Scientists digitally ‘unwrap’ mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I for the first time in 3,000 years
By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer For the first time since the 11th century BCE, scientists have unwrapped – virtually, using CT scans – the mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I (r. 1525 to 1504 BCE), the only royal mummy to remain unopened in modern times. They show that the pharaoh was around 35 years old, 169cm tall, circumcized, and in good physical health when he died, apparently from natural causes All the royal mummies found in the 19th and 20th centuries have long since been opened for study. With one exception: egyptologists have never been bold enough to open the mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I. Not because of any mythical curse, but because it is perfectly wrapped, decorated with beautiful flower garlands, and with face and neck covered by an exquisite lifelike mask inset with colorful stones. But now for the first time, scientists from Egypt have used three-dimensional CT (computed tomography) scanning to ‘digitally unwrap’ this royal mummy and study its contents. They report their findings in Frontiers in Medicine. This was the first time in three millennia that Amenhotep’s mummy has been ‘opened’. The previous time was in the 11th century BCE, more than four centuries after his […]