Radiological evaluation of ancient Egyptian mummies in Italian museums

Paleopathology and paleoradiology both provide a wealth of relevant data about the health status of ancient populations and give insights concerning the body conservation techniques adopted (mummification). Many mummified human remains from ancient Egypt are stored in Italy. During the first half of the 19th century, the work of Italian art collectors, antique dealers and merchants but, above all, Consuls, gave rise to a wide collection and import of ancient human remains. These remains enriched private and public collections and, consequently, Italian museums. The majority of the findings, which are the object of our study, comes from the vast collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. The first of these mummies was already in Florence in the XVI century at the "Fonderia" of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and was sent to the Specola in 1775. The important group grew thanks mainly to the collection of Egyptian antiquities belonging to Giuseppe Nizzoli (Chancellor of the Austrian Consulate in Egypt) bought by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopoldo II in 1824 and the Jean-François Champollion and Ippolito Rosellini (from Pisa, the father of Italian Egyptology) discoveries and acquisitions in 1828-29 coming from the famous Franco-Tuscan Expedition to Egypt. This was further enriched by the archaeological findings of the two expeditions to Egypt done by Ernesto Schiaparelli (1884-85 and 1892-93), director of the Egyptian Museum of Florence from 1880 to 1894. Since the year 2000 the University of Pisa carried out a project, whose aim was to catalogue and examine these findings from a radiological point of view in order to support the paleopathological evaluation. Thirty-three complete mummies and thirteen body parts were surveyed and then submitted to complete radiological examination. CT was possible in a case, two other mummies were investigated through endoscopy and in one case histology was also carried out. Sex and age at death were determined for each specimen; embalming techniques, pathological conditions and post-mortem events were observed. X-rays also provide interesting egyptological data and paleopathological information. Following the example of studies performed on collections of Egyptian mummies in other countries, this work tries to reduce many gaps in the knowledge of Egyptian mummified human material preserved in Italy.