1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and this is a 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: classic episode from the podcasts archives. Over the millennia, humans 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: have used all kinds of methods to preserve the bodies 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: of the dead after their lives have ended, and for 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: all kinds of spiritual and emotional reasons. But today's episode 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: is about one case of accidental preservation after death through copper. 8 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here, imagine opening a 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: dusty box shelved away in a research facility. Inside you 10 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: see some small bones, a few antique artifacts, and a 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: tiny mummified hand colored an eerie shade of green. Would 12 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: you shriek in terror? Would you worry it was a 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: harbinger of some terrible curse. Would you at least see 14 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: if the mummified hand could grant you a wish er 15 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: to remove the literary shock value? And that's precisely the 16 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: dilemma that presented itself in two thousand five, when two 17 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: biological anthropologists at Hungary's You Adversity of Zaged investigated a 18 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: box filled with small bones and the mummified hand of 19 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 1: a human baby found in central Hungary. Though discovered in 20 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: a medieval cemetery, The remains of the baby, either premature, miscarried, 21 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: or stillborn, according to the researchers, date back to only 22 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: the second half of the nineteenth century. But how was 23 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: the baby's hand mummified and why wasn't the rest of 24 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: its body equally preserved. To answer this mystery, the researchers 25 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: looked to the artifacts found alongside these human remains. A 26 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: small ceramic pot and corroded copper coin were part of 27 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: the burial package. The researchers found that the copper coin 28 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: exactly fit in the baby's hand, and surmised the copper 29 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: from the coin leached into and preserved the organic material. 30 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: Their findings were published in a paper in the journal 31 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. The paper details that the mummified 32 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: hand contained copper levels four hundred and ninety seven times 33 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: higher than would be expected, and that another baby found 34 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: at the site, buried without a coin, did not show 35 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: similar mummification. The authers wrote in the page paper, according 36 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: to ethnographic references, newborns who died without being baptized were 37 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: rolled up in some sort of textile and buried in 38 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: a pot for example, a milk jug or small wooden box, 39 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: and abandoned cemeteries, usually located close to the ruins of 40 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: medieval churches. They also point out that low value coins 41 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: were occasionally placed next to or in the hands of 42 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: a corpse as an offering to the afterlife. In its 43 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: metallic form, copper is antimicrobial and can rapidly kill bacteria, yeasts, 44 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: and viruses. Ancient civilizations knew of copper's microup fighting powers. 45 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: In fact, one of the oldest books ever discovered is 46 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: an ancient Egyptian medical text known as the Edwin Smith Papyrus, 47 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: dating back to between twenty hundred and b c. It 48 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: describes using copper to sterilize chest wounds and drinking water, 49 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: and the practice continues to this day. Researchers proposed in 50 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: two thousand nine using special copper drinking vessels to sterilize 51 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: water in areas where other antibacterial medicines and applications are 52 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: less common. Today's episode is based on the article Anthropologists 53 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: discover mummified green baby hand on how stuff Works dot com, 54 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: written by Christopher Hassiotis. Brain Stuff is a production of 55 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: Our Heart Radio in partnership with How Stuff Works. Dot 56 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: com and it's produced by Tyler clang A. Four more 57 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio visit the I heart Radio app, 58 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.