Photograph by Gianluca Colla
Photograph courtesy Dario Piombino-Mascali
Birthplace: Messina, Italy
Home: Bolzano, Italy
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
I wanted to be an archaeologist.
How did you get started in your field of work?
While studying biological anthropology in Pisa, I realized that I could apply all that I had learned to the huge number of mummified remains present in my native island, Sicily.
What inspires you to dedicate your life to anthropology?
I like the idea that this enormous cultural heritage will be protected and appreciated by future generations.
What's a normal day like for you?
When I am on a mummy mission, I work in the crypt as long as permitted, documenting, sampling, and taking notes. It is great to go out in the evening after a long, tough day.
Do you have a hero?
My hero is my mentor, Professor Arthur Aufderheide, a pathologist specializing in mummy studies I had the honor and privilege to work with. He is the godfather of modern mummy research.
What has been your favorite experience in the field? The most challenging?
The work I cherish the most is the study on little Rosalia Lombardo, Palermo's Sleeping Beauty, which we CT scanned in late 2010.
What are your other passions?
I love traveling, swimming, reading books about art history, and am a great cook.
What do you do in your free time?
I often go jogging, go out with my friends and colleagues, and collect old photographs of the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, the museum of which I am curator.
Latest Explorer News
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News
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Lost "Sleeping Beauty" Mummy Formula Found
Rosalia Lombardo, or "Sleeping Beauty," as she's known, appears to be merely dozing beneath the glass front of her coffin in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy.
Inside National Geographic Magazine
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Where the Dead Don't Sleep
Sicily's macabre mummies offer lessons about life.
In Their Words
I like the idea that this enormous cultural heritage will be protected and appreciated by future generations.
—Dario Piombino-Mascali
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Explorer Moment: Ray of Hope
Biologist Andrea Marshall leads her team in discovering new and conserving known manta ray species.
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Sylvia Earle on Women in Science
Sylvia Earle reflects on her scientific career and on gender obstacles she faced along the way.
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Photos
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Mummy Pictures
Anatomist Giovan Battista Rini (1795-1856) "petrified" corpses by bathing them in a cocktail of mercury and other heavy metals.
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