Italian hospital uses CT scan to unveil secrets of an Egyptian mummy
AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Italian hospital uses CT scan to unveil secrets of an Egyptian mummy

Italian hospital uses CT scan to unveil secrets of an Egyptian mummy

Researchers believe they can reconstruct the life and death of the Egyptian priest and understand which kinds of products were used to mummify the body.

Italian hospital uses CT scan to unveil secrets of an Egyptian mummy
Medical radiology technicians prepare a CT scan to do a radiological examination of an Egyptian mummy in order to investigate its history at the Policlinico hospital in Milan, Italy.

Ancient Egypt met modern medical technology when a mummy underwent a CT scan at an Italian hospital as part of a research project to discover its secrets.

The mummy of Ankhekhonsu, an ancient Egyptian priest, was transferred from Bergamo’s Civic Archaeological Museum to Milan’s Policlinico hospital, where experts will shed light on his life and the burial customs of almost 3,000 years ago.

“The mummies are practically a biological museum, they are like a time capsule,” said Sabina Malgora, the director of the Mummy Project Research.

Malgora said information on the mummy’s name comes from the sarcophagus dated between 900 and 800 BC, where Ankhekhonsu – which means ‘the god Khonsu is alive’ – is written five times.

Researchers prepare to move an Egyptian mummy from the Civic Archaeological Museum of Bergamo to Milan’s Policlinico hospital to undergo a CT scan in order to investigate its history, in Bergamo.

Researchers believe they can reconstruct the life and death of the Egyptian priest and understand which kinds of products were used to mummify the body.

Researchers prepare to move an Egyptian mummy from the Civic Archaeological Museum of Bergamo to Milan’s Policlinico hospital to undergo a CT scan in order to investigate its history, in Bergamo, Italy.

“Studying ancient diseases and wounds is important for modern medical research … we can study cancer or the arteriosclerosis of the past and this can be useful for modern research,” she said.