November 23, 1922. Alerted by a telegraph from Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon arrives in Luxor, Egypt. The rich patron comes to attend the opening of a tomb discovered at the beginning of the month by the expedition he finances. British archaeologists are making slow progress, but the name on the seal next to the door gives information on the occupant of the mausoleum: Tutankhamun. At the time, the mummy of the young deceased was undone, opened, and the body was autopsied.
«We wouldn’t do the same todayrecognizes Philippe Charlier, forensic anthropologist and director of research at the Musée du Quai-Branly. There has been an evolution in mentalities and techniques, and we no longer unband these patients of the past.» Scanners and other tools make it possible to analyze the mummies, to know the details of their death, without opening them. “This was done recently for the mummy of Amenhotep Iisthe only one never to have been strippedcontinues the specialist. We obtained all the information that we would have had by opening it, and even more. These examinations advance science without altering the body, which allows other future research, and without desacralizing the human.. »
“Almost all civilizations have processes for preserving the body”
There remains the thorny question of the displacement of these mummies, especially when they result from chosen funeral rites. Should we leave them in their final resting place or put them in the museum? «Most of the time, the bodies are transported to the hospital or a research center for examinations and then returned to the place of burial. »advances Philippe Charlier, who recalls the importance of context in understanding funeral practices.
This new ethic around the dead is not limited to Egyptian mummies, and concerns all the dead studied in an archaeological or anthropological context. «From Taiwan to the Andes, via Cameroon, almost all civilizations have, in one way or another, processes for preserving the body., emphasizes Philippe Charlier. Mummification can also occur naturally under certain conditions, such as the mummies of the salt mines in Iran, those of the Incas of the high plateaus of the Andes, or even the men of the ice, like Ötzi discovered in the Italian Alps.