The launch of the Warsaw Mummy Project – the first such research on mummies in the world

The 15th December 2015 saw the launch of the Warsaw Mummy Project (Warsaw Interdisciplinary Project for Mummy Research) in Otwock – the world’s largest interdisciplinary academic initiative, devoted to research on ancient Egyptian mummies. The objective of the Warsaw Mummy Project is to deliver a multi-faceted study of Egyptian mummies to search for the presence of neoplastic diseases. The first stage of the project, which has already begun, includes the non-invasive examination of various mummies using computed tomography (CT) and X-ray. This is conducted under the supervision of specialist oncologists and radiologists from the Affidea International Oncotherapy Centre in Otwock.  The developers of the project are Polish archaeologists and bioarchaeologists from the University of Warsaw. It is being conducted in close cooperation with the National Museum in Warsaw, from whose wonderful collection the mummies are being lent.

The archaeologists – Kamila Braulińska and Wojciech Ejsmond (PhD students at the Faculty of History and the South-Eastern Europe Antique Research Centre at the University of Warsaw) developed the idea of conducting a comprehensive and multi-faceted examination of Egyptian mummies, after having explored their secrets for many years. In cooperation with bioarchaeologist Marzena Ożarek-Szilke (also associated with the University of Warsaw), they have successfully turned their research from idea into reality, with the opportunity for it to become one of the flagship research projects for Poland.

A total of 42 exhibits will be studied: human and animal mummies, as well as their parts (hands, head, feet). Some of the objects are provided on loan from the University of Warsaw, and which are stored at the National Museum in Warsaw. There have also been loans from the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw (a mummified hand) and the Louvre Museum (a mummified cat, crocodile and ram).

- The Warsaw Mummy Project is absolutely unique. It perfectly fits the interdisciplinary trend of research of works of art and, at the same time, the mission and research strategy of the National Museum in Warsaw. Currently, the research on artefacts is among the most advanced areas of science, allowing us to safely analyse these objects, without putting their state of preservation at risk, and we are obliged to ensure special care of high standards in the research on our collection. We are also open to unconventional scientific initiatives, and we support them strongly. And such is the Warsaw Mummy Project. I admire the passion and tremendous enthusiasm of young scientists who are involved, and I wish them all the best results – both from the perspectives of science and world heritage. And my personal feeling is that I am very pleased because we are strengthening our long-standing relationship with the University of Warsaw, and our restructured laboratory at the National Museum in Warsaw, in the framework of its scientific activities, enters close cooperation with one of the world's most modern research institutions, namely the interdisciplinary Biological and Chemical Research Centre at the University of Warsaw (CNBCh). I am convinced that the laboratory at the National Museum in Warsaw will actively participate in the study of mummies but the range of this involvement will be determined after the completion of the first stage of the research”, says Dorota Ignatowicz-Woźniakowska, the Head of Conservation Department at the National Museum in Warsaw.

The Warsaw Mummy Project is divided into two phases: a non-invasive phase and a micro-invasive stage. In the first, the research will involve the use of a computed tomography (CT) scanner and a state-of-the-art digital camera for X-ray examination. The first stage is to check the authenticity of the mummified remains, and what they really contain. At this stage, it is planned to use dactyloscopy (fingerprint identification) and podoscopy (the study of footprints) – all this is conducted in close collaboration with Italian carabinieri. In addition to this, macroscopic analysis will be used to determine the method of mummification and to see how well preserved the tissues inside are. Computed tomography will answer questions about the species, sex and age of the mummy, and, above all, will provide the opportunity to find traces of diseases that may have existed in ancient times (e.g. bone diseases, metabolic disorders, infectious diseases, vascular diseases, parasitic diseases, and – most of all – neoplasms).

The images obtained from this first stage of examination will also be used to work on reconstructions of the appearances of the mummified humans and animals when they were alive. The second stage of the Warsaw Mummy Project involves the application of micro-invasive endoscopic techniques, necessary to collect small tissue samples from the mummies. The samples will undergo precise laboratory analyses, including genetic testing for DNA. The Warsaw Mummy Project, in terms of its scope and the diversity and sheer number of Egyptian mummies being examined, is the first initiative of its kind in the world. 

For more information, please visit www.warsawmummyproject.pl.