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CT Scanning Technology And Its Use In Anthropology:

A Better Way, Or Another Ethnocentric View?

Through history, anthropological discovery has been achieved through intensive data

gathering techniques that have defined the way we look at humanity. However risky, the

anthropologist blends into unknown societies, being exposed to different cultures and possible

violence while attempting to understand how those cultures work, and how the individuals live.

In retrospect, thanks to these efforts, we may learn how our ancestors lived and evolved.

In many cases, especially when anthropology saw its birth, the understanding of cultures

was based on the anthropologists’ own perspective. Analyzing a culture based on one’s own idea

of behavior was a biased way to understand other humans and their cultural environment. This

practice, known as ethnocentrism, which many would characterize as racism, dominated the

science until early in the 20th century. However, thanks to the contributions of new professors,

the understanding we had changed. Anthropologists learned to study cultures from the inside out,

not otherwise.

Technical advances in Anthropology have been slow coming; the belief that

anthropology is a hands-on science in a way reduced the need, or even denied the

acknowledgement, of new technology. However, many scientists advocated the use of new ways

of gathering information that would not destroy the very history anthropology was responsible

for safe keeping. Could the science be considered a cultural preservationist if it destroyed the

very items it wanted to preserve?

As new technologies that provided a greater amount of detail and data emerged, the vast

amount of information provided by them was open to interpretation; the data so readily available
is not only interpreted by experts, but also the inexperienced, usually reporters or documentary

channels who tend to beautify information to fit a certain goal or reach a certain audience.

Discussing CT Scanning

Through history, ancient burial sites have been vandalized all over world. Whether it be

for gold, pottery or simply something old to sell, the grave robbers are responsible for the

destruction of many mummies from many civilizations. In a sense, these invaluable parts of

history and humanity suffered a second form of vandalism; that of the scientist. Though in the

name of knowledge, many mummies have been destroyed by those attempting to save them.

A study by two professors, Archeologist Kate Robson Brown and Anthropologist Helen

Wood, of two Egyptian mummies skulls (identified only as A and B), demonstrates the uses of

CT scanning technology: “in the century since Petrie (1898) first demonstrated the use of

radiological technology in the study of Egyptian mummies, diagnostic radiology has made an

invaluable contribution to anthropology” (199). Also known as CT scanning, this technology has

helped anthropologists to, in a sense, to see without eyes. Scientists had to physically open an

Egyptian sarcophagus, un-wrap the mummy, and analyze the remains; now, with CT scanning

technology the body can be studied in better detail than looking at it with the naked eye. In their

study, Brown and Wood explained that “Using a CT HiSpeed Advantage Scanner (G.E. Medical,

USA) in situ [on location] at Addenbrooke’s Teaching Hospital, Cambridge, UK, CT images

were generated of each mummy in the transverse, sagittal and parasagittal planes. At the time of

going to press, the cost of this treatment was approximately UK£30.00” (199). Not only was it

advantageous to use CT scanning on a mummy, but it was also cheap.

The professors explained that “a scan thickness of 5.0 mm resulted in a high level of
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resolution of all tissue types.” (200) yielding high definition images of the mummies that could

be used to create 3D modeling of the skulls. Extensive data was gathered in regards to skull size

and thickness, jaw size, wear and tear of the teeth, etc. These measurements were then used for

metrical analysis (also known as Anthropometrics or, as the science explained later, Geometric

Morphometrics) by the scientists to identify, for example, the individual’s sex: “Mummy B does

not exhibit a large frontal sinus and appears gracile in terms of muscle attachments, size of

mastoid processes and gonial angles; this may indicate female sex” (202). In a separate case

study Nikki Eklektos,1 B.Sc. (Hons); Manisha R. Dayal,1 M.Sc.; and Paul R. Manger,1 Ph.D.

also found this technology applicable “to determine the extent of preservation of the mummified

brain” (499) of an man’s skull found fossilized in Africa.

The technology however, does pose problems; while scanning an item may be relatively

cheap, obtaining the machine itself is certainly not. The expertise needed to use a CT scan is very

specific, and asking an anthropologist to put aside his work to learn to use it seems unreasonable.

Therefore the science may depend on outside sources like the hospital mentioned above to obtain

CT scans, which, done in large scale, for multiple individuals, may put a strain on

anthropological grants. However, “the integration of quantitative information from minimal CT

scans with existing data sets is a valuable way to increase our understanding of existing data, and

of generating new information precluded from other types of study” (Brown, Wood 203).

This technology can also spark racial issues. When CT scanning was used to reconstruct

the great Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s face in 2005, controversy regarding the fact that the Pharaoh

seemed to be shown with white skin and non-African characteristics became headline news. The

data was ‘interpreted’ by three separate teams of forensic anthropologists from Egypt, France

and America, in partnership with National Geographic. While the data was solid and interpreted
by people representative of very different locations individual groups still found the data unjust

and misrepresentative. Especially when backed up by people like Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-

1986). A Senegalese Anthropologist, Diop contends in his article “African nations and culture:

From ancient black Egypt to the problems of black Africa today.” that the conception of modern

Egyptians as “Caucasoid” rather than “Negroid” is a preconception of early Egyptologists. He

further asserts that his reasons are made fact by the idea that life for the Ancient Egyptians was

oriented south, towards sub-Saharan Africa (62, 70). These ideas are further supported by F.L.

Williams, R.L. Belcher, and G.J. Armelagos. In their 2005 publication “Forensic

Misclassification of Ancient Nubian Crania: Implications for Assumptions about Human

Variation” they state that “Pressure from local law enforcement officials who insist on ‘knowing’

the social race of unknowns may prompt some forensic anthropologists to designate racial

affinity (provided that the sex of the individual can be determined), producing classifications that

some have called ‘bureaucratic races’.” The fact that Nubia (located in the ancient Nile) was

Egypt’s closest trader and rival and that they were of “Negroid” characteristics seems to

emphasize that an Egyptian Pharaoh would have never been of “Caucasoid” traits.

General protestors, moved in part by a media outcry, gathered at the opening of the King

Tutankhamen’s exhibit because they did not understand the data presented or the evidence used

for the famous Pharaoh’s bust. Most scholars agree that the way we look at history may change

as new evidence is presented aided by new technologies. How can someone refute that three

teams from three different parts of the world arrived to the same conclusion? The truth is that

new technologies give us clear data and help us establish new trends that will guide us to an

understanding of who we were and where we came from. Accepting this data is critical to

accepting ourselves.
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Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archeologist, Egyptologist and head of Cairo’s Supreme

Council of Antiquities (arguably the best known Egyptologist today) stated: "Tutankhamun was

not black, and the portrayal of ancient Egyptian civilisation as black has no element of truth to it"

and that "Egyptians are not Arabs and are not Africans despite the fact that Egypt is in Africa”

(as quoted in the article “Tutankhamun was not black: Egypt antiquities chief”). Are we to

believe those with an agenda or are we to stand on our own feet? Data specification based on CT

scanning cannot lie. If we are to progress towards a future based in understanding we must first

try to understand how this new technology works; especially when that technology helps us

understand ourselves.

Conclusion

Ethnography, as Anthropology used to be known, was biased towards male

understanding, ethnocentric and discriminative. However, through advancements in knowledge

and the science, as well as contributions by female anthropologists like Margaret Mead,

anthropologists gained insight in the lives of the ancients. Even though the anthropologist is still,

by definition, a hands-on scientist, the technological advances of the last three decades have

made progressive changes in how this “outdated” science is viewed worldwide. Through

technology, the science has acquired more accurate methods for data gathering and analysis;

revealing truths that may very well re-write history as we know it.

The merge with new technologies and further angles of research is a necessity in a world

where everything seems to change in the blink of an eye. With such advancements in the science

and the speed at which this information is shared in the world today, anthropologists like Rosa

Elena Gaspar the Alba warns that “new technologies should not be an instrument of control and
oppression, but one used for liberation and education in both developed and underdeveloped

societies. Thus social sciences, particularly anthropology and archeology, utilizing cutting edge

technology, increase not restrict the development of human communities.”(1) It all comes down

to responsibility; who is responsible for what data is used for, and how information is portrayed

in this modern world is the key to understanding the scientist’s role in this issue. Gaspar the Alba

denounces that “in the case of archaeology, not excluding anthropology, its commercialization is

something we cannot control: TV channels and mass media producers are manipulating the

information that has been scientifically generated in order to make the story more attractive to

the general public” (3). Scientists have to make a stand to stop this misuse of data; a stand to

apply the technology appropriately and in a way that will benefit humankind, not confuse it.

In the end, as Gaspar the Alba poses: “will only scientific audiences receive full

information?” (3). As Anthropology turns a page into the 21 st Century, its duty is not only to

modernize, but also to make sure that the information obtained is used properly despite the

commercial usages such information may pose. Anthropology is the ‘Rosetta Stone’ we need to

understand all cultures and all peoples, and the new technologies are affirming its position as a

science that helps us understand who we are and where we come from; developing a sense of

responsibility for such knowledge is essential for its future as a science and its survival as a field.

Works Cited

Bettinger, Robert L.; Eerkens, Jelmer “Point Typologies, Cultural Transmission, and the Spread
of Bow-and-Arrow Technology in the Prehistoric Great Basin.” American Antiquity,
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Vol. 64, No. 2 (1999), pp. 231-242. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2694276?seq=1

Brown, Kate Robson; Wood, Helen; “The Utility of Minimal CT Scanning in the Study of Two
Egyptian Mummy Heads” (Short Report) International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 1999
9: 199-204 http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/

Cheikh, Anta Diop, “Nations Nègres et Culture. De l'antiquité nègre égyptienne aux problèmes
culturels de l'Afrique Noire d'aujourd'hui”, Tome I, Paris: Présence Africaine, 1979, pp.
62, 70.

Dye Lee “Bow and Arrow Presages First Arms Race” Online publication for ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5186344

Eklektos, Nikki; Dayal, Manisha R.; Manger, Paul R. “A Forensic Case Study of a Natural
Mummified Brain from the Bushveld of South Africa” Journal of Forensic Science, May
2006, Vol 51, No. 3 www.blackwell-synergy.com

Gaspar de Alba, Rosa Elena (President of the Commission of Visual Anthropology, Mexico)
“Anthropology in the Age of New Technologies” (Online Publication) Jan. 27th 2000.
http://www.comite-film-ethno.net/colloque/pdf/langages-diffusions/gaspar-rosa-elena.pdf

Unknown Author “Tutankhamun was not black: Egypt antiquities chief” (2007-09-25)
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iB6u3XEMp9IrJfl-kH6FHNgZCg_A

Williams, F.L.; Belcher, R.L.; Armelagos, G.J. "Forensic Misclassification of Ancient

Nubian Crania: Implications for Assumptions about Human Variation". Current
Anthropology 2005 .46:341. doi:10.1086/428792