Museum’s Egyptian Mummies: Visit to HUP for CT Scanning

http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v55/n31/mummies.html

PUM II and Hapi-Men, two of the ancient Egyptian mummies on display at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, have had their share of medical scrutiny: PUM II was both x-rayed and autopsied in 1973, while Hapi-Men underwent an x-ray in 1980.

Early Sunday morning, April 19, they traveled to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, for yet another medical procedure, and the chance for researchers to find out more about these 2000-plus year old mummies—this time, through state-of-the-art CT scanning. They were joined by Hapi-Men’s loyal (mummified) pet, affectionately known as Hapi-Puppy. All three mummies were successfully CT scanned, and returned to the Penn Museum before 9 a.m.—and before the hospital’s living human patients’ CT scan appointments began.

They will be followed, eventually, by most of the Egyptian mummies in the Museum’s collection, including the seven additional mummies on display in the Museum’s most popular exhibition, The Egyptian Mummy: Secrets and Science. What scholars learn about the collection from this procedure will eventually inform a new exhibition or segment of the current exhibition.

“As a state of the art, three dimensional, non-invasive procedure, CT scans can provide us with a wealth of new data, without causing damage to these mummies,” noted Dr. Jennifer Wegner, senior research scientist in the Egyptian section, who joined the team on their short trip across the street to HUP. “It’s a wonderful way to unlock ‘secrets,’ and learn more about the life, and death, of the mummies in our collection.”

;-)