LINCOLN, NEBRASKA—According to a statement released by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Karl Reinhard and his colleagues examined the intestinal contents of three naturally formed North American mummies with scanning electron microscopy, and found that these people had been provided with special diets in the last days of their lives. First, the team found legless grasshoppers inside the remains of a man who died between 1,000 and 1,400 years ago in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas. His colon was so swollen with digested and semi-digested food that it crowded his spine while he slowly starved. Reinhard said the grasshopper bodies were rich in fluid and protein, and would have been easier for the man to eat. The scientists also determined that a small Hohokam child who was buried between 500 and 1,000 years ago in Arizona’s Ventana Cave had been fed hundreds of saguaro cactus flowers. These flowers are extremely difficult to harvest from the tall, prickly plant, Reinhard said. Finally, a child buried some 750 years ago in southern Utah had been fed just nutritious rice grass, even though it is time-consuming to harvest. Reinhard explained that many people must have been involved in the effort to help this sick child. To read about a snake fang ingested by a hunter-gatherer some 1,500 years ago in the Lower Pecos, go to "Snake Snack."
