Posted on 04/28/2012 7:44:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Around 2,900 years ago, an ancient Egyptian man, likely in his 20s, passed away after suffering from a rare, cancerlike disease that may also have left him with a type of diabetes.
When he died he was mummified, following the procedure of the time. The embalmers removed his brain (through the nose it appears), poured resin-like fluid into his head and pelvis, took out some of his organs and inserted four linen "packets" into his body. At some point the mummy was transferred to the 2,300 year-old sarcophagus of a woman named Kareset, an artifact that is now in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Croatia.
The mummy transfer may have been the work of 19th-century antiquity traders keen on selling Kareset's coffin but wanting to have a mummy inside to raise the price.
Until now, scientists had assumed a female mummy was inside the Egyptian coffin. The new research reveals not only that the body does not belong to Kareset, but the male mummy inside was sick. His body showed telltale signs that he suffered from Hand-Schuller-Christian disease, an enigmatic condition in which Langerhans cells, a type of immune cell found in the skin, multiply rapidly. [See Photos of the Sick Male Mummy]
"They tend to replace normal structure of the bone and all other soft tissues," Dr. Mislav Çavka, a medical doctor at the University of Zagreb who is one of the study's leaders, said in an interview with LiveScience. "We could say it is one sort of cancer."
Scientists still aren't sure what causes the disease, but it is very rare, affecting about one in 560,000 young adults, more often males. "In ancient times it was lethal, always," said Çavka, who added that today it can be treated.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Researchers examined a 2,900-year-old mummy using X-rays, CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. They found that he suffered from Hand-Schuller-Christian's disease, a very rare condition that left him with lesions in his skull and spine. A large hole on his frontal-parietal bone can be readily seen in this image. His brain appears to have been removed through his nose during the mummification process. [CREDIT: Dr. Mislav Çavka]
Incest was very prevalent amidst the Egyptians (and most other ancient peoples, except for the Jews). Brothers and sisters routinely married...with awful consequences.
|
|
|
|
| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
|
|
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
|
|
|
|
The dynasties which took that more seriously tended to crash and burn (the 18th for example); OTOH, the Ptolemaic (post-Alexander) dynasty inbred the sons and daughters for generation, and wound up with Cleopatra VII (the famous one). But OSAH the 19th (Ramses II “the Great” et al) was insurgent (they came from nowhere and just took over) and he had lots of different wives and hundreds of children, just to hedge his bets. Chances are that Ramses II has many millions of living descendants.
Boy-O-Boy!
Yeah, icky.
Quite true, now a days the remnants of these unions are relegated to the DNC and pro-liberal groups.
Just sayin!
OMG
That’s okay...I didn’t need to keep my breakfast....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
