Swiss Mummy Project, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, Switzerland.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2010 Jul;142(3):497-500. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21292.
Ancient mummified soft-tissues are a unique source to study the evolution of disease. Diagnostic imaging of such historic tissues is of foremost interest in paleoanthropology or paleopathology, with conventional x-ray and computed tomography (CT) being the gold-standard. Longer wavelength radiation in the far-infrared or Terahertz region allows diagnostic close-to-surface tissue differentiation of bone morphology while being harmless to human cells. The aim of this study is to show the feasibility and the morpho-diagnostic impact of THz imaging of historic remains. Images of an artificially embalmed ancient Egyptian human mummy hand, an artificially embalmed ancient Egyptian mummified fish and a macerated human lumbar vertebra were obtained by THz-pulse imaging and compared with conventional X-ray and CT images. Although conventional x-ray imaging provides higher spatial resolution, we found that THz-imaging is well-suited for the investigation of ancient mummified soft tissue and embalming-related substances / wrappings. In particular, bone and cartilaginous structures can be well differentiated from surrounding soft-tissues and bandage-wrappings by THz imaging. Furthermore, THz-pulse imaging also measures the time-delay of the pulsed signal when passing through the sample, which provides supplementary information on the optical density of the sample that is not obtained by X-ray and CT. Terahertz radiation provides a completely non-invasive diagnostic imaging modality for historic dry specimens. We anticipate this modality also to be used for detection of hidden objects in historic samples such as funerary amulets still in situ in wrapped mummies, as well as potentially for the identification of spectral signatures from chemical substances, e.g., in embalming essences.
古代木乃伊软组织是研究疾病进化的独特来源。这种历史组织的诊断成像在古人类学或古病理学中最感兴趣，常规 X 射线和计算机断层扫描（CT）是黄金标准。远红外或太赫兹区域的长波长辐射允许对骨骼形态进行诊断性近表面组织区分，而对人体细胞无害。本研究的目的是展示太赫兹成像对历史遗迹的可行性和形态诊断影响。通过太赫兹脉冲成像获得了一只人工防腐的古埃及人木乃伊手、一只人工防腐的古埃及木乃伊鱼和一只浸软的人类腰椎的图像，并与常规 X 射线和 CT 图像进行了比较。虽然常规 X 射线成像提供了更高的空间分辨率，但我们发现太赫兹成像非常适合研究古代木乃伊软组织和防腐相关物质/包裹物。特别是，太赫兹成像可以很好地区分骨骼和软骨结构与周围软组织和绷带。此外，太赫兹脉冲成像还测量了脉冲信号通过样品时的时间延迟，这提供了有关样品光密度的补充信息，而 X 射线和 CT 则无法获得。太赫兹辐射为历史干燥标本提供了一种完全非侵入性的诊断成像方式。我们预计这种方式也可用于检测历史样本中的隐藏物体，例如仍包裹在木乃伊中的丧葬护身符，以及潜在地用于识别化学物质的光谱特征，例如在防腐精华中。
