CAT scan of adult mummy from Royal Ontario Museum

The Star

The above article looks at results from scans on four mummies owned by the Royal Ontario Museum, one of which, an anonymous adult, was scanned last week. The previously scanned mummies are also described, including two infants and a female musician named Djedmaatesankh, from the Temple of Amun at Luxor.

Last week, the Royal Ontario Museum performed a CT scan at a University of Western Ontario lab on one of the four adult mummies which have been in its collection nearly 100 years.

Adult (scanned last week): Unlike most Egyptian mummies whose brains were removed through the nose during the mummification process, this mummy had much of her brain left intact, an indication that there were variations in the way mummification was done. The mummy was found in a coffin belonging to a low-ranking priest known as a "wab-priest" and was inscribed to a male. Last Monday's CT scan showed the mummy was a female between 20 and 30 years old, indicating she was in the wrong coffin, something that is not uncommon. It is unknown if the mistake was made at the time she was mummified around 1000 B.C or if the mix-up happened during the excavation period in 1906. The mummy was swathed in as many as 18 layers of bandages and appears to have been well preserved, indicating that a lot of care was taken during the wrapping job. No amulets were found on the body, indicating that the mummy may have been from a lower class.

See the above page for the full story.