New Research on Andean Mummies at the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Belgium

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Royal Museums of Art and History preserves seven complete or partial Andean mummies. Three are still surrounded by textiles in the form of funerary bundles. Four others lacked textile remains but were probably also held up by ties and fabric. For the museum and for Belgium, one of them is very important because he was made famous thanks to the depiction by the Tintin illustrator Hergé in two of his comic albums as Rascar Capac (The 7 Crystal Balls and The Temple of the Sun). Recent advances in medical imaging (CT- and micro-CT scan) permitted us to obtain high-quality imaging and 3D modeling. The research demonstrated that the mummies were the object of specific treatments. We note, in fact, the ablation of viscera but also the presence of postmortem sutures. The insect analyzes also gives us an indication of how long this process took.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38035.0