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Updated June 24th, 2021 at 17:35 IST

Italy: Almost 3000-year-old Egyptian mummy undergoes CT scan at Milan hospital

A 3000-year-old mummy, believed to belong to a priest, recently got a CT scan at a hospital in Italy in a bid for the researchers to reconstruct its life, death

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
3000-year-old
IMAGE: TWITTER | Image:self
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An ancient mummy, believed to belong to a priest, recently got a CT scan at a hospital in Milan, Italy. According to CNN, the mummy of Ankhekhonsu, an ancient Egyptian priest, was transferred from Bergamo's Civic Archaeological Museum to Milan's Policlinico hospital, where experts will shed light on his life and the burial customs of almost 3,000 years ago. The procedure is a part of a project that aims to discover the mummy’s identity and the way it was preserved. 

Sabina Malgora, the director of the Mummy Project Research, reportedly said that the mummies are practically a “biological museum” and are like a “time capsule”. Malgora added that the information on the mummy’s name comes from the sarcophagus dated between 900 and 800 BC, where Ankhekhonsu - which means 'the god Khonsu is alive' - is written five times. The researchers believe that they can reconstruct the life and death of the Egyptian priest and understand which kinds of products were used to mummify the body.

Further, Malgora informed that studying ancient diseases and wounds is important for modern medical research. She added that the procedure can help researchers study cancer or the arteriosclerosis of the past, which can be useful for modern research.  

Mummy ‘speaks’ after 3,000 years 

Meanwhile, this comes after researchers last year were able to recreate the voice of a 3,000-year-old mummy by using 3D-printing technology to recreate the vocal tract. According to AP, Nesyamun, the Egyptian Priest who was mummified 3,000 years ago lived during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses XI,  Rameses XI reigned at the beginning of the 11th century BC. Researchers believe that Nesyamun was aged 50 when he died and the reason at first was believed to be strangulation but later it was discovered that the death may have been caused by an allergic reaction to a possible insect sting to the tongue.

According to the co-author of the study, Prof David Howard who is also the head of the department of electronic engineering at Royal Holloway, University of London, said that he and his team have created the sound of  Nesyamun as he is in his sarcophagus. The report by the team revealed that the mummy was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and then a series of CT scans were carried out. From the resulting scans, the team were able to recreate a digital reconstruction of Nesyamun’s vocal tract and reproduce it through 3D printing. The team also added that the long stretch of time and mummification had actually taken its toll on Nesyamun's body.

IMAGE: Twitter
 

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Published June 24th, 2021 at 17:35 IST

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