In their efforts to reconstruct the past, archaeologists often have to destroy what they seek to study.  This is especially true of those studying ancient Egyptian mummies.  In the past, to fully study mummies recovered from ancient tombs it was necessary to:

• open the coffin, destroying any artwork covering it. 
• remove and often damage incredibly detailed death masks (such as that found with Tutankhamen)
• remove the bandaging used in the embalming process, irreversibly damaging the mummy in the process. 

Dr Stephen Hughes of the Queensland University of Technology has demonstrated that the use of commonly used medical imaging techniques makes it possible to examine the mummy, without needing to even open the coffin. 

CT imaging

In 1991, over a number of nights, the mummy's coffin was removed from its display case, taken to St Thomas' Hospital in London and scanned on an X-ray CT scanner.  As well as scans of the whole body, 115 CT images were acquired of the head.  Each image represented a slice 2mm thick, with an image size of 512×512 pixels.  In the mid 1990's Dr Hughes published a number of papers, detailing the results of the analysis of these scans.  He and his colleagues were able to determine a number of details such as:

• the way in which the brain was removed
• composition of the false eyes inserted to make the dried corpse seem more lifelike
• determine a closer approximation of the age at which the mummy died, based on the amount of bone mineral in the lumbar spine

When Dr Hughes came to QUT in the late 90's, he brought with him the original X-ray CT scans.  These images were transferred onto the Silicon Graphics supercomputer then in use by the High Performance Computing and Research Support group at QUT. The reconstructions were performed by Mark Barry using a software package called AVS/Express. This program enables a surface to be extracted from the data. A number representing the desired level of detail - e.g. skin or bone - can be entered into the program, which then shows that surface. The images below show the different level of detail that can be displayed. 

Other applications

This technology has a possible application as a method of virtual autopsy - this is particularly useful in cases where conventional autopsies cannot be performed for religious reasons.  It may also be of use in forensic science - for instance, determining the origin of badly decomposed or burnt bodies in order to reconstruct the faces for identification.

Contact

Dr Stephen Hughes
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, QUT

Publications

S. Hughes, R. Wright and M. Barry, "Virtual reconstruction and morphological analysis of the cranium of an ancient Egyptian mummy", Australas Phys Eng Sci Med., 2005 28(2):122-7.