HLA types of mummified Eskimo bodies from the 15th century

In 1978 the bodies of eight Eskimos were discovered in two tombs among the rocks at Qilakitsoq in the Umanak District on the west coast of Greenland. By C14 analysis at the Danish National Museum the burial was dated around A.D. 1460. The climatic conditions have been favorable for the preservation of the bodies, which were freeze-dried by nature to almost the consistency of wood. With skin and muscle tissue from the thigh, a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type determination was carried out by means of a microabsorption method developed in this laboratory on spleen tissue from recently deceased persons (Hansen and Gürtler, 1979, 1982). The aim of the HLA determinations of these mummies was to reveal possible family relationships, and to see whether the HLA antigens found would be typical for now-living Eskimo populations. The results indicate that two families were buried, one in each of the two tombs.