CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS AMAZING INSIDE LOOK AT MUMMIES
So this 3-D mummy is coming at me feet-first, and as I prepare to duck, the feet start to dissolve so that I can follow the intricate structure of the body all the way to the top of the head. I was sitting in a packed theater at the British Museum in London in March of 05 watching the results of a CT scanner reconstruction of the body of a 3,000-year-old priest, Nesperennub, from the temple of Khons.
A Computerized Axial Tomography scan - also called a CT or CAT scan - takes pictures internally and externally of a body and puts them together using a computer.
This use of cutting-edge technology will make science museums even more entertaining than they have been in the past. Now a mummy no longer needs to be destroyed by unwrapping it in order for curious scientists to make a medical diagnosis, check age and physical condition at death or even do a crime-scene analysis.
Nesperennub, who lived around 800 B.C., was the first mummy to undergo a "virtual unwrapping" with the use of a CT scanner. Included in the film is the clever reconstruction of his face by a forensic anthropologist. An actor chosen for similar looks re-enacted scenes from the life of a priest of Egypt. During those times, being a priest was a pretty cushy deal and sure beat pulling giant stones up an incline to build a pyramid.
"Mummy: The Inside Story" had three acts. First, the crowd entered an introductory area, where we were given a presentation on how a mummy was prepared and some facts about ancient Egypt. Demonstrations showed how the brain was stirred with a probe and removed. It was then discarded, because it was not considered a very important organ. Egyptians thought the heart did the thinking. The process of preservation was also illustrated.
A short film showed us how mummies in the past were destroyed by investigators seeking to learn more about them. The practice was stopped, and anthropologists have been waiting for techniques to be developed that would allow the noninvasive investigation of these human time capsules.
We next entered a specially designed theater with a curved screen and stereo projection equipment. The mummy was soon floating right in front of us in gross nonliving color. How did he die? What was his age? How could the experts be sure it was a man? These were the kind of questions they answered as they took us on our "virtual tour."
The final room of the exhibition held Nesperennub’s mummy in his painted coffin along with a multitude of artifacts we had just seen in the 3D movie.
The show pulled large crowds who waited hours for their turn in the theater. The addition of 3-D to virtual reality makes this a thrilling experience worth the wait.
The British Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian mummies and other artifacts outside of Cairo. A selection of 140 items has been making a tour of American and Canadian museums the past couple of years. As I write this, the show "Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt" is in Santa Ana, Calif. Six of the mummies in the collection will be undergoing CT scans, which I suspect means that a similar shows to the one I saw in London will should soon be available in American museums.
Nesperennub ready to be scanned
(British Museum photo)
