Fame after Death: The Unusual Story of a Finnish Mummy and Difficulties Involving its Study

Authors

  • Tiina Väre University of Oulu
  • Milton Núñez University of Oulu
  • Jaakko Niinimäki Center for Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology Research, University of Oulu and Oulu University hospital
  • Juho-Antti Junno University of Oulu, Medical Research Center, University of Oulu and Oulu University hospital
  • Sirpa Niinimäki University of Oulu
  • Rosa Vilkama University of Oulu
  • Markku Niskanen University of Oulu

Abstract

The cool, ventilated milieus beneath the floors of old Finnish churches are responsible for the natural mummification in church graves. One good example of such preservation are the remains of an early 17th-century vicar of Kemi parish, Nikolaus Rungius. He died in 1629 and was put to rest under the old Keminmaa Church in Finnish Lapland. The parish began exhibiting his preserved body in the 18th century after which Vicar Rungius – a locally revered man of cloth in life – gained wide posthumous fame. His dead body became a powerful means to encourage and strengthen people’s faith. The mummy has maintained a human form but has lost its right forearm. On top of that the computed tomography scanning conducted in 2011 revealed that the head was not normally attached. It is unclear when it happened or how but a suspicion arose that once the neck was damaged the head could have fallen to the ground and shattered. A serious concern was whether the head of the mummy was really that of Vicar Rungius as a headless vicar would undoubtedly have prompted a substitution with another mummified head in order to maintain a powerful incentive to the parishioners’ faith.

Author Biographies

Tiina Väre, University of Oulu

Tiina Väre (corresponding author) is a PhD student of archeology at the University of Oulu with a special interest in paleopathology and stable isotope studies. In her current doctoral research she studies the story of Vicar Rungius and his mummified remains and applies novel multidisciplinary research methods.

Milton Núñez, University of Oulu

Milton Núñez is a Professor Emeritus of archeology in the University of Oulu. He is especially interested in the study of past health and nutrition with the aid of paleopathology and stable isotope analyses.

Jaakko Niinimäki, Center for Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology Research, University of Oulu and Oulu University hospital

Professor Jaakko Niinimäki is a radiologist (MD) with special interest in archeological skeletal materials.

Juho-Antti Junno, University of Oulu, Medical Research Center, University of Oulu and Oulu University hospital

Doc. Juho-Antti Junno is an adjunct professor and a biological anthropologist with special interest in the anatomy of the spine.

Sirpa Niinimäki, University of Oulu

Sirpa Niinimäki is a post-doctoral researcher in archaeology at the University of Oulu. She is specialized in osteological research performed both on actual bones as well as bones and soft-tissue in digitized format. Her special interests include the reconstruction of physical activity

Rosa Vilkama, University of Oulu

Rosa Vilkama is a PhD student at the University of Oulu and specializes in paleopathological research on diet, nutrition and dental health in late medieval and early modern northern Finland.

Markku Niskanen, University of Oulu

Dos. Markku Niskanen earned his doctoral degree in biological anthropology from the Washington State University. He is currently a senior research fellow and a docent of bioanthropology and osteoarchaelogy at the University of Oulu. His primary research interests include human skeletal variation and adaptation.

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Published

2023-09-28

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2015): Images of Afterlife

Section

Tutkimusraportit

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Tiina Väre, Milton Núñez, Jaakko Niinimäki, Juho-Antti Junno, Sirpa Niinimäki, Rosa Vilkama, Markku Niskanen

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.