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Integree dans les collections du museum d’Histoire naturelle de Nantes depuis le debut du XIXe siecle, une momie egyptienne a recemment ete etudiee, analysee et restauree par un egyptologue, un medecin radiologiste, des physiciens, des chimistes, des conservateurs et des restaurateurs qui relatent ici les differentes etapes de cette collaboration pluridisciplinaire.

Many French museums keep in their reserves a great number of mummified human remains. Beyond any ethical or deontological issues, they constitute an important part of our archaeological and historical heritage. Their dating is often inexact and imprecise, but nevertheless this parameter is very interesting, especially if correlated or associated with other analytical or typological data, e.g. the process of mummification. The present study has been carried out in the context of a multidisciplinary scientific program on a set of Coptic mummies found at the site of Antinoe (Egypt), deposited in the Louvre Museum or sent by the state to various other French museums. To minimize the sample size, we have developed a new method for the pretreatment of hair samples before accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. Thus, we have taken samples from ≃30 mummies, distributed in 8 museums around France, and also from different textiles or plants near or on the bodies. The results and conclusions show the importance of dating mummies in a museum context. For example, 14C dates permit the exclusion of the assumed relationship of a woman with a child. Similarly, a hair sample from the head of a mummy presents a very different 14C date from that of the hair across her chest. The results show that these hairs came from another mummy and were probably placed there intentionally by the people in charge of the collections.

Resume En 2010, la fondation Institut de paleontologie humaine (Paris) a acquis un squelette monte de rhinoceros laineux, Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799), dont le remarquable etat de conservation a permis une etude pluridisciplinaire : analyses anatomique, biometrique, geochronologique (datations par le carbone-14 par AMS de la corne et de certains os) et biogeochimique (reconstitution de la paleoalimentation et du paleoenvironnement par la methode des isotopes du carbone et de l’azote). Une recherche sur l’origine de ce specimen et son parcours avant son acquisition a egalement ete menee. Ces differentes investigations nous ont conduits a preciser l’identification specifique du fossile siberien, son âge biologique et son sexe, ainsi que son attribution chronologique et son comportement alimentaire.

Lower Congo rock art is concentrated in a region that stretches from Kinshasa to the Atlantic coast and from northern Angola to southern Congo-Brazzaville. Although Lower Congo rock art was identified as early as the 19th century, it had never been a subject of thorough investigation. Presently inhabited by the Ndibu, one of the Kongo subgroups, the Lovo Massif is situated north of the ancient Kongo Kingdom. With 102 sites (including 16 decorated caves), the massif has the largest concentration of rock art in the entire region. In 2008 and 2010, we were able to collect pigment samples directly on the panels of the newly discovered decorated cave of Tovo. Unlike the Sahara and southern Africa, both extensively prospected, rock art of central Africa is still widely unknown and not dated. Radiocarbon dating of rock art in Africa is a real challenge and only a few direct dates have been obtained thus far. After verifying that the pigment samples were indeed charcoal, we proceeded to 14C date them using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The results indicate dates between cal AD 1480 and 1800, confirming that the occupation of Tovo Cave was contemporaneous with the ancient Kongo Kingdom.