Examination of the Eskimo mummies from Qilakitsoq

Abstract

Eight mummified Greenlandic Eskimos. two of which were children. underwent a thorough X-ray examination. which preceded the other comprehensive scientific examinations. The two children were identified as males while all the adult mummies proved to be females. In one of the older adult mummies extensive destruction was demonstrated in the base of the skull, presumably the result of a nasopharyngeal cancer. In the same mummy a pseudoarthrosis of the left clavicle was found. Another. a younger woman. was supposed to have a calculus in the right kidney. One of the children. a four-year-old boy, seems to have suffered from Down's syndrome and a disorder of the left hip. probably Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.

In two of the older mummies a few compression fractures of thoracic or lumbar vertebral bodies were observed, as well as degenerative osteoarthrosis and other signs of advanced age.

As for the remainder. only slight degenerative osteoarthrosis was demonstrated, as well as a few congenital anomalies which were probably of no clinical importance. Neither fractures nor bone diseases. whether of older or more recent date, could be demonstrated.

The frontal sinuses were missing in all the mummies and in four of the adult mummies. Harris lines were observed. particularly in the distal femoral metaphyses.