several inherited disorders that led to an inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and constitutionally weakening condition. Death, they assert, was not attributable to foul play; rather, a sudden fracture of the leg (perhaps resulting from a fall) progressed to a life-threatening condition because of his malarial infection.The autopsy, which features the inevitable Zahi Hawass, reports at pp 638-647 that -
Genetic fingerprinting allowed the construction of a 5-generation pedigree of Tutankhamun's immediate lineage. The KV55 mummy and KV35YL were identified as the parents of Tutankhamun. No signs of gynecomastia and craniosynostoses (eg, Antley-Bixler syndrome) or Marfan syndrome were found, but an accumulation of malformations in Tutankhamun's family was evident. Several pathologies including Köhler disease II were diagnosed in Tutankhamun; none alone would have caused death. Genetic testing for STEVOR, AMA1, or MSP1 genes specific for Plasmodium falciparum revealed indications of malaria tropica in 4 mummies, including Tutankhamun’s. These results suggest avascular bone necrosis in conjunction with the malarial infection as the most likely cause of death in Tutankhamun. Walking impairment and malarial disease sustained by Tutankhamun is supported by the discovery of canes and an afterlife pharmacy in his tomb.Markel notes that -
The use of radiography, DNA technology, and other modern scientific tools to better elucidate the historical record has been progressing rapidly for many years. For example, in 1998, Foster et al, using specimens obtained from descendents of both Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings, presented provocative DNA evidence that Jefferson may have fathered at least 1 child with Hemings. Similarly, the use of viral samples extracted by Taubenberger et al1 from persons who died from influenza during the pandemic of 1918 helped elucidate the precise genetic characterization of that virus as well as a better understanding of several influenza strains that threaten society today. These studies were conducted with either full consent (the Jefferson study) or using specimens donated to a central laboratory for scientific purposes (the influenza study). With meticulous attention and respect for the dead, Hawass et al studied mummies (and antiquities) discovered millennia after the subjects' demise.He goes on to comment that -
Moving forward, what is less clear is the development of ethical guidelines with which to conduct subsequent DNA, genetic, radiological, and other medical inquiries into human history. What will the rules be for exhuming bodies to solve vexing pathological puzzles? Are major historical figures entitled to the same privacy rules that private citizens enjoy even after death? Most pragmatically, what is actually gained from such studies? Will they change current thinking about and prevent threatening diseases such as influenza? Will they change the understanding of the past, such as the Jefferson study's powerful elucidation of intimacy during the era of slavery and the Tutankhamun study's window on the conduct of the royal family of Egypt?in practice we've already opened the box and thrown away the lid, with exhumations of participants in Franklin's one-way trip in search of the North West Passage (did they die of malnutrition or lead poisoning? were they eaten by polar bears or each other?), permafrost-preserved victims of the 1919 influenza epidemic, unfortunates found in Alpine glaciers or peat bogs (eg Ireland's Clonycavan Man and Old Croghan Man) and sundry mediaeval royals deposited in Magdeburg or other cathedrals (eg Queen Eadgyth, disinterred last year).
All historians are guilty of enjoying reading the mail and personal materials of others. Yet before disturbing the dead with the penetrating wonders of 21st-century medical science, it is essential to follow the lead of these authors by pondering all the ethical implications of such inquiries to avoid opening a historical Pandora's box.
If we regard human dignity as a function of humanity, rather than something with which notables have a greater endowment, we might wonder whether the remains of 'ordinary people' should be probed, sampled and scanned. We might also wonder whether there's a statute of limitations on restrictions on archaeological autopsies, ie if you're dead long enough the forensics experts can do their work without fretting about Pandora.
The European Society for Comparative Legal History has meanwhile launched a blog.
