Fun with Science Club®


			Sick mummies give medical advice. Beth Tyler 06.01.01 Mummies are preserved humans who died hundreds or even thousands of years ago. When the person died, his or her family and friends wanted to prevent their loved one from decaying into bones. They used special chemicals to preserve the body and then covered it with cloth or clay. Most people who think of mummies think of the Egyptians, but archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of mummies in North and South America, too. Because mummies are so well-preserved, they provide all kinds of information for archaeologists. One archaeologist in South America takes cells from mummies and studies the parasites they had. This allows him to know what kinds of parasites lived when and where. This information can be useful for people today. For example, the archaeologist has discovered North American mummies with parasites unknown until then in North America. Also, the number of parasites and kinds of parasites a mummy has can be compared to the temperature and other environmental factors in the mummy’s time, revealing the places these parasites can live. Finally, knowing about the parasites in a civilization from thousands of years ago tells us more about how ancient peoples lived and died.


			Pringle, Heather. 1998. The sickness of mummies. Discover 19: 74- 83.