Hospital brain scanner reveals the identity of 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy

Mail Online (Fiona Macrae)

For two thousands years, their secrets have remained locked inside intricate layers of linen.

Now, the details of their life - and death - are being exposed with the help of 21st century technology.

Three child mummies have been virtually unwrapped by sophisticated X-ray scanners more usually used to detect brain tumours in hospitals.

Using a CT scanner, scientists have been able to peer through the multiple layers of tightly wrapped linen that protected the youngsters on their journey to the afterlife.
CT scan.

Within just an hour of starting the scans at BMI The Blackheath Hospital, in London, the scientists made a startling discovery.

A gold-masked mummy, long thought to belong to a girl was in fact the remains of a boy of around two years old.

Forensic Egyptologist Janet Davey said: 'We have already been stunned to discover, and amused too, that one of the mummies is in fact a boy.

See the above page for the full story, which includes some excellent photographs.