Three-dimensional reconstruction of medieval child mummy in Yangju, Korea, using multi-detector computed tomography

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Summary

Recently reported studies on the medieval mummies in Korea have been regarded as an invaluable source for studying the physical characteristics of medieval Koreans. However, since the reported medieval mummies were re-buried by their descendants without any scientific investigations, the development of a brief, non-invasive investigation technique was desperately needed among the researchers in Korea. In this regard, we tried to apply high-quality multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) with three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions and multi-planar reformat (MPR) to investigate Korean mummies.

In our study, after 1.25 or 2.5 mm thin slice axial images were taken, 3D reconstruction and MPR were performed to get more accurate information about internal organs. In this trial, we successfully showed high-quality images for the brain, muscles, bones, heart and liver. During various trials for getting selected organs, we could make the 3D reconstructed images of them. Since we could show that the current MDCT technique could be useful for obtaining high-quality 3D reconstructed images of the internal organs of Korean mummies, this technique will be used in forthcoming similar cases, which could not be investigated using invasive techniques.

Introduction

We previously reported on the medieval Korean mummies including the Yangju child mummy case (Fig. 1a). Though these mummies were frequently found within the medieval tombs constructed during the Joseon Dynasty of Korea (1392–1910) (Shin et al., 2003a, Shin et al., 2003b; Chang et al., 2006a, Chang et al., 2006b; Kim et al., 2006), the mummification process of these Korean mummy cases was not clearly elucidated. However, since the mummies seem to be formed under very unique circumstances which could not be easily observed in the other countries and there has not been any official tradition for the artificial mummification during the medieval ages in Korea, the possible cause of the mummification in these cases was thought to correlate with the presence of the lime–soil mixture barrier around the coffin (Fig. 1b) (Shin et al., 2003b).

The reports on mummies within medieval tombs in Korea are increasing nowadays because archaeological investigations are briskly performed by a booming construction business. However, though our previous reports on the mummies could successfully show various aspects of physical traits of medieval Korean people for the first time, many more unreported medieval mummy cases in Korea seem to be disappearing without any scientific examinations (Table 1). As to the difficulties of investigating the medieval mummies found in Korea, it was due to the invasive examination techniques performed on the discovered mummies, which could not be easily tolerated by the related descendants of the mummies.

Invasive investigations on the internal organs of the mummy have been generally difficult to accept in many countries around the world. For example, in the cases of the famous Egyptian mummies, the need for preserving their integrity was mandatory among researchers. Therefore, unwrapping the band around Egyptian mummies, which is essential for replying to various queries about the mysteries of the mummies, could not be easily performed because the trial frequently conflicted with a request for preservation of Egyptian mummies (Cesarani et al., 2003).

In this regard, for the researchers who would investigate the mummies without damage, recently developed radiological techniques, such as multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT), was thought to be attractive candidate. Since this technique could virtually reconstruct the appearances of the internal organs in the heavily wrapped mummies without any damage, many studies on the reconstruction of internal organs and facial morphologies have successively been performed (Melcher et al., 1997; Hoffman and Hudgins, 2002; Hoffman et al., 2002; Jansen et al., 2002; Cesarani et al., 2003, Cesarani et al., 2004; Kieser et al., 2004; Hughes et al., 2005; Winder et al., 2006).

This means that even in the cases of Korean medieval mummies, such a non-invasive method could be useful in acquiring meaningful data on those cases. Considering that the medieval mummies have been regarded as an invaluable resource for elucidating the physical traits of medieval Koreans, the development of non-invasive tools, which could be easily performed without any external damage to the mummies, is very crucial for the related researchers in Korea.

Therefore, our current trial to see if computed tomography (CT) with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction could be an adequate candidate for such a non-invasive technique will provide meaningful data to the interested scholars. If we could show the data on the internal organs of the mummies without any damage to the surface of mummies, the mummies could be re-transferred to the hands of mummy's descendants after sufficient data on the internal organs could be acquired by us. Since this non-invasive technique will enable us to get more opportunities to investigate Korean mummies with the consent of the descendants of the mummies in forthcoming studies, the current study on the usefulness of high-quality MDCT for studying Korean mummies could be a good basis for the future studies on similar mummy cases in Korea.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Our study was performed in accordance with “The Vermillion Accord on Human Remains, World Archaeological Congress, South Dakota, 1989”. Anthropological or medical data on a 15th century child mummy (Fig. 1a), which is the subject in this study, were previously reported by us (Shin et al., 2003a, Shin et al., 2003b; Kim et al., 2006).

The CT scan was performed three times with a 4 MDCT scanner (Lightspeed QX/i; General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee) (Fig. 1c). A spiral volume was acquired

Results

The axial images of the mummy head are arranged in Fig. 2. In Figs. 2a and b, mummified brain with a number of radiopaque speckles was clearly observed within the calvaria. In Fig. 2c, the soft tissue remnants may also be observed within the orbital socket. High-density material similar to that in brain was also observed in the anterior part of spinal cord (Fig. 2d). In an axial VR image at the orbital level, optic nerve and presumptive eyeball remnants were quite clearly observed (Fig. 3). In

Discussion

Recently introduced MDCT and 3D reconstruction techniques were regarded to be an adequate for non-invasive determination of the exact anatomy of embalmed Egyptian mummies (Melcher et al., 1997; Hoffman and Hudgins, 2002; Hoffman et al., 2002; Jansen et al., 2002; Cesarani et al., 2003, Cesarani et al., 2004; Kieser et al., 2004; Hughes et al., 2005; Winder et al., 2006).

As in Egyptian mummy cases, study on the medieval mummies has not been easily performed in Korea because of the descendant's

Acknowledgments

All the investigations were mainly superintended by Suk Joo-Sun Memorial Museum and Institute for Oriental Studies, Dankook University. We specially thank Ki Rok Choi, the producer of Korean Broadcast System, for his devotion to the preservation of Korean medieval mummies. The authors in this study did their best in their field to complete this study. Briefly, Lee IS and Yoo DS are for radiological examination; Park SS and Bok GD for archaeological arrangement; Han SH for the preservation of

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Both the authors contributed equally to this study.

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