of the time. After the monk decides to try to mummify himself, he begins the first stage. The monk completely changes his diet, eating nothing but nuts, seeds, fruits and berries.
This restricted diet is paired with a strict physical activity schedule. During the first 1000 days, fats quickly leave the body of a monk. It should also be noted that mummification requires minimal moisture, but human fat has a high water content, which causes more rapid decomposition after death.
Corpses with more body fat also retain heat for longer periods of time. Heat leads to improved reproduction of bacteria that promote decomposition. The monk's loss of fat is the first step in his fight against the decay of the body after death.
3. Next 1000 days
The next stage is characterized by an even more restricted diet. For the next 1000 days, the monk eats only the bark and roots in gradually decreasing amounts. Physical activity is replaced by long hours of meditation. As a result, the monk loses even more fat and muscle tissue. These efforts, during which the person becomes emaciated, ultimately result in the body not decomposing after death. One of the main factors that lead to the decomposition of the body are bacteria and insects.
After death, the bacteria in the body begin to destroy cells and organs. While these bacteria cause the body to decay from within, the soft and fatty tissues of a dead body are an ideal environment for flies and other insects to lay their eggs in. After the larvae hatch, they feed on rotting flesh mixed with fat. At the end of the process, all soft tissues disappear completely, leaving only bones and teeth. And the extreme diet of the monks leads to the fact that the insects have nothing to eat.
4. Strong vomiting
The second 1000 days of asceticism results in the monk's body becoming emaciated. When the amount of fat in the body is reduced to a minimum, constant meditation and almost complete lack of physical activity leads to the loss of muscle tissue. But this is not enough and the strict diet continues. During final stage upon becoming sokushinbutsu, the monk drinks tea made from the sap of the urushi or lacquer tree.
Typically, this juice is used as a furniture polish and is highly toxic. Drinking urushi tea quickly leads to severe vomiting, sweating and urination. This dehydrates the monk's body and creates ideal conditions for mummification. In addition, the poison from the urushi tree builds up in the monk's body, killing larvae and insects that may try to take up residence in the body after death.
5. Buried alive
After 2000 days of agonizing fasting, meditation and poisoning, the monk is ready to leave this plane of existence. The second stage of sokushinbutsu ends with the monk climbing into the stone tomb. It is so small that he can hardly sit in it, stand, or even just turn around, the monk cannot. After the monk takes the lotus position, his assistants close this grave, literally burying him alive.
Only a small bamboo tube, through which air enters, connects the grave with the outside world. Every day the monk rings the bell to let his assistants know that he is still alive. When the assistants no longer hear the sound of the bell, they pull the bamboo tube out of the coffin and seal it completely, leaving the monk in the room that becomes his grave.
6. Last 1000 days
The sealed grave is left alone, and the body inside it turns into a mummy. The low content of fat and muscle tissue prevents the body from rotting. This is aggravated by dehydration of the body and a high amount of urushi poison. The monk's body dries up and slowly mummifies. After 1000 days, the grave is opened, and the mummified monk is removed from it. His remains are returned to the temple and are worshiped as sokushinbutsu or living Buddha. The monk's mummy is looked after and her clothes are changed every few years.
7. There is a high chance of failure
Ever since Kukai led the process of self-mummification 1,000 years ago, hundreds of monks are thought to have attempted to become living mummies. But about two dozen successful examples remained in history. Becoming a Buddha in the flesh is very difficult. For more than five years, a person who aspires to become sokushinbutsu eats almost nothing, has no physical activity and he meditates for long hours every day.
Few people have the self-control and willpower to voluntarily undergo such suffering for 2,000 days. Many monks gave up this activity halfway through. And even if they did successfully cope with the ascetic lifestyle, there is still a high probability that their bodies did not turn into mummies after death.
The humid climate and high salt content in the soil of Japan are poor conditions for mummification. Despite their best efforts, the monk's body can decompose inside his tomb. In this case, the monk will not be considered a living Buddha, and his remains will simply be reburied. However, he will be highly respected for his endurance.
8. Breaking laws
Self-mummification was practiced in Japan from the 11th century to the 19th century. In 1877 Emperor Meiji decided to put an end to this form of suicide. Was published new law, which forbade opening the graves of those who tried to become sokushinbutsu. As far as is known, the last sokushinbutsu was Tetsuryukai, who was sealed in his tomb in 1878. After the last 1000 days were over, his followers had problems: they wanted to open the grave and see if Tetsuryukai turned into a sokushinbutsu, but no one wanted to go to prison.
After making their way into the grave, they found that Tetsuryukai had turned into a mummy. In order to place the body of their new Buddha in the temple but avoid prosecution, Tetsuryukai's followers changed his date of death to 1862, when the law was not yet in place. The mummy of Tetsuryukai can still be seen today in the Nangaku temple.
9. Natural self-mummification
Although many monks tried to become sokushinbutsu after Kukai, only two dozen people succeeded in doing so. Some of these mummified monks can be seen in Buddhist temples in Japan and are revered by Buddhists to this day. The most famous sokushinbutsu is probably the monk Shinnyokai-Shonin, the remains of which can be found at Dainichi-Bu Temple on Mount Judono. The Shinnyokai began dreaming of becoming a sokushinbutsu at the age of 20 and even then restricted his diet. But his dream did not come true until 1784, when the monk was 96 years old. At that time, famine raged in Honshu, hundreds of thousands of people died from hunger and disease.
The Shinnyokai was convinced that the Buddha needed a sign of compassion to end the famine. He dug a grave on a hill near the temple and self-isolated inside, bringing out only a thin bamboo tube to breathe. Three years later, the grave was opened and the fully mummified remains of the monk were found in it. Whether this was related to the Shinnyokai is not known, but the famine ended in 1787.
10 The Last Buddhist Mummy
In January 2015, another sokushinbutsu was found. This time, the mummified monk was from Mongolia. He was discovered by the police when the mummy was put on the black market for sale. The monk's remains were confiscated and taken to the National Forensic Center in Ulaanbaatar. Like his Japanese counterparts, the Mongolian monk sits in the lotus position. He still looks like he was in deep meditation and did not notice when he died. In fact, some Buddhists believe that the monk did not die at all, but is in a meditative state on his path to becoming a Buddha. However, scientists are convinced that the monk has been dead for 200 years.
When a person goes to another world, it is customary to bury his body. But sometimes, for various reasons, people want to save the deceased for a longer memory and not at all in the pictures ...
You will not believe it, but we found 18 dead people, whose bodies are still carefully kept among the living!
1. Vladimir Lenin (1870 - 1924, Russia)
The father of Russian communism and the first leader of the USSR died almost 100 years ago, but his body looks like Vladimir Ilyich fell asleep and is about to wake up!
Back in 1924, the government decided to save the deceased leader for future generations. To do this, they even had to invent a complex process of embalming! At the moment, Lenin's body does not have any insides (they have been replaced with special humidifiers and pumping system, which maintains internal temperature and fluid intake), and requires constant injections and baths.
It is known that during the existence Soviet Union the costumes of the dead leader were changed once a year, but after the fall of the communist nation, the leader stopped being fashionable and now “changes” clothes every 5 years!
2. Eva "Evita" Peron (1919 - 1952, Argentina)
“Do not cry for me, Argentina,” Madonna Evita sang, playing the role of the main and beloved woman of the entire Argentine people - Evita Peron in the film of the same name.
No, then in 1952, the country did not want to put up with the death of the wife of President Juan Peron. And even more, Eva Peron, who died of cancer, was so skillfully embalmed that the result was later even called the “art of death”!
But indeed, there was even more life in the dead body ... You won’t believe it, but the very process of preserving the deceased took almost a year for specialists. It is known that after the arrival of the new government, Evita's body was stolen and hidden in Italy, where the caretaker fell in love with him and could not curb his sexual fantasies!
3. Rosalia Lombardo (1918 - 1920, Italy)
Deep in the catacombs of the Capuchin monks in Sicily, inside a small glass box lies the body of little Rosalia Lombardo. When the girl died of pneumonia in 1920, her father, General Lombardo, could not cope with the loss. He sought out the embalmer Alfredo Salafia, and was ready to give all the money so that only the body of his daughter could be saved. And thanks to a mixture of chemical substances, including formalin, zinc salts, alcohol, salicylic acid and glycerin, a phenomenal result was achieved! After a while, the body was given the name "Sleeping Beauty" and there was even a buyer who bought it!
Look at the innocence on Rosalia's face. And today this mummy is not only the best preserved in the world, but also the most visited in the catacombs.
Well, this x-ray of Rosalia shows that her brain and internal organs are not damaged, although they have decreased over time.
4. Lady Xin Zhui (died 163 BC, China)
The name of the deceased was Xin Zhui, and she was the wife of the imperial governor of Changsha, Marquis Dai, during the Han Dynasty.
Perhaps the name of the woman would have sunk into oblivion if she had not been mummified after death. The body of a Chinese woman was fantastically preserved 2100 years after her death, and today scientists are racking their brains over the mystery of the mummy, better known as “Lady Dai”.
Believe it or not, Xin Zhui's skin is still soft, her arms and legs can bend, her internal organs remain intact, and there is still blood in her veins. Somehow, the mummy even had eyelashes and hair... Today, it has been established for sure that during her lifetime, Xin Zhui was overweight, she suffered from lower back pain, clogged arteries and heart disease.
5. "Virgo" or 500-year-old mummy girl
And you definitely haven’t forgotten this 15-year-old one, which has lain in the ice for almost 500 years!
6. Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov (1852-1927, Russia)
If you still don’t believe in miracles, then it’s time to visit Buryatia and look at the imperishable body of the head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia, the monk Dashi-Dorzhi Titgelov, who sits in the lotus position.
But, the most amazing thing, the body is in the open air, and not only does not decompose, but also exudes a fragrance!
7. Man from Tollund (390 BC - 350 BC, Denmark)
Another one amazing find"living" dead man - the body of a man who has lain in the peat bogs of Tollund (Denmark) since the 4th century BC!
Found the "man from Tollund" in 1950. Then the archaeologists found that the deceased was most likely hanged - he had a swollen tongue, and in the stomach was a portion of eaten vegetables and seeds!
Alas, time and the swamp preserved the body, but people could not - today only the head, legs and thumb of the hand remained intact from the find.
8. Tattooed Princess Ukok (lived around the 5th century AD in Siberia)
Another creepy greeting from the past is the Altai Princess Ukok.
They found the mummy lying on its side with legs pulled up.
The princess had numerous tattoos on her arms! But the find was dressed even more interesting - in a white silk shirt, a burgundy woolen skirt, felt socks and a fur coat. The complex hairstyle of the deceased is also unique - it was made of wool, felt and her own hair and was 90 cm high. The princess died at a young age (about 25 years old) from breast cancer (during the study, a breast tumor and metastases were found) .
9. Imperishable Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879, France)
The miller's daughter Maria Bernadette was born in Lourdes in 1844.
It is known that in her short life (the girl lived for 35 years and died of tuberculosis), the Virgin Mary (a white lady) appeared to her 17 times, during which she indicated where to find a source of healing water and where to build a temple.
After the death and burial of Bernadette Soubirous was canonized, in connection with which, the body had to be exhumed and embalmed. Since then, it has been buried and exhumed two more times, after which it was finally moved to a golden reliquary in the chapel and covered with wax.
10. John Torrington (1825 - 1846, Great Britain)
Sometimes nature can preserve the body much better than the embalmers. Here's how, for example - the body of John Torrington, senior officer of the legendary Franklin expedition to the Arctic Circle. The researcher died of lead poisoning at the age of 22 and was buried in the tundra along with three others at a campsite. In the 1980s, Torring's grave was exhumed by scientists in order to find out the reason for the failure of the expedition.
When the coffins were opened and the ice thawed, archaeologists were amazed and frightened by what they saw - John Torrington was literally looking at them!
11. Beauty Xiaohe (Lived 3800 years ago, China)
In 2003, during the excavations of the ancient cemetery of Xiaohe Mudi, archaeologists discovered a well-preserved mummy, named after the location - Beauty Xiaohe.
You won’t believe it, but this beauty in a felt hat, for 4 thousand years of being underground in a coffin-boat with bags of herbs, turned out to have intact skin, hair and even eyelashes!
12. Churchman (died c. 1000 BC, China)
In 1978, a mummified “Cherchen man” dated to 1000 BC was found in the Takla Makan desert. e. The Cherchen was 2 m tall, fair-skinned, blond, dressed in clothes made of European wool. He died at the age of 50.
The discovery of this mummy forced historians to rethink everything they knew about the interaction of Eastern and Western civilizations!
13. George Mallory (1886-1924, UK)
In 1924, climber George Mallory and his partner Andrew Irwin could be the first to reach the summit of Everest, but, alas ... For 75 years, the fate of the dead climbers remained a mystery, and in 1999, the NOVA-BBC expedition managed to discover the well-preserved body of J. Mallory in wind-torn clothes!
The researchers found that the two climbers were tied together, but Irwin slipped and fell.
14. Ramesses II the Great (1303 BC - 1213 BC, Egypt)
The mummy of one of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Ramses II the Great, is one of the most unique finds of our time. For more than 100 years, scientists have been waging a fierce skirmish, finding out the cause of death of a person of this magnitude. And the answer was found after computed tomography. It turned out that a penetrating cut (7 cm) was found on the pharaoh's throat up to the very spine, which affected not only the blood vessels, but also the trachea with the esophagus!
15. Wet mummy (lived 700 years ago, China)
In 2011, construction workers were digging foundations for a new road when they unearthed the mummy of a woman from 700 years ago during the Ming Dynasty.
Thanks to the damp earth, the woman's body was remarkably preserved. Moreover, her skin, eyebrows and hair are not damaged!
But the most impressive are the jewels found on the "wet mummy" - a silver hairpin on her hair, a jade ring on her finger and a silver medallion for exorcism.
16. Otzi or ice man from Tyrol (3300 BC -3255 BC, Italy)
Ötzi Iceman (Otzi Iceman) is the finest surviving natural human mummy from around 3300 BC (53 centuries ago). The find was found in September 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabhoch, on the border between Austria and Italy.
It got its name from the place where it was discovered. Scientists have found that the cause of death of the Iceman was most likely a blow to the head. Today, his body and belongings are on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology in Bolzano, northern Italy.
17. Man from Groboll (late 3rd century BC, Denmark)
In the middle of the 20th century, several perfectly preserved bodies were discovered in a peat bog in Denmark. The most attractive of them, so to speak, was "the man from Groboll." Believe it or not, he still had fingernails on his hands and hair on his head!
Radiocarbon dating of his intact (!) liver showed that he lived more than 2000 years ago, and died when he was about 30 years old, probably from a deep neck cut.
18. Tutankhamen (1341 BC - 1323 BC, Egypt)
Remember, quite recently we remembered, and finally found out what Tutankhamun was like during his lifetime.
Today, the discovery of the pharaoh's mummy can be considered the most unique find of mankind - well, at least remember that the ancient robbers did not plunder the tomb of Tutankhamun and, in addition, all subsequent hoaxes associated with "curses" after the opening of the tomb by G. Carter.
Only alas, it is worth recognizing that of all the surviving "living" dead, Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not in the most "pretty" form.
Behind idealized images of kings and eloquent descriptions of their divine exploits, living people were hiding - sick, aging and mortal (statue of Hatshepsut in the form of a sphinx)
Recently I watched a program about how Zahi Hawass, at that time the head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, was looking for the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut. I must say, on the screen, the enthusiasm of the temperamental Egyptian scientist often looks premature, and sometimes not even entirely justified, and not all conclusions are unequivocally perceived as 100% convincing, the criticism of his numerous opponents is generally understandable to me. And in general, as I understand it, there were a lot of dances with tambourines around Egyptology at all times, but the program still seemed quite interesting to me.
Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut
The queen's illness helped to identify the previously unnamed mummy, which quickly brought her to the grave - in one of the canopic canopies (organ storage vessel) signed with the name of the queen, a tooth was found, which, apparently, was pulled out shortly before her death, because the queen suffered from a dental abscess. The tooth exactly "came up" to the jaw of the "anonymous" mummy, and so Hatshepsut was identified after a long search. Later, kinship with other representatives of the 18th dynasty was confirmed, or rather, coincided mitochondrial DNA the queen's grandmother and Hatshepsut herself.
The figure of the court dwarf Seneb with his wife and children (5th-6th dynasty, Cairo Museum).
This man was a funeral priest and suffered from achondroplasia - a disease when the growth zones of tubular bones close prematurely and the proportions of the body are severely disturbed.
This is how the intimate secret of the ruler of Egypt was revealed - she had a bad dentist. The mummy's teeth were in a deplorable state. However, like the entire bone skeleton, the bones turned out to be very softened, however, I did not understand from the transmission how the researchers determined that this change in bone tissue was intravital. Periodontal abscess brought the queen long exhausting torment; most likely, it was hard for her to eat, the queen was tormented by severe pain. The court doctors eventually pulled out the tooth, but it was too late - the infection spread throughout the body, and the queen died at the age of about 50 years.
Also, by scanning the mummy, it was possible to determine that the queen suffered from a rather large tumor in abdominal cavity and had excess weight(and in general was a large woman, but with a beautiful chiseled face with noble features). The focus of the tumor was located in the liver, metastases spread to the bones. It is possible that for an organism tormented by an oncological disease (and also diabetes), a tooth infection was the last straw. And the queen’s life itself at that moment, I must say, lost its meaning for her - her only daughter, young Nefrura, died, her parents and husband, her beloved friend, adviser and most close person, the architect Semnut also died - all the relatives were already in the Kingdom of the Dead.
An ancient papyrus depicts chiropractors - surgeons who correct dislocations and treat fractures.
The researchers also found that, among other things, Hatshepsut had a genetically determined skin disease that her entire family suffered from - something like eczema or psoriasis, which caused her skin to be covered with unsightly itchy plaques. Her father, husband-brother and some other relatives suffered from the same disease.
There is one interesting version of the origin of the tumor in the womb of the queen - scientists from the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn discovered dangerous carcinogens - creosote and benzapyrene in the medicine for the queen's skin. This was discovered after examining a bottle with an ointment or lotion (it was clearly not a perfume - the substance emitted a very nasty smell, and it had a very specific composition), the drug also contained various oils and was designed to relieve inflammation and reduce itching. Apparently, the unfortunate queen, suffering from itching and rubbing a salutary remedy, did not realize that she was slowly poisoning herself.
Hatshepsut's death vial (photo by AP Photo / DAPD, Sascha Schuermann).
It became interesting to me: after all, over the past 20 years, modern research science has acquired a very effective methods- several scanning techniques, scintigraphy, the most accurate chemical, genetic and DNA analysis, and modern microscopes will soon look at bosons. All this should be used to study mummies, and not only such famous ones as Hatshepsut. It became interesting, and what diseases did the ancient Egyptians suffer from in general. I rummaged through the book and the Internet, it turned out that in pathopaleology modern science very successful for last years.
Relatively recently, the mummy of another famous ruler, Tutankhamen, was carefully examined, however, he is famous not so much for his deeds, since he died at only 19 years old, but for his luxurious, not looted burial.
In this 18th Dynasty stele, we see a polio victim, a man with a deformed foot, leaning on a crutch.
Traditionally, it was believed that he died from a complication of a wound, possibly received while hunting, but it turned out that everything is much more prosaic - the king was killed by tropical malaria, a disease that is very common in the swampy area around the Nile. The DNA of the malarial plasmodium was isolated from the tissues of the mummy.
It must be said that the young king was unlikely to last long in any case, his health was clearly not heroic. And while hunting, he definitely did not jump briskly from bump to bump, since he could hardly move without crutches. His parents were brother and sister, Ancient Egypt was a completely normal practice due to the peculiarities of succession to the throne, so the king had a whole bunch of genetic defects. He was found to have a cleft palate ("cleft palate"), Kohler's disease, which led to a severe deformity of the foot, and on the other foot, a congenital absence of several fingers was noted.
Reconstruction of the appearance of Tutankhamen (here all the fingers are in place)
In the burial of King Tut, the mummies of two stillborn babies, apparently his children, were found; they also had congenital anomalies, such as spinal clefts and deformities of the skull, as in hydrocephalus.
The first serious researcher of Egyptian mummies for causes of death and intravital diseases was the American pathologist Michael Zimmerman (no, not the one who shot the black teenager). He began his research back in 1993, without sophisticated methods. At first, research was hampered by the fact that the tissues of the mummies were too dry and stiff to study their cellular composition. Later, samples taken from mummies were soaked in a solution based on alcohol and soda.
The ancient Egyptians practiced male circumcision. In a hot climate, in clubs of desert dust, this was necessary. Adults are cut off in the picture - slaves from barbarian tribes, apparently. The Egyptians themselves "passed" circumcision in early childhood.
Zimmerman had to face many difficulties (even with fake "mummies"), but he managed to make a number of interesting discoveries.
His first “patient”, as it turned out, died of pneumonia caused by Klebsiels - this is now a frequent causative agent of respiratory tract infections, normally quietly coexisting with the human body, and when the body is weakened or hypothermic, it becomes pathogenic. Apparently, the poor fellow, whose mummy was examined by an American, was just out of luck.
For a long time it was believed that the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, the husband of Nefertiti, suffered from a rare genetic disease - Marfan's syndrome. Such patients have long ugly limbs, a wide pelvis, an elongated face with "dog" eyes. Studies of the mummies of close relatives (the mummy of the heretic himself was not found) showed that many relatives were similar to Akhenaten in appearance, but they did not find any signs of Marfan. So the pharaoh was just a freak, had a specific appearance, romantically played up by artists and sculptors.
Zimmerman also encountered the first found dead man who died of tuberculosis - it was a 6-year-old child who died 1300 years ago (although later on the territory of present-day Israel they found even more ancient "tuberculosis patients" - a mother and a baby, whose remains are more than 9000 years old) .
In general, tuberculosis was a real scourge of Egypt. After all, the settlements of the Egyptians were crowded, the families were quite large, and the dwellings were cramped. Mortality from this disease was high among both children and adults. Both bovine and human Mycobacterium tuberculosis are found, scientists suggest that the pathogen appeared thousands of years ago due to a mutation of the causative agent of infection in cattle. Remains with traces of the most different forms tuberculosis, not only pulmonary. Bone tuberculosis was quite common.
Egyptian women, as you can see, gave birth to children, squatting.
Zimmerman concluded that the low incidence of cancer among the Egyptians confirms that cancer is a disease of modern civilization, caused by overeating and smoking.
Egyptian surgical instruments(from here)
His opponents believe that, perhaps, “detectableness” suffers during the study of mummies - after all, there was cancer, only after thousands of years it is difficult to detect. They also consider it possible that the short average life expectancy of the Egyptians simply did not allow them to live to an age when the incidence of cancer is increasing.
Zimmerman objects that he came across the mummies of 90-year-olds, and his “subjects” often had metabolic diseases of the elderly - diabetes, atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis. The very wide distribution of atherosclerosis is surprising - this was also noted by other researchers. Perhaps this was due to some peculiarities of nutrition, for example, it is known that the Egyptians consumed beer in large quantities (and maybe they also had fast foods?) Or with genetics, because the Egyptians had closely related marriages in the order of things.
The ancient Egyptian prosthesis of the big toe is not for beauty, for burial: the deceased must have had all the necessary parts of the body.
More recently, 52 mummies from the Cairo Museum were examined, another cancer was found - a tumor of the prostate in an elderly man, and Zimmerman's observation was confirmed - atherosclerosis was found in more than a third.
An interesting discovery was also associated with ancient Egyptian dentistry. Not only Hatshepsut suffered from dental problems. Most of the remains examined had very poor teeth. Firstly, severe dental infectious complications were very common - abscesses, periodontal disease and caries, almost every mummy lacks several teeth.
Secondly, there is a strong abrasion of the chewing surfaces of the teeth. There is a hypothesis that this is due to the peculiarities of the flour-grinding industry of that time: in the bread used by the Egyptians, there was a large percentage of dusty sand, which quickly “erased” the teeth. But the inhabitants of the banks of the Nile had almost no problems with the dentition and bite, the Egyptians had strong, well-developed jaws, probably due to the use of hard rough food. Traces of the work of ancient dentists have also been found - sometimes artificial teeth made of bone, fastened with gold wire, are found in burials.
Queen Punta Ati, met by the envoys of Queen Hatshepsut, was clearly suffering from severe obesity or even elephantiasis, which made a strong impression on the Egyptians. Excessive fullness in Egypt was clearly not held in high esteem ...
Interestingly, at least one more ruler, Ramses II, probably died from a dental abscess. His mummy is also well studied. He, like many others, has atherosclerosis, as well as many traces of battle wounds and old fractures, and also age-related arthritis. And it also turned out that in his youth the pharaoh was red-haired! At first, scientists did not attach any importance to the red color of the rare remaining hair of the mummy - the hair of the dead was often dyed with henna, but during the study it turned out that this was also the natural pigment.
There were jaw abscesses in other pharaohs (Psusenes the First, for example; he died very old, when he was already all twisted from arthritis).
... Although the Egyptians themselves were far from all obsessed with diets! (statue of the village head Kaaper, 25th century BC, wood (!!!)).
A mummified body of a one-year-old child was found, who apparently died of scurvy - it would seem, how was a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C allowed?! They have a lot of lemons there! Perhaps the baby "got" the disease from a mother who suffered from scurvy, and she did not have enough the right vitamin in breast milk.
In general, a whole medical encyclopedia! In the studied remains, diseases were sometimes diagnosed and quite rare - the Hand-Schuller-Christian syndrome, for example, (such a congenital lipid metabolism disorder, when a person develops foci of softening of the bones of the skull). Osteomyelitis was often found - after all, there were no antibiotics, and any complicated bone fracture could end in failure.
Brewery.
The Egyptians drank beer almost instead of water. Whether from here such wide circulation of an atherosclerosis?
Here we should mention the most interesting document - "Smith's Papyrus". This is a real textbook of military field surgery of the 16th century BC with a fairly accurate description of 48 types of injuries and methods for managing them.
For example:
“The fifth case.
Title: Instructions concerning a gaping wound in the head, with a broken skull. Examination: If you examine a man who has a gaping wound in his head, penetrating to the bone, (and) with a split skull; you have to feel the wound. It is advisable to find what broke the skull, if parts of it are in the depth of the wound (and); extract the fragments floating under your fingers. At that time, there may be a swelling over the wound, blood may flow from both nostrils (and) and both ears, (and) the person suffers from a feeling of stiffness in his neck, so that he is unable to look at both his shoulders and chest (in modern neurology this is called “neck stiffness”).
Diagnosis: You should say about him: "It is a gaping wound in the head, penetrating to the bones, (and) a broken skull, with stiffness in the neck, not associated with another ailment."
Treatment: do not bind too tightly, but connect and fix the fragments, for the whole time until the wound is healed.
Can you imagine? Just!
Surprisingly, the wounds are described in great detail, and the recommendations in most cases are given sensibly! And no magic, which one might well expect to find in an Egyptian manuscript, because the Egyptians were literally obsessed with it!
Magic was used in one case - with the plague, in the face of the Black Death, the ancient doctors were powerless.
Due to the constant dust, the Egyptians most likely suffered from eye diseases. Pretty arrows in front of the pharaohs and their wives - it's not just cosmetic product. The Egyptians applied a thick layer of paste based on grated malachite to the upper eyelid. She just protected from dust.
An ancient ophthalmologist (and maybe a cosmetologist)
I think that scorpions bit them, and snakes - it was not in vain that they asked for protection from the god Horus. And the crocodiles of course ate them, and all sorts of large cats gnawed. Injuries were common, and military ones especially.
In the graves of builders, skeletons are found with strong growths of bone tissue in the lumbar region - due to the carrying of weights, but all these diseases were characteristic of other peoples, and in other times.
So the Egyptians died, mainly because of heart attacks and strokes as a result of atherosclerosis, and also because of infections - malaria, schistosomiasis and tuberculosis. Well, or violent death.
And you live long and do not get sick!
