ANCIENT EGYPT MUMMIES: Hospital brain scanner reveals the identity of 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy (Daily Mail; 27.03.09)

By Fiona Macrae (27th March 2009)

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.

One of the 2,000-year-old mummies before it is passed through the hospital scanner

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.´

Since the mummy has been at the British Museum, in the late 1800s or early 1900s, experts believed it was a girl because of the gold drapery and decorative purple flowers the mummy was holding. 'So it is quite exciting to get the 3-D images and discover it is a boy. The photos are a fascinating window into the past and we will learn many things from them.'

The scanner has yet to provide clues as to how the boy died, with no immediate signs of injury, malnutrition or illness such as brittle bone disease.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1165317/Its-boy-Hospital-brain-scanner-reveals-identity-2-000-year-old-Egyptian-mummy.html#ixzz0P5hpo0Uk