A South American embalmed head

Abstract

The embalmed head of a young South American man is housed in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the University of Turin. This man, who suffered a violent facial trauma, was intentionally beheaded after his death, and his head was embalmed. The aim of this study was to determine the age at death, the cause of death and the embalming techniques by means of CT scanning, 3D reconstruction, X-rays, histology, endoscopy and scanning electron microscopy followed by microanalysis.