San Pedro Mountains mummy: Difference between revisions
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Yngvadottir (talk | contribs) Modified intro on 2nd mummy ("Chiquita") - Gill never says she is also lost. Moved reservoir mention to reduce load on sentence about finding. Moved up Wyoming History Society ref to that sentence, added note to ref that they support 1934 date, moved a ref to them to not support a quote. This edit intended to improve the encyclopedia is not an endorsement of the WMF. |
Rescuing orphaned refs ("Loendorf189" from rev 1220109828; "Wyo" from rev 1220111704) Tag: Reverted |
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[[File:The San Pedro Mountain Mummy.jpg|framed|Photos and X-ray of the mummy]] |
[[File:The San Pedro Mountain Mummy.jpg|framed|Photos and X-ray of the mummy]] |
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The '''San Pedro Mountains mummy''' (known informally as "Pedro") is a [[mummy]] discovered in Wyoming in the 1930s and since lost. Scientific analyses |
The '''San Pedro Mountains mummy''' (known informally as "Pedro") is a [[mummy]] discovered in Wyoming in the 1930s and since lost. Scientific analyses that it is the mummy of a Native American infant that was born with [[anencephaly]] to its small size and unusual physical features, an [[Hominini#Evolutionary history|early hominid]]. |
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==Discovery |
==Discovery== |
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The mummy |
The mummy was discovered in either 1932 or 1934 in the San Pedro mountains in [[Carbon County, Wyoming]] by two prospectors, Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr.<ref name=Wyo/> After blasting open a cave, on a ledge inside it they discovered a mummified body in a seated position, approximately {{convert|6–7|in|cm}} tall, weighing approximately {{convert|1|lbs|g}}.<ref name=Gazette>{{cite news |first=Jeremy |last=Fugleberg |url=https://gazette.com/travel/meet-chiquita-wyomings-500-year-old-mummy/article_1fdb6202-147c-56d3-be49-1856e39cb2c6.html |title=Meet Chiquita: Wyoming's 500-year-old mummy |newspaper=The Casper Star-Tribune |agency=AP |via=''The Denver Gazette'' |date=July 6, 2014 |access-date=April 21, 2024 }}</ref><ref name=ReferenceA>{{cite news|url=http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_c77f7c03-6169-5f9f-b3a8-4350c70b8966.html|title=Man offers $10,000 for Pedro Mountain Mummy|last=Burke|first=Brendan|date=February 3, 2005|newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune|accessdate=April 21, 2024}}</ref><ref name=Billings>{{cite news |first=Jeremy |last=Fugleberg |url=https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/into-the-cave-is-little-man-mine-site-where-mummy-was-found/article_d83e8a89-d059-5101-b6d7-4b0b2eab626b.html |title=Into the cave: Is 'Little Man Mine' site where mummy was found? |newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune |via=''Billings Gazette'' |date=September 15, 2014 |access-date=April 21, 2024 }}</ref> Its standing height was estimated at {{convert|17|in|cm}}.<ref name=ReferenceA/> The site may be within the Little Man mining claim, near [[Pathfinder Reservoir]].<ref name=Billings/> |
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==Theories== |
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==Subsequent history and analysis== |
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| ⚫ | Due to its small size and adult appearance, the mummy was related to [[Shoshone]] legends of [[little people (mythology)|little people]] called the [[Nimerigar]],<ref name=history>{{cite news|url=https://historycollection.com/truth-behind-disturbing-mystery-san-pedro-mountains-mummy/3/|title=The Truth Behind the Disturbing Mystery of the San Pedro Mountains Mummy |website=History Collection|date=January 4, 2018|first=Natasha|last=Sheldon |access-date=April 21, 2024}}</ref><ref name=legend>{{cite news|url=http://trib.com/lifestyles/weekender/did-a-mummy-prove-the-legend/article_89ec3ff7-852a-52b1-a235-78fe97cd4b1a.html|title=Did a mummy prove the legend?|date=October 31, 2010|first=Christine|last=Peterson|newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune |access-date=April 21, 2024 }}</ref> and to non-Native American folklore about "pygmy" Indians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Loendorf|first=Lawrence L.|title=Mountain Spirit: The Sheep Eater Indians of Yellowstone|year=2006|location=Salt Lake City|publisher=University of Utah Press|isbn=978-0874808681|page=90|author2=Nancy Medaris Stone }}</ref> In August 1941, the ''[[Milwaukee Journal]]'' wrote about it in an article headlined "Did a Race of Pygmies Once Live in America?"<ref name=Wyo/> In 1979, John Adolfi of [[Syracuse, New York]], offered $10,000 for the mummy, hoping to use it to cast doubt on the established account of [[human evolution]].<ref name=ReferenceA/> |
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In 1936, Mayne stated in a sworn affidavit that the mummy was then the property of Homer F. Sherrill and was in the [[Field Museum]] in Chicago, which has no record of it.<ref name=Wyo>{{cite web |first=Rebecca |last=Hein |url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/pedro-mountain-mummy |title=The Pedro Mountain Mummy |website=WyoHistory |publisher=Wyoming Historical Society |date=November 8, 2014 |access-date=April 21, 2024 }} According to this source, 1934 is the correct discovery year.</ref> Sherrill, a Nebraskan, exhibited it as an early hominid.<ref name=Gazette/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7886175/mummified_pygmy_found/|title=Mummified Pygmy Found|newspaper=The Waco News-Tribune|date=December 15, 1934|page=7|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=April 21, 2024 |agency=UP}}</ref> It was displayed for years in the window of a [[drug store]] in [[Meeteetse, Wyoming]]. It was purchased in the 1940s by [[Casper, Wyoming|Casper]] car dealer Ivan Goodman,<ref name=Wyo/><ref name=ReferenceA/> who mounted it on a wooden base and enclosed it in a domed glass jar and advertised it as a 65-year-old "pygmy", "preserved as it actually lived".<ref name=Gazette/> In 1950, in New York, Goodman either lost it<ref name=Gazette/> or, according to a 1979 article in the ''[[Casper Star-Tribune]]'', sold it to Leonard Wadler, who reportedly moved to Florida and died there in the 1980s.<ref name=ReferenceA/> |
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| ⚫ | Due to its small size and adult appearance, the mummy was related to [[Shoshone]] legends of [[little people (mythology)|little people]] called the [[Nimerigar]],<ref name=history>{{cite news|url=https://historycollection.com/truth-behind-disturbing-mystery-san-pedro-mountains-mummy/3/|title=The Truth Behind the Disturbing Mystery of the San Pedro Mountains Mummy |website=History Collection|date=January 4, 2018|first=Natasha|last=Sheldon |access-date=April 21, 2024}}</ref><ref name=legend>{{cite news|url=http://trib.com/lifestyles/weekender/did-a-mummy-prove-the-legend/article_89ec3ff7-852a-52b1-a235-78fe97cd4b1a.html|title=Did a mummy prove the legend?|date=October 31, 2010|first=Christine|last=Peterson|newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune |access-date=April 21, 2024 }}</ref> and to non-Native American folklore about "pygmy" Indians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Loendorf|first=Lawrence L.|title=Mountain Spirit: The Sheep Eater Indians of Yellowstone|year=2006|location=Salt Lake City|publisher=University of Utah Press|isbn=978-0874808681|page=90|author2=Nancy Medaris Stone }}</ref> In August 1941, the ''[[Milwaukee Journal]]'' wrote about it in an article headlined "Did a Race of Pygmies Once Live in America?"<ref name=Wyo/> In 1979, John Adolfi of [[Syracuse, New York]], offered $10,000 for the mummy, hoping to use it to cast doubt on the established account of [[human evolution]].<ref name=ReferenceA/> |
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The ''[[Casper Tribune-Herald]]'' reported in 1950 that X-rays of the San Pedro mummy showed adult vertebrae and teeth,<ref name=ReferenceA/> and there were reports of solid food in the stomach and of broken bones,<ref name=Wyo/><ref name=history/> but an examination led by [[Harry L. Shapiro]] of the [[American Museum of Natural History]] concluded that it was an anencephalic infant; the appearance of a miniature adult was the result of the deformed head.<ref name=Loendorf189>Loendorf and Stone (2006). p. 189, note 2.</ref> [[George W. Gill]] of the [[University of Wyoming]] saw the X-rays and agreed with this determination,<ref name=Wyo/> but the films have also been lost.<ref name=Gazette/><ref name=ReferenceA/> |
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==Second mummy== |
==Second mummy== |
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In 1994, Gill was interviewed about the San Pedro mummy for an episode of the TV show ''[[Unsolved Mysteries]]'' along with Eugene Bashor, who was seeking evidence of the Nimerigar.<ref name=legend/> A family in [[Cheyenne, Wyoming|Cheyenne]] who saw the program then came forward with a similar mummy, {{convert|4|in|cm}} high, which had been purchased from a sheepherder in the same region of Wyoming around 1929<ref name=Wyo/> and was dubbed "Chiquita". X-rays and DNA testing performed at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]] and [[Children's Hospital Colorado|Denver Children's Hospital]] confirmed that it was a naturally mummified anencephalic female infant of Native American ancestry,<ref name=Gazette/><ref name=legend/><ref name=Loendorf189/> and it was carbon-dated to approximately 1500<ref name=Gazette/> or 1700.<ref name=legend/> The family then withdrew access to the mummy.<ref name=Gazette/><ref name=legend/> |
In 1994, Gill was interviewed about the San Pedro mummy for an episode of the TV show ''[[Unsolved Mysteries]]'' along with Eugene Bashor, who was seeking evidence of the Nimerigar.<ref name=legend/> A family in [[Cheyenne, Wyoming|Cheyenne]] who saw the program then came forward with a similar mummy, {{convert|4|in|cm}} high, which had been purchased from a sheepherder in the same region of Wyoming around 1929<ref name=Wyo/> and was dubbed "Chiquita". X-rays and DNA testing performed at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]] and [[Children's Hospital Colorado|Denver Children's Hospital]] confirmed that it was a naturally mummified anencephalic female infant of Native American ancestry,<ref name=Gazette/><ref name=legend/><ref name=Loendorf189/> and it was carbon-dated to approximately 1500<ref name=Gazette/> or 1700.<ref name=legend/> The family then withdrew access to the mummy.<ref name=Gazette/><ref name=legend/> |
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Both mummies are unique among Wyoming Native American burials in being in a seated position, with the arms wrapped around the legs. Chiquita is also unusual for a Native American in being blonde.<ref name=Gazette/> |
Both mummies are unique among Wyoming Native American burials in being in a seated position, with the arms wrapped around the legs. Chiquita is also unusual for a Native American in being blonde.<ref name=Gazette/> |
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Revision as of 22:10, 21 April 2024
The San Pedro Mountains mummy (known informally as "Pedro") is a mummy discovered in Wyoming in the 1930s and since lost. Scientific analyses concludes that it is the mummy of a Native American infant that was born with anencephaly. Due to its small size and unusual physical features, some writers have speculates that is an early hominid.
Discovery
The mummy was discovered in either 1932 or 1934 in the San Pedro mountains in Carbon County, Wyoming by two prospectors, Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr.[1] After blasting open a cave, on a ledge inside it they discovered a mummified body in a seated position, approximately 6–7 inches (15–18 cm) tall, weighing approximately 1 pound (450 g).[2][3][4] Its standing height was estimated at 17 inches (43 cm).[3] The site may be within the Little Man mining claim, near Pathfinder Reservoir.[4]
Theories
Due to its small size and adult appearance, the mummy was related to Shoshone legends of little people called the Nimerigar,[5][6] and to non-Native American folklore about "pygmy" Indians.[7] In August 1941, the Milwaukee Journal wrote about it in an article headlined "Did a Race of Pygmies Once Live in America?"[1] In 1979, John Adolfi of Syracuse, New York, offered $10,000 for the mummy, hoping to use it to cast doubt on the established account of human evolution.[3]
Second mummy
In 1994, Gill was interviewed about the San Pedro mummy for an episode of the TV show Unsolved Mysteries along with Eugene Bashor, who was seeking evidence of the Nimerigar.[6] A family in Cheyenne who saw the program then came forward with a similar mummy, 4 inches (10 cm) high, which had been purchased from a sheepherder in the same region of Wyoming around 1929[1] and was dubbed "Chiquita". X-rays and DNA testing performed at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie and Denver Children's Hospital confirmed that it was a naturally mummified anencephalic female infant of Native American ancestry,[2][6][8] and it was carbon-dated to approximately 1500[2] or 1700.[6] The family then withdrew access to the mummy.[2][6]
Both mummies are unique among Wyoming Native American burials in being in a seated position, with the arms wrapped around the legs. Chiquita is also unusual for a Native American in being blonde.[2]
See also
- Atacama skeleton
- Alyoshenka
- Koro-pok-guru, small people in Ainu folklore
References
- ^ a b c Hein, Rebecca (November 8, 2014). "The Pedro Mountain Mummy". WyoHistory. Wyoming Historical Society. Retrieved April 21, 2024. According to this source, 1934 is the correct discovery year.
- ^ a b c d e Fugleberg, Jeremy (July 6, 2014). "Meet Chiquita: Wyoming's 500-year-old mummy". The Casper Star-Tribune. AP. Retrieved April 21, 2024 – via The Denver Gazette.
- ^ a b c Burke, Brendan (February 3, 2005). "Man offers $10,000 for Pedro Mountain Mummy". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
- ^ a b Fugleberg, Jeremy (September 15, 2014). "Into the cave: Is 'Little Man Mine' site where mummy was found?". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved April 21, 2024 – via Billings Gazette.
- ^ Sheldon, Natasha (January 4, 2018). "The Truth Behind the Disturbing Mystery of the San Pedro Mountains Mummy". History Collection. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Peterson, Christine (October 31, 2010). "Did a mummy prove the legend?". Casper Star-Tribune. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
- ^ Loendorf, Lawrence L.; Nancy Medaris Stone (2006). Mountain Spirit: The Sheep Eater Indians of Yellowstone. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0874808681.
- ^ Loendorf and Stone (2006). p. 189, note 2.