CT scan discovers pencil in knight's mummy from the 18th century
The legendary "Knight Kalebuz" from Brandenburg has been fully examined for the first time. A pencil was found in the body, which is not contemporary.
A Faber pencil has now been found in the mummy of a Brandenburg knight who died in 1702.
(Image: Erzeugt mit Dall-E durch heise online)
During the first purely scientific examination of the mummy of the knight Christian Friedrich von Kalebuz (1651 to 1702), researchers at the University Hospital of Ruppin-Brandenburg made a more than strange discovery: a pencil was stuck in the chest cavity of the deceased. After a computed tomography examination, the writing instrument could be removed endoscopically, i.e. without causing major damage to the corpse.
According to the scientists, the pencil is a Johann Faber brand model that was probably manufactured between 1900 and 1902. The Faber family, to whom the current name Faber-Castell goes back, only started producing pencils in the middle of the 18th century. Even if the date is incorrect, the pencil could not have entered the knight's body during his lifetime.
To the point: pencil as a prank with the dead
The explanation is only slightly less gruesome than the story of the mummy itself, but more on that shortly because the physician Rudolf Virchow had already examined the knight in 1895. According to today's scientists, the pencil was probably not simply forgotten: "This fits in with well-known stories about one or two pranks that were played on the mummy in earlier centuries", says Andreas Winkelmann, professor of anatomy at the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB), who led the investigation.
In fact, as early as the 15th century, Egyptian mummies were first transferred to England and then to other countries to extract the substance "mumia" - a preparation of the dead body that was said to have healing powers. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a veritable hysteria developed around Egyptian mummies, especially in wealthy circles, which culminated in the infamous unwrapping parties. Fortunately, this is unthinkable today, and not just for ethical reasons.
Natural mummification
The knight Kalebuz, whose mummy was discovered back in 1794 during construction work on the local church, was probably treated similarly. Today's researchers led by Professor Winkelmann attribute the mummification to natural causes: Kalebuz had been buried in a double coffin with four legs. The corpse is said to have dried out quickly and not decomposed. This is reminiscent of the "Ötzi" mummy, a Stone Age man from the Ötztal Alps. One of the researchers of this mummy, Professor Albert Zink, head of the Institute for Mummy Research in Bolzano (Italy), was also involved in the current investigations of Kalebuz.
According to the researchers' report, the mummy has been a tourist attraction in the village church of Kampehl in the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin for over 100 years. It is displayed there in a coffin with a glass plate. The apparent lack of respect for the person of the knight, correctly an officer and hereditary lord, but belonging to the Märkisch knightly dynasty, may have been due to a murder trial against him. However, modern scholars also emphasize that this is a legend.
The legend of murder and perjury
Calebuz is said to have beaten a shepherd to death when he refused him the "right of the first night"(ius primae noctis, the existence of which is also historically disputed today) with his fiancée. In the criminal proceedings, he is said to have sworn an oath that God did not want him to rot after his death if he was a murderer. This "cleansing oath" is said to have resulted in his acquittal due to a lack of witnesses. Historically, it seems certain that Kalebuz - his name according to the parish records, he is often also called Kahlbutz - died of natural causes.
Current research does not contradict this. Kalebuz is said to have died as a result of tuberculosis, but this has not been proven. Nevertheless, the C14 dating is consistent with a man between 50 and 60 years of age, and the skeletal examination indicates good health at the time. According to the scientists, the DNA was too badly damaged to be examined genetically. The previously researched shroud with the initials "C.F." supports the theory that it is indeed Kalebuz. Even its historical existence had sometimes been doubted.
Another object in the knight
The knight is allowed to keep one secret to himself for now, as there is a "round metallic object" in his mouth, as the scientists write. They believe it to be a coin or an amulet. However, the only way to find out certainly would be to damage the mummy further. "Whether to do this to the knight or leave this secret to him will be decided by the responsible parish council," says Professor Winkelmann.
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