Examination of mummies from the tomb of Iufaa at Abusir (Egypt)

The 1998-2004 investigation of the tomb of Iufaa at Abusir (before 625 BC) by the Czech Institute of Egyptology, uncovered the burials of five adults. All were mummified and excerebrated, but the high humidity in the tomb disintegrated the mummy wrappings and soft tissues. The skeletons were saved using disinfectant and consolidating means. Three individuals were found to be morphologically and genetically closely related using descriptive, metric and epigenetic methods: The priest Iufaa, Lady Imakhetkherresnet and an anonymous male. The first two were siblings, as confirmed by epigraphic references to the same mother. Two others were priests, Neko and Gemenefherbak, whose skeletons survived partially. Their epigenetic features could be studied showing a similarity of 75%. Several pathological features were identified such as a benign neurilemmoma in a sacrum diagnosed for the first time in paleopathology.