Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 94. (Budapest 2002)

Matskási, I.: Bicentenary of the Hungarian Natural History Museum

old set of finds. There are data concerning family relations, too. The age of the dead varied between 0 and 94 years. The collection of reconstructed faces The Department of Anthropology includes about 50 skull-based plastic face reconstructions. The oldest one shows the features of our predecessor living 300,000 years ago. Reconstruction enlivens the man living the Carpathian Basin over the past 6,000 years. Scientific research Palaeopathological examinations have enabled us to learn more about the man of bygone days, not just about his diseases but his rate of nourishment, habits, and therapeutic activities. Alongside with transformations caused by growth, ageing, sex, inheritance, and other biological processes, it is also possible to identify culture-induced traces on bones and teeth. For example, the artificial deformation of the skull and modification of teeth as well as non-intended, behaviour-induced transformations belong here. Our examination covers deformations wilfully induced during the burial service or other rite-related interventions, e.g. trepanation. Our examinations focusing on diseases reveal the time they were first diagnosed, the age when certain diagnoses manifested themselves as well as the changes they underwent through time. Research of mummies of modern times Anthropologists, pathologists, and experts in forensic medicine co-operate in the scientific examination of the mummified human remains explored in the Dominican Church at Vác. Remains are being examined with absolute reverence to the deceased. Following cleaning and preservation activities we study the general condition and discolouration of corpses, determine their weight, and estimate their height and other body measurements. We are trying to find telltale traces in relation to the way of hair dressing and the pathological deformation of hair. Since the research is being conducted in the form of international co-operation, even the most up-to-date techniques, such as DNA tests, have been applied. Thanks to the said tests we have managed to detect the pathogens of tuberculosis on several persons' remains.