Secrets of what ancient mummies look like under their wrappings are finally being revealed

Publish date: 2024-08-03
2017-03-21T15:00:00Z

If you'd like to be mummified when you die, you can contact an organization in Salt Lake City, Utah, to arrange the procedure for around $70,000. Pets are cheaper, around $4,000 for an animal under 15 pounds.

It's expensive partially because mummification is pretty rare these days. But for thousands of years, people preserved the remains of their dead as mummies. This was especially true in places with hot and dry climates, like parts of ancient Peru and Egypt.

CT scanning and subsequent 3D imaging of a wooden coffin poignantly revealed an ancient Egyptian teenage boy who was mummified and placed into a coffin that was too large for him. The Field Museum

Now, a special exhibit that's on display at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York allows people to see 18 of those mummies in person, some of which have not been seen since Chicago's World Fair over 100 years ago.

In the exhibit, on tour from the collections of Chicago's Field Museum, technology like computerized tomography (CT) scans allows visitors to see what the insides of these mummies are like for the first time. This technology allows visitors to see "who they were, what their lives were like, and even what they may have looked like," Ellen Futter, President of AMNH, told reporters at a preview event.

The images below show some of what visitors will be able to see at the exhibit. Much of exhibit, including mummified bodies, bundles containing mummies, and body parts that were unwrapped by tomb pillagers, cannot be photographed, and will have to be seen in person.

Some South American groups created mummies even before the Egyptians. The practice continued and changed for thousands of years. A thousand years ago, this “false head” would have sat atop a mummy of the Chancay culture. The mummy itself would have been curled up and placed in a decorated bundle.

A thousand years ago, this “false head” would have sat atop a mummy of the Chancay culture in what is now Peru. The Chancay people mummified their loved ones in a curled-up position, and wrapped them in colorful ponchos and cloth. Placed on top of these bundles were sculptures of stylized heads. The Field Museum/John Weinstein

The bundles of mummified extended families would be placed in pits together. These burial pits were accessible to living family members, allowing relatives to bring food or drink to their loved ones’ graves, or even to remove mummies to take them to festivals or other special events.

This diorama shows what the pits may have looked like. Kevin Loria/Business Insider

Now, scans reveal what's inside the bundles. The one here holds a woman in her 20s and two children, around ages 6 and 2.

Now, scans reveal what was inside the bundles. The one here held a woman in her 20s and two children, around ages 6 and 2. Kevin Loria/Business Insider

Many Peruvian mummies might be buried with tools they worked with (like fishing equipment) or with food and drink. These vessels were for corn beer (chicha) and hold little cups as if they were offering the dead a bit of refreshment.

Thousand-year-old vessels for chicha, beer made from corn, were buried with mummies in the ancient Chancay culture of Peru. The vessels’ figures hold out little cups, as if to offer the dead a drink. The Chancay were known to replenish chicha, dishes of beans and corn, and other foods inside the tombs of their loved ones. The Field Museum/John Weinstein

While many of the artifacts buried with mummies have been visible ever since they were discovered, the scans used by researchers for the exhibit mean this is the first time we've seen what's inside many of the mummy wrappings from both Peru and Egypt.

Modern technologies have given researchers non-invasive methods of examining mummies, and today researchers employ a range of non-destructive tools, including computerized tomography (CT) scanners that take hundreds of X-ray images with each rotation. AMNH/C. Chesek

CT scans take hundreds of images, revealing 3D detail. This scan of the Egyptian mummy known as the “Gilded Lady” revealed that she was a woman in her forties with curly hair and a slight overbite. She may have died from tuberculosis.

CT scanning of the mummy known as the “Gilded Lady” revealed that she was a woman in her forties with curly hair and a slight overbite. It also uncovered evidence that she may have died from tuberculosis, a common and frequently deadly ailment in ancient Egypt. The Field Museum

And here here you can see the container the "Gilded Lady" mummy rests in. It's being prepared for the exhibition by JP Brown, an associate conservator at the Field Museum.

JP Brown, Associate Conservator at the Field Museum, Chicago, prepares the mummy known as the “Gilded Lady” for display at the special exhibition Mummies at the American Museum of Natural History. AMNH/D. Finnin

The scans give the researchers estimates of everything from facial structure to skin thickness. Using this data, they've created sculptures of what mummies like the "Gilded Lady" looked like in life.

This hyper-realistic sculpture portrays a woman as she may have looked in real life in ancient Egypt, now preserved as the mummy called the "Gilded Lady." Photo: E. Daynès. Reconstruction: Elisabeth Daynès, Paris

The Egyptian mummies in the exhibit show the elaborate procedures and structures they created for the mummification process. Many coffins were covered in hieroglyphics.

Egyptian coffins often were customized; the name of the person who died was written on the lid in hieroglyphs. The scene at the top of this coffin shows the god Thoth introducing the deceased man to the god Osiris. But the area above the man’s head, where his name should be, is blank. This coffin probably was purchased from a coffin shop, not specially commissioned, and the name of the person inside was never added. The Field Museum/John Weinstein

This coffin dates to about 700 to 600 BCE. In the upper band, the ibis-headed god Thoth holds the hand of the just deceased man. Thoth introduces the man to Osiris, god of the underworld (in the white headdress). In the lower band, the man is being embalmed by the jackal-headed god Anubis.

Detail of a coffin from the late 25th Dynasty or early 26th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, approximately 700 to 600 BC. In the upper band, the ibis-headed god Thoth holds the hand of the just deceased man. Thoth introduces the man to Osiris, god of the underworld (in the white headdress). In the lower band, the man is being embalmed by the jackal-headed god Anubis. The Field Museum/John Weinstein

In Egypt, organs were removed and occasionally placed into containers like the two animal-shaped containers beside the mummy here (in Peru, organs were usually not removed).

In Egypt, organs were removed and occasionally placed into containers like these two animal-shaped containers beside the mummy here (in Peru, organs were usually not removed). Kevin Loria/Business Insider

Animals were also mummified in Egypt. This gazelle was probably raised at a temple in order to be mummified and used as a burial offering.

This gazelle was probably raised at a temple in order to be mummified and used as a burial offering. The Field Museum/John Weinstein

This intricately wrapped mummified baby crocodile was buried as an offering in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

This intricately wrapped mummified baby crocodile was buried as an offering in an ancient Egyptian tomb. The Field Museum/John Weinstein

The scans that allow researchers to non-invasively and non-destructively recreate what's inside are revealing new elements of history, according to David Hurst Thomas, co-curator of the exhibit. "The science has changed so much in the last couple of decades," he says. Now kids can virtually "unwrap" a mummy.

At interactive digital touchscreens, visitors to Mummies virtually “unwrap” Egyptian and Peruvian mummies, revealing figurines and other burial offerings found within. AMNH/C. Chesek

It's the same sort of technology used to figure out what killed this baby mammoth.

It's the same sort of technology used to figure out what killed this baby mammoth. Kevin Loria/Business Insider

The CT scans can be used to create 3D images, like this one of a teenage boy who was mummified (his skull can be seen in the introduction to this story).

CT scanning and subsequent 3D imaging of a wooden coffin poignantly revealed an ancient Egyptian teenage boy who was mummified and placed into a coffin that was too large for him. The Field Museum

The scans show the shape of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, which an artist then sculpted to try to see what this Ptolemaic era mummy looked like in real life.

With CT scans and a 3D-printed reconstruction of the skull, French artist Elisabeth Daynès began creating a sculpture to depict what the boy inside a Ptolemaic era mummy looked like in real life. Photo: E. Daynès. Reconstruction: Elisabeth Daynès, Paris

The resulting sculpture seems a far cry from what the mummy looks like now.

With CT scans and a 3D-printed reconstruction of the skull, French artist Elisabeth Daynès began creating a sculpture to depict what the boy inside a Ptolemaic era mummy looked like in real life. Photo: E. Daynès. Reconstruction: Elisabeth Daynès, Paris

The exhibition will be at AMNH in New York through January 7, 2018 before it moves on to other cities; its tour will finish at The Field Museum.

This coffin lid was made around AD 250, several centuries after Egypt had become a province of the Roman Empire. It has no hieroglyphs and the woman’s clothes and hairstyle look more Roman than Egyptian. The woman once buried inside was probably Egyptian, but more than 200 years of Roman rule dramatically changed her country’s culture and art. AMNH/C. Chesek

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