Experts Digitally Unwrap Secrets Of Mummies

The hidden secrets of Egyptian mummies, some up to 3,000 years old, have been virtually unwrapped and reconstructed for the first time using scanning technology in a joint British-Australian exhibition. Three-dimensional images of six mummies aged between 900BC and 140-180AD from ancient Egypt, which have been held at the British Museum but never physically unwrapped, give an insight into what it was like to live along the Nile River thousands of years ago. Researchers are revealing details of all their physical remains as well as the embalming material used by the embalmers like never before. A dual-energy computed tomography scanner at UK’s Royal Brompton Hospital – only a handful are in operation around the world – was used to obtain thousands of slices of images of the mummies, with volumetric software then harnessed to create 3D models. It allows visitors to virtually peel back the layers of history through interactive 3D visualizations of the CT scans. Researchers have been able to image the arteries of the mummies and able to look at whether they are suffering from diseases which many people are suffering from today, such as cardiovascular diseases. They hope to image the soft tissues at the cellular level to look at whether there’s any change or to find evidence, for example, of cardiovascular diseases but also things like cancer. The scans found that one of mummies, Tamut, a priest’s daughter from 900BC, had plaque in her arteries. Three dimensional printing was also used to recreate amulets fond during scans of her mummified remains.