CASE REPORT Study of a seventeenth-century French artificial mummy: autopsical, native, and contrast-injected CT investigations Rozenn Colleter 1,2 & Fabrice Dedouit 2,3 & Sylvie Duchesne 1,2 & Patrice Gérard 2 & Laurent Dercle 4,5 & Pierre Poilpré 1 & Véronique Gendrot 6,7 & Hervé Rousseau 8 & Éric Crubézy 2 & Norbert Telmon 2,9 & Fatima-Zohra Mokrane 2,5,8 Received: 4 July 2017 /Accepted: 21 March 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Background A lead coffin was fortuitously discovered in a church called BEglise des Toussaints^ in Rennes (French Brittany). A collaborative taskforce investigated this extraordinary discovery. A multi-disciplinary team of experts from the National Institute for Preventive Archeological Research (INRAP) and Rangueil University Hospital of Toulouse was created, including anthro- pologists, archeologists, forensic pathologists, radiologists, and pathologists. The inscription on the lead coffin specified that the body belonged to BMesser Louys de Bruslon, Lord of Plessis,^ a nobleman who died on November 1, 1661. Multiple holes were visible in the lead coffin, and deterioration threatened the mummy. We opened the lead coffin and discovered an excellently preserved mummy, except for mostly skeletonized upper and lower limbs. The mummy was conserved in several layers of shrouds. Vegetal embalming material covered the head and filled the face, the thorax, and the abdomen. The embalmers had removed all thoracic and abdominal organs and conserved some pelvic organs (e.g., the bladder). Methods Multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) scanner evaluated the mummy, at each step of our analysis. The excellent preservation of abdominal vascular axes led us to perform a CT angiography using Angiofil®, an oily contrast agent developed for postmortem imaging, before an autopsy. Results Sub-diaphragmatic arteries, including the abdominal aorta and iliac arteries, were excellently preserved. The vascular contrast agent filled all arteries. The native CT, CT angiography, and autopsy did not detect any vascular lesion. Conclusion Our study, based on rare archeological material, allowed a complete examination of an excellently preserved seventeenth-century mummy, using MSCT, angiography, and an autopsy. We did not detect any arterial lesion and proposed a comprehensive description of the embalmment process. Keywords Mummy . Postmortem . Multi-slice computed tomography . Angiography . Embalming . Modern era . Brittany Introduction The renovation of the Jesuit Church of Toussaints in Rennes (French Brittany, France) led to the extraordinary finding of a lead coffin. Buried under the church pavement, the coffin was partially damaged. Several openings in this lead coffin * Fatima-Zohra Mokrane mokrane_fatimazohra@yahoo.fr 1 INRAP National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP, France), 37 rue du Bignon, CS 67737, 35577 Cesson-Sévigné, France 2 AMIS Laboratory: University of Toulouse, French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 5288, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31073 Toulouse, France 3 Unit of Forensic and Anthropological Imaging, Centre Universitaire Romand de Médecine Légale (CURML), Chemin de la Vulliette 4, CH-1000 Lausanne 25, Switzerland 4 Gustave Roussy Institute, Université Paris-Saclay, F-94805 Villejuif, France 5 New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA 6 French Regional Archaeological Service, Bretagne Avenue Charles Foulon, 35700 Rennes, France 7 French National Center for Scientific Research, UMR 6566, Rennes, France 8 Radiology Department, Rangueil University Hospital, 1 Avenue du Professeur Jean Poulhes, 31059 Cedex Toulouse, France 9 Forensic Department, Rangueil University Hospital, 1 avenue du Professeur Jean Poulhes, 31059 Cedex Toulouse, France International Journal of Legal Medicine https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-018-1830-8