Holding on to the Dead. Investigating Mummification in European Prehistory

Mummification is a worldwide phenomenon that goes beyond the well-known practices in Ancient Egypt.

It is the simplest and the most effective way to preserve a corpse offering the survivors a prolonged period of engaging with the body. Yet, in the absence of historical accounts, mummification in prehistory, while plausible, is largely unknown. In 2022, we demonstrated that mummification was practiced in Mesolithic Portugal 8000-years ago.

This discovery prompts a radical reassessment of early mummification in Europe and opens a new debate about the cultural significance of the practice.We propose to break new ground by developing a new non-invasive framework investigating mummification in archaeological sites with human bones but without tangible evidence of mummified soft tissues.

This innovative approach will determine the effects of mummification on the human skeleton by using virtual taphonomy methods to analyse a broad range of known mummies, and integrate this analysis with published experimental evidence, providing a new synthesis about what happens to the skeleton during mummification.

We will then examine skeletonized remains in archaeological sites from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic, to investigate potential practices of mummification in European prehistory.The project will improve methods to investigate mummification when only bone remains are preserved, and by identifying prehistoric examples in Europe, trace back in time the emergence of the practice.