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San Pedro Mountain Mummy
Human Mummy
Pedromt
Biographical Information
Name(s) Pedro
Age
Sex unknown
Status lost or destroyed
Height 8-14 inches in height
Source
Culture North American
Date(s)
Site
Current Location
Location Wyoming, USA
Catalog #

A mummified infant, probably stillborn or miscarried, dating to about AD 1500, discovered in Wyoming. It is believed to have been born with anencephaly. In the early 1930s, using dynamite, Cecil Main and Frank Carr blew open a cave on the slope of a peak in the Pedro Mountains. Inside they found a tiny, leathery mummy, arms crossed, legs folded under him, sitting on a ledge in the cave. About 6 to 7 inches tall and weighed about a pound. An affidavit, dated Nov. 13, 1936 and signed by Cecil Main, stated that the mummy was "found in a sealed cave, on a rock ledge about two and one half feet from the ground…there was nothing else in the cave."

It was later displayed in a store window, and postcards of its likeness were sold. It was billed as a “mummified pygmy” and became a sideshow attraction. The mummy was in the possession of Ivan Goodman, a Casper, Wyoming car dealer, when he took the mummy to a man named as Leonard Wadler who never returned the mummy, and it has not been seen again.

Mummification[]

Natural dehydration and control conditions led to mummification.

Studies[]

At one point, the mummy was loaned to Dr. Harry Shapiro, curator of biological anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City who examined it, and took X-rays. The original films are said to now be lost. The consensus was that the mummy was a human baby, either stillborn or died shortly after birth, probably of anencephaly, the congenital absence of a large part of the brain.

The mummy was quite small, perhaps six-and-a-half inches long as it was, with its legs folded beneath. It weighed about a pound.

Pathology[]

Scientists have also linked the the mummy's traits to another mummy called the "Chiquita." The two are, to date, the only such mummies ever found.

Additional[]

Anencephaly is a neural tube defect, causing the absence of a major part of the skull, brain, and scalp. The cranial vault may remain open as the skull continues to develop. If an anencephalic birth is not still born, it will not live long, perhaps as much as several days but seldom longer.

References[]

https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/meet-chiquita-a-tiny-blonde--year-old-wyoming-mummy/article_eea4b82a-0525-5fd2-8f78-85f925c203cc.html

https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/pedro-mountain-mummy

https://historycollection.co/truth-behind-disturbing-mystery-san-pedro-mountains-mummy/2/

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