[Archaeology and criminology--Strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinary cooperation]. / Archäologie und Kriminalwissenschaft Vom Nutzen und Nachteilinterdisziplinärer Kooperation.

Interdisciplinary cooperation of archaeology and criminology is often focussed on the scientific methods applied in both fields of knowledge. In combination with the humanistic methods traditionally used in archaeology, the finding of facts can be enormously increased and the subsequent hermeneutic deduction of human behaviour in the past can take place on a more solid basis. Thus, interdisciplinary cooperation offers direct and indirect advantages. But it can also cause epistemological problems, if the weaknesses and limits of one method are to be corrected by applying methods used in other disciplines. This may result in the application of methods unsuitable for the problem to be investigated so that, in a way, the methodological and epistemological weaknesses of two disciplines potentiate each other. An example of this effect is the quantification of qualia. These epistemological reflections are compared with the interdisciplinary approach using the concrete case of the "Eulau Crime Scene".

El rito de la «Apertura de la Boca» en el Antiguo Egipto: estudio bucodental de una cabeza egipcia momificada / The Ritual of «Opening of the Mouth» in Ancient Egypt: study on a mummified egyptian head

La momificación o embalsamamiento es un proceso que se desarrolló en el Antiguo Egipto para conservar el cuerpo tras la muerte, y preservar así la identidad del individuo en la vida futura, de acuerdo con sus costumbres funerarias. El rito de la «Apertura de la Boca y los Ojos», formaba parte de los ritos funerarios y pretendía devolver al difunto la capacidad de hablar y de observar en el más allá. Se realizaba sobre el cadáver previamente a su embalsamamiento, o bien se «representaba» ante la momia ya embalsamada o una estatua de la misma. Se presenta el caso de un cráneo humano momificado del Museo de Antropología Forense, Paleopatología y Criminalística de la Escuela de Medicina Legal de Madrid. Presenta protrusión lingual y fracturas en los dientes del grupo anterosuperior (AU)

Mummification or embalming is a process which was developed in Ancient Egypt in order to preserve the body after death, and thereby to maintain the individual's identity in the afterlife, in accordance with Ancient Egyptian funerary customs. The ritual of Opening the Mouth and Eyes formed part of the funerary rituals and constituted an attempt to restore the ability of the deceased to speak and see in the life beyond. It was performed on the corpse prior to embalming, or it was «performed» in front of the mummy after embalming or a statue of the mummy. We present the case of a mummified human cranium from the Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology and Criminal Studies Museum at the Legal Medicine School of Madrid. It displays a protruding tongue and fractures on the teeth in the anterosuperior group (AU)