NOVA Online | Ice Mummies | Unquiet Mummies (2)

Unquiet Mummies
Part 2 (back to Part 1)

Knowledge at a Price
While opening fascinating windows into the past, such investigations of mummies—from the initial opening of a grave site to display of remains in a museum—often come at a price. It's a price that can leave one wondering whether it might have been better to have left the mummy in the ground.

Deteriorating flesh of Ice Maiden

For one thing, to study an artifact is often to destroy it. Soon after the Siberian Maiden was found, for example, her protective shroud of ancient ice melted away and she began to decay. Preserved intact for two millennia, she was now assaulted by airborne fungus and bacteria, dehydrated by low humidity, and struck by the first sunlight she'd seen in thousands of years. A vampire would fare better at such a rude daylight awakening. Within days it became apparent to the Russian archeologists who had discovered her that the mummy was degrading rapidly. They helicoptered her to Novosibirsk, but the unrefrigerated delay, including almost a week of transport, took its toll. Even in the freezer labs of Novosibirsk the mummy slept uncomfortably. Hardy fungus attacked air-exposed skin and began to damage it. Desperate to stop the decay of their prize, Russian scientists chose to inter her in the same kind of pickling vat that preserved the bodies of Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin.

Transporting the Ice Maiden

Decay can be far easier to control than the political or social controversy that can arise over a mummy. The Siberian Ice Maiden's tomb was excavated by Russian archaeologists, and its mummy and artifacts shipped to a Russian city. But when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics faltered, its former member-states, including the Republic of Altay where the mummy was found, rose up with demands for, among other things, restitution of stolen objects such as the Siberian Ice Maiden. This was a thorny issue. The mummy had been taken for the sake of science. But what are the criteria for scientific ownership? A better lab? A more outspoken archeologist? Scientific clout? The people of the Altay maintain a strong connection with their ancestors. How does science balance with the respect due a people's heritage? What about this intangible: the respect we all owe to the obvious solemnity with which the mummy's tribe laid her to rest?

Mummified child sacrifice

Similar kinds of questions hold sway whenever a mummy is unearthed. Decay and controversy attended the removal and study of the Iceman and Inca children as well. The more recent the remains, the more controversial they are likely to be. Witness the contentious debate in the United States over the bones of Native Americans, both those uncovered in archeological sites and those already housed in museums. Many people would argue that the dead, whether recent or thousands of years old, should be left to rest in peace, undisturbed. But others would argue just as strenuously against the loss of knowledge and understanding of the past that would result in leaving such sites alone—sites that artifact-seeking graverobbers might destroy anyway. One thing is clear: handling human remains is a tricky issue.

Jan Adkins is a writer, illustrator and designer who has produced more than 30 books and many magazine articles on history, science and how things work. He is a contributing editor for the Smithsonian/Cricket non-fiction children's magazine, Muse.

Peru Expedition '96 | Unquiet Mummies | Iceman's Last Meal
Reading the Remains | Resources | Teacher's Guide
Transcripts | Site Map | Ice Mummies Home