City’s expertise reveals more about mummy’s past

City’s Saad Centre for Radiography welcomes 2,500 year old patient for further investigation into her past.

Staff from City’s Saad Centre for Radiography were busy last month with a patient who was slightly older than the usual visitors. The team, led by Jayne Morgan, were studying a 2,500-year old mummy using a £1million CT scanner enabling them to learn more about how she died, whilst avoiding damaging the corpse.


The project was a collaboration between City, the Bournemouth Natural Sciences Society (BNSS) and Bournemouth University. The mummy, called Tahemaa, was donated to the BNSS in 1922 by the Salisbury Museum, and it is believed she lived in a pyramid in Luxor before her death at 28.

"It is the first time I have had such an old patient.  But you suddenly realise you are still scanning a human being - even if it is 2,500 years old.”

Jayne Morgan, senior lecturer in radiography

The scan revealed that apart from the poor condition of her teeth Tahemaa was in good physical condition when she died. The team also discovered that, unusually, the brain had been left inside the mummy, which would suggest that an apprentice embalmed her.

 

Although unable to establish what killed her, staff dispelled the previous belief that she may have suffered a blow to the face. 16 years ago, a scan by another institution showed a mark across the face - but the equipment used by City staff was far more advanced, and revealed it as just a fuzz on the image.

 

Video footage and a news article about the scan can be viewed on the BBC website.

 



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Date of Article:  17/08/2009