One of world’s leading scientific experts on mummies and ancient DNA will speak at Millsaps College’s Moreton Lecture Series in the Sciences on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex room 215.
Dr. Angelique Corthals, a biomedial Egyptologist and lecturer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, will speak about diseases, landscapes and climate change in ancient Egypt and on her role in the search for Queen Hatshepsut’s lost mummy.
Corthals is co-director of the Hatshepsut and Royal Egyptian Mummies Project that has received worldwide attention and was the recent subject of the Discovery Channel special “Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen.” Hatshepsut was Egypt’s greatest female ruler and reigned in the 15th century B.C.
"The study of ancient civilizations has fascinated archeologists and the public for centuries,” Corthals said. “By combining multiple sources of evidence, often confined to separate disciplines, forensic anthropology advances our understanding of ancient civilizations in a time of widespread environmental change, including climate fluctuations.”
Forensic anthropology, which uses historical, medical, anthropological, forensic and genetic techniques to extract key information from ancient remains, is one of the areas Millsaps College hopes to make significant discoveries in with the college’s new W.M. Keck Center for Instrumental and BioChemical Comparative Archeology.
“DNA analysis from ancient specimens, whether human, animal, or plant, is exceptionally difficult at all stages, from extracting DNA from the specimen to ensuring absence of modern DNA as a contaminant,” said Sarah Lea McGuire, professor and chair of the biology department at Millsaps.
“Dr. Corthals’ experience in isolating DNA from mummies is remarkable and her expertise will prove invaluable as we set-up our facilities and plan experiments; the information she will provide us with will help us avoid many of the common pitfalls encountered in performing genetic analyses of ancient DNA.”
Corthals’ lecture “Forensic Anthropology: Gone, But Not Departed” is open to the public. The Moreton Lectures were established in 1986 by Robert and Alma Moreton. This series of lectures in the sciences is marked by experts with national reputations. For more information, contact Professor Sarah Lea McGuire at 601-974-1414.
