4600-year-old skulls from Iraq to get CT scan
RON TODT
The Associated Press

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20070413_ap_4600yearoldskullsfromiraqtogetctscan.html

PHILADELPHIA - A pair of 4,600-year-old skulls from Iraq will be given
a CT scan that promises to reveal the faces of two of the dozens of
sacrificial victims found decades ago in the remains of an ancient
Sumerian city.

The procedure will be done Sunday at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania on the skulls of a young woman adorned with gold
ornaments and a man wearing a copper helmet, both found in the
southern Iraq city of Ur in the 1920s and 1930s.

Archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology excavating the Royal Tombs of Ur found a
"Great Death Pit" with the bodies of 74 sacrificial victims. Smaller
tombs contained other bodies, believed to be those of royal retainers.

The woman's skull was found in the large pit while the man's was from
a smaller death pit attached to a royal grave. He is presumed to be
one of six soldiers who stood at the entrance of the pit.

Anthropology graduate student Aubrey Baadsgaard, who is doing her
dissertation on Sumerian dress and adornment, said the scans will
allow development of a three-dimensional image to show what the people
looked like and evaluate how well the remains will stand up to
scientific tests.

Janet Monge, acting curator in charge of the museum's physical
anthropology collections, said the scan of the woman's skull should
give an idea of how the elaborate headdresses found with the bodies
were worn.

"Although they've got other headdresses, they don't have them on
heads, so they're not exactly sure how they were worn," Monge said.

Baadsgaard said she hopes to recover DNA from the skulls. She also
wants to draw enamel from the teeth to compare it with remains found
in the Indus Valley civilization in India, a trading partner of the
Sumerians, to see if the sacrificial victims came from that area.

"Some people have speculated that these victims were actually from the
Indus valley or some other location, and that's why they were
sacrificed , they were non-local people and, because they didn't have
the same links to the area, could be more easily sacrificed," she said.

Baadsgaard also wants to see whether the remains may have been heated
before burial, an early form of mummification done elsewhere in
Mesopotamia to keep bodies preserved for funeral processions.

If so, the victims were likely killed before being taken to the burial
site, casting doubt on the theory of the excavating archaeologists
that they were given poison to drink in the tomb, she said.