Breathing new life into mummies

Western News (The University of Western Ontario)

Using computed tomography, more commonly known as CT-scans, a research team at The University of Western Ontario hopes to unravel the mysteries of three Egyptian mummies on loan from the Royal Ontario Museum.

The CT-scans, which generate three-dimensional images of internal matter, are expected to deliver basic details to the researchers, such as gender and date of death.

It is also possible that artifacts, such as jewelry and amulets may be discovered beneath the bandages. “This exercise provides us with a very exciting opportunity to use the latest in what medical science has to offer to breathe new life into these messengers from the past,” says Andrew Nelson of Western’s Department of
Anthropology and a research associate of the ROM.

One of the recently scanned mummies was of a wab-priest excavated by legendary Egyptologist Henri Edouard Naville from Deir el-Bahri and dated to the 21st Dynasty.

See the above page for more.