Abstract
The Marmot Mummy at 4300 meters: recovery, conservation and investigation of the specimen, by the Efisio Noussan Museum
A small mummified marmot was found by a mountain guide in the Aosta Valley (Italy) during the summer of 2022. The Efisio Noussan Regional Museum of Natural Sciences recovered the specimen on the Monte Rosa massif, in the eastern Lyskamm at 4.300 m.a.s.l. The museum authority supervised also the conservation and the laboratory investigations of the archaeozoological remain in collaboration with the Institute for Mummy Studies of Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy). The calibrated radiocarbon dating ("C) revealed that the animal lived about 6.640-6.450 cal. BP. The reliability of the result, equal to 95,4%, attests that the mummy of Lyskamm lived between 4.691-4.501 cal BCE. The multidisciplinary scientific research project called Marmot Mummy Project is now kicking off and it aimed at obtaining information on the sample and activating the genetic, archaeozoological, palaeoenvironmental, pedological, geological/glaciological and anthropological studies.