WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Can Copper Create Mummies?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and this is a

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<v Speaker 1>classic episode from the podcasts archives. Over the millennia, humans

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<v Speaker 1>have used all kinds of methods to preserve the bodies

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<v Speaker 1>of the dead after their lives have ended, and for

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of spiritual and emotional reasons. But today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is about one case of accidental preservation after death through copper.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here, imagine opening a

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<v Speaker 1>dusty box shelved away in a research facility. Inside you

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<v Speaker 1>see some small bones, a few antique artifacts, and a

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<v Speaker 1>tiny mummified hand colored an eerie shade of green. Would

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<v Speaker 1>you shriek in terror? Would you worry it was a

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<v Speaker 1>harbinger of some terrible curse. Would you at least see

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<v Speaker 1>if the mummified hand could grant you a wish er

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<v Speaker 1>to remove the literary shock value? And that's precisely the

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<v Speaker 1>dilemma that presented itself in two thousand five, when two

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<v Speaker 1>biological anthropologists at Hungary's You Adversity of Zaged investigated a

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<v Speaker 1>box filled with small bones and the mummified hand of

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<v Speaker 1>a human baby found in central Hungary. Though discovered in

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<v Speaker 1>a medieval cemetery, The remains of the baby, either premature, miscarried,

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<v Speaker 1>or stillborn, according to the researchers, date back to only

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<v Speaker 1>the second half of the nineteenth century. But how was

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<v Speaker 1>the baby's hand mummified and why wasn't the rest of

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<v Speaker 1>its body equally preserved. To answer this mystery, the researchers

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<v Speaker 1>looked to the artifacts found alongside these human remains. A

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<v Speaker 1>small ceramic pot and corroded copper coin were part of

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<v Speaker 1>the burial package. The researchers found that the copper coin

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<v Speaker 1>exactly fit in the baby's hand, and surmised the copper

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<v Speaker 1>from the coin leached into and preserved the organic material.

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<v Speaker 1>Their findings were published in a paper in the journal

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<v Speaker 1>Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. The paper details that the mummified

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<v Speaker 1>hand contained copper levels four hundred and ninety seven times

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<v Speaker 1>higher than would be expected, and that another baby found

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<v Speaker 1>at the site, buried without a coin, did not show

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<v Speaker 1>similar mummification. The authers wrote in the page paper, according

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<v Speaker 1>to ethnographic references, newborns who died without being baptized were

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<v Speaker 1>rolled up in some sort of textile and buried in

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<v Speaker 1>a pot for example, a milk jug or small wooden box,

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<v Speaker 1>and abandoned cemeteries, usually located close to the ruins of

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<v Speaker 1>medieval churches. They also point out that low value coins

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<v Speaker 1>were occasionally placed next to or in the hands of

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<v Speaker 1>a corpse as an offering to the afterlife. In its

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<v Speaker 1>metallic form, copper is antimicrobial and can rapidly kill bacteria, yeasts,

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<v Speaker 1>and viruses. Ancient civilizations knew of copper's microup fighting powers.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, one of the oldest books ever discovered is

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<v Speaker 1>an ancient Egyptian medical text known as the Edwin Smith Papyrus,

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<v Speaker 1>dating back to between twenty hundred and b c. It

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<v Speaker 1>describes using copper to sterilize chest wounds and drinking water,

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<v Speaker 1>and the practice continues to this day. Researchers proposed in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand nine using special copper drinking vessels to sterilize

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<v Speaker 1>water in areas where other antibacterial medicines and applications are

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<v Speaker 1>less common. Today's episode is based on the article Anthropologists

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<v Speaker 1>discover mummified green baby hand on how stuff Works dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Christopher Hassiotis. Brain Stuff is a production of

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<v Speaker 1>Our Heart Radio in partnership with How Stuff Works. Dot

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<v Speaker 1>com and it's produced by Tyler clang A. Four more

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my Heart Radio visit the I heart Radio app,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.