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Mummies in Crypts and Catacombs

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The Handbook of Mummy Studies

Abstract

There exist numerous crypts and catacombs in churches and cemeteries that harbor mummified human remains. Due to burial customs these are most frequently detected in European countries, mostly as the result of spontaneous (natural) mummification. Beyond those mummies, occasionally artificial mummification has led to permanently preserved bodies. These were performed as either dry or wet type of embalming. All mummified human bodies may represent important information about life, living conditions, diseases, and causes of death in historic populations; they represent a “bio-archive.” Although many mummies seem to be present in numerous locations, only a small number of them have been as yet investigated scientifically. This scientific analysis has been performed by various techniques: anthropological examination, CT scans and/or X-rays, histology and isotope analysis, molecular studies for human and microbial DNA, paleobotany, and many more. In this chapter, the available observations from numerous locations in different countries have been compiled. In most instances, only data from series of mummified bodies have been collected; single mummies have only occasionally been considered. The series come from Italian and German churches, several findings from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Lithuania, and isolated cases from almost every country.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Pathologie, Klinikum München-Bogenhausen und München-Schwabing, Munich, Germany

    Andreas G. Nerlich

  2. Biomedical Sciences, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Raffaella Bianucci

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  1. Andreas G. Nerlich
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  2. Raffaella Bianucci
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Correspondence to Andreas G. Nerlich .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Dong Hoon Shin

  2. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Raffaella Bianucci

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Nerlich, A.G., Bianucci, R. (2020). Mummies in Crypts and Catacombs. In: Shin, D.H., Bianucci, R. (eds) The Handbook of Mummy Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1614-6_20-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1614-6_20-1

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