Artifacts in mummies disclosed by X-rays

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32524, 6 February 1971, Page 11

Artifacts in mummies disclosed by X-rays

The unexpected discovery of valuable artifacts imbedded in royal mummies at the Cairo Museum was announced last month by a team of scientists at the University of Michigan.

In the first head-to-toe three - dimensional X-ray examination of the 29 mummified pharaohs and queens, the scientists discovered sacred jewellery, statues and inscribed scarabs hidden on and in the bodies.

The recent discovery is of great value'to archaeologists seeking information on the pharaohs that may be inscribed on the scarabs. Hitherto, artifacts that were recovered from the royal tomb could not be positively identified with specific mummies. The newly discovered artifacts lie under the skin of the mummified bodies and beneath layers of the pasty resinous material that covers the mummies. This accounts for the failure of previous

physical examinations and the searches of grave robbers to turn up the artifacts, according to Dr James E. Harris, who led the investigation last December. Sacred amulets and gold armbands, safely hidden by Egyptian high priests thousands of years ago, were also revealed by the X-rays. Surprisingly, Dr Harris said, the research team made its biggest discoveries of artifacts in mummies that had been damaged by vandals and grave robbers. It was explained that the scientists were seeking to expand knowledge of body size and proportion differences, disease, traumatic injuries and the' art of Pharaoh mummification in the Egyptian New Kingdom. X-rays of Rameses 11, noted for the monumental pyramids constructed in his time, showed signs of smallpox, the scientists reported. Degenerative arthritis and calcification of the arteries, a symptom of arteriosclerosis, were also said to be evident in the bodies of some of the more aged rulers. F X-rays disclosed that |

brains were still within the skulls of a number of the mummies. It had been commonly believed that the brains of all the Pharaohs were removed. The X-rays also revealed an interesting fact about Thutmosis IV who died in 1420 B.C. Unlike the other pharaohs Thutmosis had not been circumcised. Dr Harris speculated that the pharaoh had been a haemophiliac and therefore had been excused from the customary operation. The scientists were invited to X-ray the mummies after an orthodontal X-ray study of the heads of the royal mummies by the same team over a three-year period ending in 1969. The Michigan group, on its eighth Egyptian expedition, was the first to receive permission to study the royal mummies outside of their glass cases since 1912. The team, in conjunction with the University of Alexandria and the Cairo Museum, plans a ninth expedition early next year.— Copyright. “New York Times” News Service.