Mummy of the “golden boy”: a CAT scan reveals its secrets

There mummy had been called Golden boy. We don’t know his real name, but we have an idea of ​​his socio-economic position while he was alive and how old he was when he died, as well as knowing that he was about 128 centimeters tall, was uncircumcised and that his wisdom teeth were not yet erupted. It was also possible to reconstruct them in 3D amuletthe together with which it was buried: all this without having to disturb the bandages that have wrapped it for more than two thousand years. Let’s talk about mummy unearthed more than a century ago in Egypt and remained so far “undisturbed” in the basement of Cairo museum. The technique that made it possible to discover all these details in a non-invasive way is called computed tomography (CT, formerly known as computed tomography-CAT) and the results for this study were published on January 24 in the scientific journal Frontiers of Medicine.

Because Golden boy

CT allows you to determine the material of which a certain object is made by measuring its density: “Land density of Tc – write the authors in their article – they indicated that 30 amulets [dei 49 scoperti all’interno della mummia, nda] were made of metal (probably gold), while the other amulets were made of majolica, stones or fired clay”. The use of gold, the researchers explain, indicates a high quality mummification processan indication of a high socio-economic status: that’s why Golden boy. Gold is also the mask that covers the boy’s face and an amulet found inside his mouth, which according to researchers represents the language of the deceased and should have guaranteed his ability to speak once he arrived in the other world.

The “heart beetle” printed in 3D

While I X-ray – exploited for the study of mummies already starting in the late 1800s – allow you to produce a single image printed in 2D on film, the tomography allows you to produce hundreds of screenings corresponding to thin “slices” (sections) of the object being scanned. This makes it possible construction of three-dimensional models, such as the one relating to the largest of the 49 amulets recently discovered inside the Golden boy. Thanks to the detailed information obtained, the researchers were in fact able to reproduce the beetle-shaped amulet in 3D present inside the boy’s ribcage: “lo heart beetle – explains Sahar Saleem, lead author of the study and professor at Cairo University – is mentioned in chapter 30 of the Book of the Dead: was important in the afterlife during the judgment of the deceased”. The 3D model is now exhibited in the main hall of the capital’s museum, together with the entire mummy and the beautiful images obtained with CT. “The heart beetle – continues Saleem – silenced the heart on the day of judgment, so that it would not testify against the deceased. It was placed inside the torso cavity during mummification”. Indeed, we know that the ancient egyptians they believed theentrance to the “afterlife” was not guaranteed for the deceased and required a long and dangerous journey through the underworld, followed by a final and final judgment. This is why so much care was devoted to the mummification process and why all the objects that were thought to be him useful during his last trip.

The advantage of using the computed tomography for the study of mummies, write the authors, is therefore to allow access to lots of detailed information: “non-invasive technology – the authors conclude – offers a unique opportunity to learn more about life and death in ancient Egypt and opens new perspectives in the study and exhibition of ancient Egyptian mummies”.