Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Schmid, Sarah Rebecca
• Habicht, Michael
• Eppenberger, Patrick
• Seiler, Roger
• Steineck, Raji
• Rühli, Frank
• Caramelli, David

Titel

The Ōshū Fujiwara—An interdisciplinary study on the history, culture and medical assessment of the oldest known mummified human remains in Japan (late Heian, 12th century AD)

Ist Teil von

• PloS one, 2021-10, Vol.16 (10), p.e0253693-e0253693

Ort / Verlag

San Francisco: Public Library of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Free E-Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This study documents a rare case of mummified human remains from Japan, dating to the late Heian period, 12 th Century AD. The remains have only been scientifically investigated once in 1950 so far. The results of this investigation were translated, analyzed, and interpreted using methods of the 21 st century. The remains have been traditionally identified as the four ruling generations of the Ōshū Fujiwara clan, who built a cultural and economic center in Hiraizumi. Accordingly, this paper will first examine the historical and cultural significance of Hiraizumi and its ruling class before re-evaluating the findings of the 1950 investigation. This study is the first in the Western scientific literature to provide a comprehensive historical, cultural, and medical evaluation of these mummies.