3000 year old mummy has CT Scan

Above: The coffin of a 3,000 year old Egyptian Priest [pict from Metro]


Above: Mummy to undergo CT scan at the University College Hospital [pict from Times]


College Hospital, London UK

A hi-tech examination by the NHS of a 3,000-year-old mummy will seek to uncover more of the hidden secrets of ancient Egypt. An elaborate coffin concealing the body of a priest called Nesperennub is to undergo a computerised 'tomography' scan at University College Hospital in Central London. Radiographers and experts from the British Museum will spend up to four hours seeking to find out everything about the coffin and its contents. An earlier scan in London in 2004 revealed that Nesperennub was in good health at the time of his death – apart from a hole in his head.

Fiona Henderson, lead superintendent radiographer for UCH, said: 'This CT scanner was installed just two years ago, when the new hospital opened, and it provides incredibly detailed images, generating up to 6,000 pictures of the body. Up to 36 patients per day are scanned using this CT scanner but this will be the first time it has had such an old and illustrious “patient”. Nesperennub was a priest at Karnak, the religious complex near the ancient city of Thebes, where modern-day Luxor is situated. UCH staff gave the coffin a CT scan in 2004 but improved technology means a lot more can be seen now. John Taylor, a leading Egyptologist at the British Museum, said: 'Fully-wrapped Egyptian mummies still contain a lot of untapped information.'

Times
Metro