Diagnostic imaging professors and students x-ray local African-American slave

Quinnipiac faculty, staff, and students use diagnostic imaging techniques to learn more about Fortune. From left to right: Milad Ziyadeh '14, Natalie Pelletier, Jamie Ullinger, Robert Lombardo, Gerald Conlogue, and Julianna Lupo '14.

March 11, 2013 - Quinnipiac University faculty and students are working with the Mattatuck Museum to develop a better idea of how an eighteenth century slave lived and may have died.

A team of diagnostic imaging professors and students spent the day March 11 diligently x-raying the remains of Fortune, an African-American man who died in bondage in 1798 near the Naugatuck River.

"We are performing a comprehensive x-ray and anthropological study of Fortune's skeleton," said Professor Gerald Conlogue, co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute. "Since Fortune is going to be buried in May, it's important that we get as much documentation as possible."

Fortune, his wife, Dinah, and their three children were the legal property of Dr. Preserved Porter, a Waterbury physician. Fortune also had an older son, Africa, whose mother was not known. Fortune and his family lived on Porter's farm, east of the center of the city. It's believed that while Porter tended to his medical practice, Fortune may have worked on the doctor's farm, which produced rye, Indian corn, onions, potatoes, apples, beef, hogs, cider, hay, oats and buckwheat. Dinah is believed to have worked in the Porter's home, cooking and cleaning. It's believed that Fortune and his family were hired out on occasion to work in other families' homes. Fortune was in his mid to late 40s when he died. It's believed that his children were sold off shortly after his death. By 1800, only Dinah remained in the Porter household. 

"If you look his bones, you can tell he did not have an easy life," Conlogue said.

After Fortune's death, Porter prepared his skeleton to serve the study of anatomy, according to the Mattatuck Museum. Fortune's bones have provided scientific evidence to document the circumstances of his life. His rugged bone structure suggests that he was powerful man accustomed to rigorous farm work. Early historians wrote that Fortune drowned after falling into the Naugatuck River, but the circumstances surrounding his death are controversial.

"Inside his bones is the story of his life," Conlogue said. "We are going to get him to tell us his story from the x-rays."

Conlogue and his colleagues, Natalie Pelletier, clinical assistant professor of diagnostic imaging, and Robert Lombardo, an adjunct professor of diagnostic imaging, will work with Jaime Ullinger, an assistant professor of anthropology and co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute, and Richard Gonzalez, a forensic anthropologist and assistant professor of medical sciences in the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac, examined Fortune's skeleton.

Juniors Julianna Lupo and Milad Ziyadeh spent part of their spring break assisting with the scans. "The fact that I am able to be part of this project is awesome," Ziyadeh said in between scans. "It's a great review of what we have learned."

The students are also using the unique experience to prepare for x-ray certification exams in May. "It inspires you to do more," Lupo said. "It gives you greater respect for what we are studying and for history in general."

Ullinger performed a bioanthropological analysis. In addition, she used a 3D scanning camera that produced data that can be used for a facial reconstruction. Gonzalez performed a forensic anthropological analysis to confirm that the skeleton in fact represent the remains of Fortune and to determine a possible cause and manner of death.

"They will produce a record that will last forever," Conlogue said. "This is an interdisciplinary educational project that will prove to be very beneficial."

In addition to the 3D scanning, the researchers used a 3D printer that makes replicas of the bones, demonstrating pathology.  Additional medical technology enabled them to reconstruct Fortune's face.

"I think the facial reconstruction will be wonderful," Conlogue said. "People can really identify with something you can put a face to."

View more photos on Facebook.

http://www.nhregister.com/20130908/abused-in-death-waterbury-slave-to-have-funeral

http://www.waterburyobserver.org/node/1736

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/12/us/connecticut-slave-burial/

Professors to participate in study of mummies in South America

Nov. 30, 2012 - The National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council has awarded Quinnipiac University's Ron Beckett, professor emeritus in the School of Health Sciences, and Gerald Conlogue, professor of diagnostic imaging in the School of Health Sciences, a grant to participate in an international nondestructive paleoimaging/bioanthropological study of approximately 40 mummies in Lima, Peru and Quito, Ecuador.

Beckett and Conlogue, who are co-directors of the university's Bioanthropology Research Institute, will spend Jan. 13-20 examining mummies dating back as far as 150 AD from the Maranga, a pre-Inca culture that lived near the coast of present-day Peru. This will be the first time Maranga mummies will be scientifically examined.

"I will be using a digital X-ray system to look inside the mummies," Conlogue said. "Previously, I had only film to use as a recording medium."

Film has a number of drawbacks, Conlogue said, including the need for a darkroom, chemicals to process the exposed film and running water to rinse the solution off of the processed film. There is also much less room for error.

"With the digital X-ray system, the resulting image can be adjusted, similar to Photoshop, and the need to repeat an exposure is eliminated," he said. 

Beckett will utilize endoscopy equipment to examine the inside of the mummies' bodies and organs and attempt to create three-dimensional images of the mummies' internal features.

"We are reconstructing their lives," Beckett said. "We hope to determine their age of death, sex, etc..., as well as if there was any evidence of past trauma or trauma near the time of death to give us a better understanding of their interactions with the environment."

The professors will also look for signs of disease to better understand if the people suffered from any infection.

"It's a great collection," Beckett said of the mummies. "We love mummies. While there is much known about the material culture of the Maranga, this is an opportunity to examine a group of mummies that have not been studied from a bioanthropological perspective. It will give us a much better picture of what life and culture was like when these individuals lived."

Quinnipiac worked with Kubtec, of Milford, to secure the digital X-ray system and specially-designed transport cases that will allow Beckett and Conlogue to transport the equipment to Ecuador.

Maria Patricia Ordenez, of Quito, Ecuador; Andrew Nelson, of the University of Western Ontario; and Katherine Harper-Beckett will also participate with the expedition.

Jaime Ullinger named co-director of institute

April 25, 2012 -  Jaime Ullinger, assistant professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, was named the third co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute.

"Jaime has actively involved her students in several institute research projects which has led to presentations and posters at national meetings," said Ronald Beckett, professor emeritus of Health Sciences and co-director of the institute. "Jerry [Conlogue] and I feel that Jaime, with her background in biological anthropology and her research, will be a fantastic addition to the Bioanthropology Research Institute and its efforts."

"I'm quite excited to be working with the Bioanthropology Research Institute," Ullinger said. "I am very excited about anthropology growing at Quinnipiac and collaborating in different departments."

Ullinger, who studies skeleton remains from archeological sites to determine how the inhabitants lived, said she anticipates utilizing the institute's technology to better understand the kind of impact the transition to urbanism had on people's daily lives.

"Our institute was modeled after the early Paleopathology association in that anyone interested in the bioanthropology and bioarchaeology of cultural remains and artifacts is welcome to become involved. Jaime's enthusiasm for this type of research and toward student involvement makes her a logical faculty member to become involved," Beckett said. "We hope Jaime will continue to do what she has demonstrated this first year. We know that she will bring another layer of expertise and vision to the Bioanthropology Research Institute."

Beckett said Ullinger's background will make the institute stronger. "The Bioanthropology Research Institute is internationally recognized in bioantropological research," Beckett said. "We hope that Jaime can build on that reputation and, with her research ideas and the students she mentors, tap into the established network of global colleagues thereby enriching both her work and the experiences of her students. The sky is the limit."

Ullinger has worked with the institute since starting at Quinnipiac last August. "We have already been working quite a bit together," Ullinger said. "This formalizes the work we have already done."

She said she and her co-directors hope to further engage undergraduates with the institute. "They will do more original research," Ullinger said. "Their increased involvement will illustrate how different fields of study can work effectively together in order to solve problems and answer questions."

Beckett selected for National Geographic "Explorer" profile

Dec. 12, 2011 - Ronald Beckett was included in a National Geographic feature called "Explorers: Bios." 

The Web feature included a question-and-answer interview with Beckett about his work in the field of bioanthropology and paleoimaging, including imaging mummies.

Read the interview

Beckett and Conlogue present research findings at meeting in Peru

Nov. 8, 2011 - Ronald Beckett and Gerald Conlogue presented at a Paleopathology Association meeting in Lima, Peru on Nov. 2, 2011.

Beckett and Conlogue presented "A Field Radiographic and Endoscopic Study of the Mummies from Laguna de los Condores, Peru: A Paleopathological Analysis" with Sonia Gillen, of Centro Mallqui in Peru, and Joe Salazar, a field archeologist in Peru.

Beckett, Conlogue and Guillen also presented "Evidence of Severe Bowel Obstruction in a Chiribaya Mummy from the Osmore River Valley, Peru: A Case Study and Probable Cause of Death."

In addition, Beckett, Conlogue also presented "Bringing Imaging into the 21st Century" with Kristen Horner, a Quinnipiac alumna who assisted in the digitalization of hundreds of radiographs of mummies from the Laguna de los Condores near Leymebamba, Peru.

Ron Beckett featured in National Geographic

Aug. 31, 2010 - Ron Beckett, professor of health sciences emeritus and co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute in the School of Health Sciences, wrote the article, "Mastering Mummy Science," in the September issue of National Geographic. The article is about Beckett's work with the Anga culture of Papua New Guinea.

Professors perform high-resolution testing on Egyptian mummy

Pa-Ib Mummy Press Conference at North Haven campus. Professors Jerry Conlogue and Ron Beckett with Kathy Maher, executive director at The Barnum Museum in Bridgeport.

Jan. 14, 2010 - Professors Ronald Beckett and Gerald Conlogue, co-directors of the Bioanthropology Research Institute, collaborated with researchers from the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn., to transport a 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy to campus to do high-resolution testing using imaging equipment at the School of Health Sciences facility on the University's North Haven Campus.

The researchers were trying to determine if the the mummy, known as Pa-Ib, contained a bird mummy inside it. The new CT scanner was able to take images that were eight times the resolution of tests done in 2006. A small camera was also inserted inside the mummy's skull.

After completing the scans, Beckett and Conlogue determined that the packet inside Pa-Ib does not contain a bird mummy; it likely contains organs. The pair will release the full results of the testing later in the year.

Watch videos of the press conference and the mummy examination on the University's YouTube Channel.

Links to more info:

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/More-secrets-revealed-about-Bridgeport-mummy-414468.php

http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20100115/NEWS/301159970