Journal ‘Frontiers in Medicine’ reports the special discovery. The researchers did not open the mummy, but used a CT scan. An image can be formed of the inside of the mummified body by X-rays.
Scientists are using the scans to gain more insight into the rituals used in ancient Egypt. It has now become clear that the mummy was a boy, who died at the age of 14 or 15. He is 128 cm tall, not circumcised and he had healthy teeth. The teenager was of high socioeconomic status and presumed to have died of natural causes.
Tongue of gold
In his time, the next of kin gave expensive objects, because people believed in an afterlife that was comparable to the world in which they lived. But access to this afterlife was not guaranteed: therefore every effort was made to ensure that the deceased lacked for nothing.
For example, the boy got ‘a tongue of gold’ in his mouth and a golden scarab, an ornament in the shape of a beetle, in the place of his heart. The boy wore sandals that allowed him to “walk into his new life.” Furthermore, it was decorated with ferns, which has a ritual significance.
The mummy was exhumed in 1916 near the Egyptian town of Edfu. It then lay untouched for over 100 years in the repository of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. From now on, the mummy will have a place there.
It is not the first time that the CT scanner has been used to unravel the secrets of mummies. This summer 2021 video shows how secrets of another mummy were unraveled:
