Mummified opossum (VCU_3D_1179)

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This natural opossum (Didelphis virginiana) mummy provided to the Virtual Curation Laboratory by young scholar Lowell Nugent, as detailed here: https://vcuarchaeology3d.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/moche-madness-a-mummified-mammal-and-a-young-explorer/. The naturally mummified opossum at first glance resembles a rat, but then Digital Curation Supervisor Ashley McCuistion and then Digital Zooarchaeologist Mariana Zechini tentatively identified it as a juvenile opossum. This identification was confirmed on March 19, 2014, by the Virginia Museum of Natural History’s Curator of Archaeology Dr. Elizabeth Moore.