Radiologists just unwrapped a 2,300-year-old mummified teenage boy from the Cairo museum in Egypt using computerized tomography (CT) scans. The digital unwrapping revealed ancient Egyptian practices for the dead and some interesting accessories adorned on the body.
"Golden Boy"
As reported first by Global News, the boy was mummified when he passed away over a century ago. In 1916, his remains were found for the first time in a cemetery in Southern Egypt that had been in use from roughly 332 BCE and 30 BCE. His unexamined remains were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from where they had been kept in the basement.
The radiologists eventually decided to study the remains in-depth and dubbed the mummy "Golden Boy."
The team unwrapped the remains digitally with the help of CT scans. This method has been conducted for a long time now since it does not compromise the preservation of objects with historical significance.
The scans unveiled a wealth of body decorations indicating that the boy belonged to a high-ranking family in ancient Egypt.
The bones were kept in two nested coffins, the inner wood sarcophagus was adorned with patterns and a gilded face while the outer coffin looked rather simple, according to the team.
The CT scan also revealed 49 amulets that were organized in three columns within the body and between the wrappings. The amulets came in 21 various designs and at least 60% of them were composed of metal, particularly gold.
A heart scarab and a gold tongue amulet, both used in rituals to ensure that the dead may communicate in the afterlife, were discovered inside the boy's body.
He was also sporting a golden head mask with stone inlays along with a cartonnage across his chest.
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Book of the Dead
The boy's decorations, including a pair of white sandals discovered on his feet and ferns wrapped around his body, are in line with some of the practices described in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, according to Sahar Saleem, a radiologist at Cairo University and the paper's first author.
The age of Golden Boy is estimated by researchers to be 14 or 15. They claim in their report that the boy had all of his organs removed, save for his heart, and that his brain had been substituted with resin.
The team also found that the teen had great dental hygiene and with the quality of his mummification, it is likely that he belonged to a wealthy family.
The cause of the boy's death remains shrouded in mystery. But the team said that their scans did not indicate an unnatural death.
The Egyptian Museum's main exhibition hall now houses Golden Boy, which was formerly kept in the basement. The hall will feature the CT pictures and a replica of the heart scab.
Golden Boy's CT scans were published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
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