title: Shedding New Light on the 18th Dynasty Mummies of the Royal Architect Kha and His Spouse Merit.
abstract: The mummies of Kha and his wife Merit were found intact in an undisturbed tomb in western Thebes near the ancient workers' village of Deir el-Medina. Previous MDCT (this abbreviation needs spelling out) investigations showed that the bodies of Kha and Merit did not undergo classical royal 18th Dynasty artificial mummification, which included removal of the internal organs. It was, therefore, concluded that the retention of the viscera in the body, combined with an absence of canopic jars in the burial chamber, meant the couple underwent a short and shoddy funerary procedure, despite their relative wealth at death. Nevertheless, all internal organs - brain, ocular bulbs/ocular nerves, thoracic and abdominal organs - showed a very good state of preservation, which contradicts the previous interpretation above. In order to better understand the type of mummification used to embalm these bodies, both wrapped mummies were reinvestigated using new generation X-ray imaging and chemical microanalyses Here we provide evidence that both individuals underwent a relatively high quality of mummification, fundamentally contradicting previous understanding. Elucidated "recipes", whose components had anti-bacterial and anti-insecticidal properties, were used to treat their bodies. The time and effort undoubtedly employed to embalm both Kha and Merit and the use of imported costly resins, notably Pistacia, do not support the previously held view that the two individuals were poorly mummified. Despite a lack of evisceration, the approach clearly allowed their in situ preservation as well as affording a fairly successful mummification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences, Legal Medicine Section, Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Laboratoire d'Anthropologie bio-culturelle, Droit, Etique & Santé (Adés), Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bianucci
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Habicht
authors.affiliation: BioArCh, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.affiliation: BioArCh, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Joann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lena M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Öhrström
authors.affiliation: Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vassilika
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Böni
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Frank J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rühli
mesh_terms: D000076144:Egypt, Ancient; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009106:Mummies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000266:history*; D011859:Radiography