279-year-old mummy reveals never-before-seen method of preserving human body

For many years, scientists and researchers have been examining how ancient civilizations maintained human bodies in such a way that their DNA remains intact. Currently, they have stumbled upon an enigmatic procedure in a tiny Austrian village.

Scientists have examined a mummy from a tiny village in Austria, yielding insights into obscure mummification methods and enabling them to determine that the body has been deceased for 279 years. The remarkably intact mummy found in the church crypt of St Thomas am Blasenstein belongs to a local parish vicar, Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg, who passed away in 1746.

“Our investigation uncovered that the excellent preservation status came from an unusual type of embalming, achieved by stuffing the abdomen through the rectal canal with wood chips, twigs and fabric, and the addition of zinc chloride for internal drying,” Dr Andreas Nerlich, a pathologist at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat .

CT scanning and thorough examination showed that the mummy’s upper body remained completely intact, while the lower limbs and head exhibited significant post-mortem deterioration.

A range of foreign substances were found in the abdominal and pelvic cavity; the team recognized wood shavings from fir and spruce, pieces of branches, and various textiles, such as linen, hemp, and flax. All these materials were readily accessible at that time and in that area.

“Clearly, the wood chips, twigs, and dry fabric absorbed much of the fluid inside the abdominal cavity,” said Nerlich.

Researchers noted that this way of embalming is different to better-known methods where the body is opened to prepare it. Here, however, the embalming materials were inserted via the rectum.

“This type of preservation may have been much more widespread but unrecognized in cases where ongoing postmortal decay processes may have damaged the body wall so that the manipulations would not have been realized as they were,” Nerlich pointed out.