Rehydrating Mummified Hands: The Pima County Experience

Abstract

A number of articles and technical notes describing various methods of softening or casting mummified fingers to obtain fingerprints have been published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years. The publications to date describe either single case reports or a small number of cases in which mummified fingers were rehydrated or casted using a variety of techniques. From 2001–2012, we rehydrated approximately 425 pairs of mummified hands for fingerprint identification using a 3% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. Disarticulated mummified hands are rehydrated in a 3% NaOH solution for 48–72 hours until the desired level of suppleness is reached. Following rehydration, the hands are dried and fingerprinted. From 2011–2012, 76 pairs of mummified hands were rehydrated using this technique. Positive fingerprint identifications were made in 34 (45%) of the 76 cases after successful rehydration.