The mummy Maren

Ordinarily, dead bodies decompose when buried in the ground. However, certain conditions can cause the process of decay to stop. That has happened here. The dead body underwent a special mummification process by being buried in wet soil without a supply of oxygen.

We do not know much about this dead woman. The story goes that she was found at Ankerløkken cemetery in Kristiania (Oslo), one of the city’s cholera cemeteries, which was excavated to make room for the city’s gasworks. She became part of Rikshospitalet’s pathological collection and was later nicknamed “Maren i myra” after an old popular song about love and death.