Diatoms in mummies from Qilakitsoq

Abstract

Eight mummified Greenlanders were found in 1972. Samples of lung and columna tissue from some of them were investigated for content of diatoms in an attempt, on the basis of diatoms, to state whether they died by drowning. Samples of lung, liver, kidney, columna and femur tissue from four drowned and four non-drowned persons from the year 1981-82 were likewise analysed for diatoms, to permit a comparison between the two groups, and thus by means of diatoms to obtain a basis for the diagnosis: drowned- not drowned. The conclusion of the investigation is that no such diagnosis is possible with the method used here.