Two Quinnipiac professors are part of a research team that revealed its research findings Aug. 30 from a unique investigation of 22 mummies found in Guanajuato, Mexico.
The press conference was held at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford.
The research team includes Ronald Beckett and Jerry Conlogue, the co-directors of Quinnipiac's Bioanthropology Research Institute and former hosts of National Geographic's Mummy Road Show.
The third member of the team is Jerry Melbye, director of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University.
In May 2007 the three scientists were invited by the mayor of Guanajuato, Dr. Eduardo Romero Hicks, an American-trained medical doctor, to collect as much data as possible from 22 of the 59 mummies now on display at the Mueso de Las Momias. The first of these mummies was found in a mausoleum crypt in Guanajuato in 1896 and the last was removed in 1958.
There were 111 mummies found in this location. This collection represents one of the largest groups of natural mummies on display in the Western Hemisphere. The scientists researched each specimen in detail using the latest technological devices and forensic knowledge.
It is believed that the mummies involved died sometime between 1850 and 1950. The local legend is that these mummies were preserved as a result of the life-preserving sulfur and mineral-rich water of Guanajuato. Mayor Hicks will attend the press conference in person to answer any questions regarding the project, the museum in Guanajuato or these myths.
At the press conference three case studies were explained in more detail. One significant factor of this research study is the pure scope of the project. Thoroughly investigating 22 mummies in one assignment just hasn’t been done in previous studies.
All of the mummies examined were “common” folk, not royalty, who lived in this working-class silver- mining community. The results shed light on the health and lifestyles of a broad sector of people residing in this ancient village. A fetal mummy, a newborn boy, a man who supposedly hanged and a woman who was rumored to be buried alive were among the cases investigated.
Financial support for the research project was acquired from the government of Guanajuato, research grants from Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences and from the researchers themselves.