By ASHLEY EYRIN
Mummies and tombs may conjure up images of lost civilizations, Egyptian rituals and ancient medical practices, but a recent discovery led by a BYU professor uncovered evidence of an advanced surgical procedure performed nearly 2,600 years ago.
On Feb. 8, C. Wilfred Griggs, director of ancient studies at BYU, journeyed to San Jose, Calif., with Dr. Richard T. Jackson, an orthopedic surgeon from Provo, and Dr. E. Bruce McIff, chief of radiology for Intermountain Health Care in Provo. They joined with other experts and removed a nine-inch orthopedic pin from a mummy called the Usermontu.
The pin was first detected in August 1995 when Griggs, along with a team of biologists, textile experts and pathologists, found what appeared to be a metal pin in the X-ray of a mummy belonging to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium in San Jose, Calif.
'The biomechanical principlesof how we get fixation were used the same way (on the Usermontu) as we use them today,' Jackson said.
There was a tapered corkscrew on the part of the pin going into the femur that is like those used biomechanically today. The end of the pin going into the tibula had three flutes. The flanged configuration prevents the rotation of the bone and increases its rigidity, Jackson said.
A cementing material was also used to fix the pin in the bones, which surgeons still do today in joint replacement.
'The fine construction of it isn't outstanding, in fact it is rather crude, but to see those types of principles in work done so long ago is significant,' Jackson said.
'Of course there have been many discoveries by the BYU faculty, but this is the most recent and certainly the most spectacular so far,' Griggs said.
'To have used these principles that many years ago is surprising,' Jackson said. 'It shows us they have more knowledge than we give them credit for.'
Originally believed to have been inserted centuries after Usermontu's death, the pin, which is nearly pure iron, is now believed to have been placed in Usermontu's leg while he was alive or just before mummification.
'I think the pin was inserted into the leg after the death of the person,' Griggs said.
Ancient linens found stuck to the bone and the knee and ancient lipids and other materials found between the bones and joints indicate the procedure was not modern, he said.
Griggs is world famous for his many excavations in Egypt and especially for his excavation of an Egyptian cemetery in which he uncovered Christian burials as early as A.D. 50. Griggs, lecturing at the San Jose museum, suggested his team examine some of their mummies, which lead to the find.
Usermontu's tomb, or sarcophagus, was acquired by the museum in 1971 when it appeared in a Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog in a section called 'His and Her Gifts for People Who Have Everything,' said Jill Freeman, public relations manager for the museum.
While shipping the sarcophagus, a rattling was heard from within the sarcophagus, and the museum acquired both the tomb and the mummy for $16,000, Freeman said.
'It has turned out to be a treasure in more than one way,' Freeman said.
BYU continues to work with Usermontu and the Rosicrucian Museum.
'Some of our molecular biologists are doing DNA analysis and working with resin samples,' Griggs said.
The DNA testing will allow them to find out who Usermontu was and know him better, Freeman said.
'Griggs was wonderful, we look forward to working with him again on future projects,' she said.