CT scan unmasks the secrets of the mummies

[Mark]

I thought the dental line (dental problems due to eating bread full of sand) interesting, as someone due for root canal tomorrow.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9446224/CT-scan-unmasks-the-secrets-of-the-mummies.html

The mummies, which were loaned from the British Museum especially for the project, have been examined under a modern CT scanner after a student persuaded curators to help her with research.

Abeer Helmi used technology at the Manchester Royal Infirmary to take a closer look at the seven mummies, which were each wrapped carefully in bandages as tradition dictates.

The scanner, which allowed Dr Helmi to see the details of the bodies without disturbing their form, used powerful rays to shed light on techniques used to preserve them.

By looking carefully at the images produced, she gleaned information about their diets, health and lifestyle and discovered the wooden "struts" used to support the bodies after death.

Remarkably, two of the seven bodies were found to be anaemic, with all but the very youngest suffering dental problems thought to be the result of eating bread full of sand.

The seven bodies, which were aged from 12 to their mid-50s, date from around 900BC when mummification technology was at its peak.

The scans also revealed metals amulets and charms concealed inside the wrappings, which are thought to have been placed there to protect the dead during their journey to the underworld.

One is believed to be a priestess, buried with 11 gold amulets as a sign of her high status.

Dr Abeer, 42, said the scans were completed in the evenings and at weekends, when living patients did not need the CT machine.

The bodies, which were loaned out with special permission from the British Museum, were transported 200 miles to her accompanied by curators.

The Egyptian-born student, who has previously worked at Cairo Museum before moving to the University of Manchester, said: "We had to hire a company that specialised in transporting works of art to drive them to the hospital in two shipments. They were accompanied at all times by a member of staff.

"They are very delicate and still covered in their casing. Using this technique allowed us see exactly how they were wrapped and also learn about their health.

"We spotted wooden struts inside the wrappings which were used to support the bodies after death and abnormalities in two of the mummies."

All 35 human mummies in the Manchester Museum's collection have already been scanned by experts at the hospital, along with dozens of mummified animals in the museum's collection.

Judith Adams, a consultant radiologist at the hospital who helped Abeer with her work, said: "It's something of a change from our normal patients.

"We're able to look at the bodies from a medical point of view and give our opinion on how these people lived and their health in general."

[Jim Webster]

I remember reading that because of millstones being used to grind grain, most people had bread containing rather more grit that we'd consider acceptable. Many years ago I remember on telly someone looking at an Anglo-saxon skull and pointing to the wear caused by eating too much bread.

[Patrick Waterson]

To add to Jim's comment, I recall a more recent TV programme demonstrating how adding a little sand made it so much easier to grind corn by hand, never mind the effect on the end-user's dentition.

The Egyptians compounded the dental wear problem by eating rather more bread than most - at least compared to the Greeks, who referred to Egyptians as 'arthophagi' (bread-eaters) on account of the quantities they consumed.

CT scanning can be very useful for finding important clues (it is a pity that Smenkhare's mummy could not receive a proper burial and degenerated to just bones soon after discovery).  The 2004 CT scan of Tutankhamun gives us vital clues as to how he died, and these tie in with clues in Euripides' Phoenissae.  But that will probably not make much sense except to readers of Oedipus and Akhenaten http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/632273.Oedipus_Akhnaton ...

Patrick

[Jim Webster]

You also store grain mixed with sand, this is to control insect pests. Insects have a waxy surface which stops them loosing too much water to quickly. If they are in sand, it scratches this surface and the insects die of dehyration.
One way of separating the grain and sand was to have a shallow bowl of water and throw handfuls into it, the sand sinks and the grain can be skimmed off the top.

Jim