Salification Process of Human Body in the Chehrabad Salt Mine using XRF and Psychrometric Test

Abstract

Abstract:In the past years, several corpses that remained intact in the course of history were found in the Chehrabad salt mine of Zanjan Province, Iran and were made use to conduct several interdisciplinary studies to answer the questions of this paper. As we may know, archeological findings are always exposed to destruction. The rate of destruction depends variably on the organic or mineral substances and materials, as well as the environmental factors. In the environments with saline soils like the archeological site of Chehrabad, the destruction rate makes it necessary to adopt a new approach for the study of destruction and protection of the data. Therefore, the six samples of the rock salt taken from this site were analyzed by XRF method and psychrometric tests. The results show that the different saline compositions and environmental conditions are effective in the protection or destruction of organic or mineral components. In addition, we concluded that the high purity of rock salt at this site (more than 99.5%) and the very low moisture content of the environment were involved in the mummification of the buried corpses immediately after they were buried and thus prevented the activity of bacteria and other microorganisms that were the cause of decay.