Looking inside ancient Egyptian mummies
Researchers have used state-of-the-art CT scanning technology to virtually unwrap ancient Egyptian mummies.
In an attempt to better understand how people lived and died in the ancient Nile Valley 4,000 years ago, curators at the British Museum have teamed up with scientists and medical experts to digitally look inside eight mummies.
Researchers have used state-of-the-art CT scanning technology to virtually unwrap ancient Egyptian mummies.
In an attempt to better understand how people lived and died in the ancient Nile Valley 4,000 years ago, curators at the British Museum have teamed up with scientists and medical experts to digitally look inside eight mummies.
They used non-invasive scanning techniques to learn about the age at death, health problems suffered during life, and the manner of mummification.
Among the mummified individuals – who lived across a period of 5,000 years between 3500BC and AD700 – is a young female temple singer, an unknown man of high status, and a child from the Roman era.
The findings are detailed in a new book, Ancient Lives, New Discoveries, published to accompany a major interactive exhibition at the British Museum.
To read a History Extra interview with curator John Taylor, and Daniel Antoine, who is responsible for the museum’s human remains collection, click here.
To find out more about the exhibition, click here.
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