Scientists first look inside the mummy of the daytime Egyptian "golden boy"
Miscellaneous / / April 06, 2023
He lived at least 2 thousand years ago.
Since 1916, the Egyptian National Museum has kept the untouched mummy of a noble teenager, discovered in a burial place from Hellenistic Egypt (305-30 BC). Now scientists have decided to use CT scans to look inside this mummy without destroying the outer layers.
The body of a 14-15 year old boy was found inside. This is hinted at by the condition of his wisdom teeth and other physiological signs that researchers learned about thanks to CT scans. His height is 127 cm. During mummification, his brain was removed through his nose and his skull was filled with resin. All vital organs were removed through the incision - except for the heart, which remained in the chest.
49 amulets (30 of them gold) were found on the body and around it, which hints at the high origin of the child. For this he was dubbed the "golden boy".
Specific amulets placed on certain places on the body are not accidental. An amulet with a golden tongue was placed in the boy's mouth, which, according to the researchers, was supposed to allow him to speak in the afterlife. An amulet with two fingers was placed next to the penis, which was supposed to hide the cut from embalming.
On the body were not only amulets. On the boy's feet are a pair of modest papyrus sandals. They were probably needed so that the boy could get out of the coffin. In addition, according to the ritual Book of the Dead, the deceased must put on clean white sandals to be clean and pious before reciting the spells described in the book.
More detailed results of the study of the mummy published in Frontiers in Medicine.
Read also🧐
- 10 Misconceptions About Ancient Egypt That Educated People Are Ashamed To Believe
- Hundreds of mummies and a pyramid of an unknown queen found near the tomb of Tutankhamun
- Mummies with golden tongues found in Egypt