The urge to undress a mummy can be strong. In the 19th century, Egyptologists didn’t think twice about tearing off a mummy’s wrappings. Even Ramses the Great couldn’t avoid the indignity of being stripped bare in front of an audience of curious onlookers.
Today’s experts in the field know better.
“Certainly, it’s a damaging process, and you lose a lot of information and disturb the mummy itself. It’s also something that is no longer necessary with advancements in technology,” says Dr. Daniel Antoine, the curator of physical anthropology at the British Museumin London.
The institute’s vast collection of sarcophagi has remained largely undisturbed for over 200 years. This year, however, researchers have again decided to peek underneath the linens (and skin and muscle), though this time using the Royal Brompton Hospital‘s dual-energy CT scanner — one of the most advanced in London.
The data they gather from the scans is then plugged into the same 3D-modeling software used by car companies to analyze engines. The technology has given them the clearest picture to date of what life was like along the Nile 2,500 years ago, CNN informs.
“You can tell the software what part are bandages and bone and skin, and you can peel away those layers. You can virtually remove the bandages to look at the body and any amulets covering the body, then remove the skin to look at the bones and any preserved organs,” says Antoine.
“What that means in normal language is we’re able to see a lot more, a lot more clearly.”
