Describes how the bodies were discovered, recovered, removed from Greenland to the Archaeological Conservation Department of the National Museum in Copenhagen; and how the initial plan to conserve the bodies and the clothing expanded to include analyses of all aspects of the find. Carbon dating fixed the burial date at about 1475. Age and sex of the mummies was determined. Clues were sought about the causes of their deaths. Examination of tattoos and clothing was conducted for clues to geographic origin; tissues and food remnants in intestinal tract for clues to their diet and subsistence. One of the results show that modern Greenlanders have three times the mercury and eight times the lead in their systems as did the people of Qilakitsoq, even though Greenland is considered a relatively unpolluted area of the world. Research is still proceeding; four of the mummies have been returned to Greenland and are displayed at the museum in Nuuk. -- AATA