MOSI mummy exhibit unwraps thousands of years of mysteries (U.S.)

Tampa Bay Online (Cloe Cabrera)

The cherubic-faced baby sits frozen in eternal repose, arms crossed on its knees, trimmed hair, tiny fingernails and a small amulet around its neck.

Researchers don't know the infant's gender, but they believe the baby's battle for life ended at 10 months old from a heart defect. But this infant is much older than that — it's 6,420 years old to be exact.

The child is a mummified corpse from Peru known as the "Detmold Child."

It's 1,000 years older than the earliest known Egyptian mummy and predates King Tut by more than 3,000 years.

The Detmold Child is on display at "Mummies of the World, The Exhibition," which opens today and continues through Sept. 9, at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry.