Endoscopic investigation of the internal organs of a 15th‐century child mummy from Yangju, Korea

Abstract

Our previous reports on medieval mummies in Korea have provided information on their preservation status.Because invasive techniques cannot easily be applied when investigating such mummies, the need for non-invasive techniques incurring minimal damage has increased among researchers. Therefore, we wished to confirm whether endoscopy, which has been used in non-invasive and minimally invasive studies of mummies around the world, is an effective tool for study of Korean mummies as well. In conducting an endoscopic investigation on a 15th-century child mummy, we found that well-preserved internal organs remained within the thoracic, abdominal and cranial cavities. The internal organs -including the brain, spinal cord, lung, muscles, liver, heart, intestine, diaphragm and mesentery -were easily investigated by endoscopy. Even the stool of the mummy, which accidentally leaked into the abdominal cavity during an endoscopic biopsy, was clearly observed. In addition, unusual nodules were found on the surface of the intestines and liver. Our current study therefore showed that endoscopic observation could provide an invaluable tool for the palaeo-pathological study of Korean mummies. This technique will continue to be used in the study of medieval mummy cases in the future.

Human mummified brain from a medieval tomb with lime‐soil mixture barrier of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea

“…As indicated in our previous studies (Shin et al, 2003a,b;Chang et al, 2006a,b;Kim et al, 2006), Korean mummies have been found only in medieval tombs constructed during the Joseon dynasty . Because such tombs were made of a wooden coffin(s) sealed with a lime-soil mixture barrier (LSMB), they were given the descriptive term Hoegwakmyo in Korean (Supplementary Data 1).…”

Palaeomicrobiology of Tuberculosis

“…Other coinfections can also bring this about, and there is limited evidence in the archaeological record of individuals infected with both MTB and Mycobacterium leprae , or Leishmania . The liver from a Korean 'wet' mummy (Kim et al 2006) has been diagnosed with DNA from both MTB and hepatitis B virus (Donoghue et al 2007). …”

Possible rheumatoid arthritis found in the human skeleton collected from the tomb of Joseon Dynasty, Korea, dating back to the 1700s AD

“…Indeed, LSMB tombs, unlike any Korean burial system of the same period, provide superbly preserved human and cultural remains. We have been building a collection of those Joseon Dynasty human remains, from which we have begun to acquire invaluable information on the physical and pathological states of people who lived several hundred years ago (Shin et al, 2003a,b;Chang et al, 2006;Kim et al, 2006;Lee et al, 2007;Seo et al, 2007Seo et al, , 2008Chang et al, 2008;Han et al, 2009;Shin et al, 2009).…”