Ceremony of Opening the Mouth of the Mummy before the Tomb, c1300BC (Image: Getty)
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Despite the mummified body undergoing a full computed tomography (CT) scan in 1999, the authors rescanned the body for the current study using the latest tech.
Using this new visualisation of the dentition and skeleton, the authors determined the mummified individual was a young middle-aged adult.
The body scans did not reveal external genitalia, and internal reproductive organs had been removed during the mummification process.
However, secondary sexual characteristics of boners including hip bones, jaw and skull indicate the mummified individual was female.
Royal Prince Djeptahiufankh, the son of a High Priest of Amun (Image: Getty)
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IMAGE: Mummified individual and coffin in the Nicholson Collection of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney. A. Mummified individual, encased in a modern sleeve for conservation, NMR.27.3. B. Coffin. view more
Credit: Sowada et al, PLOS ONE (CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
New analysis of a 20th Dynasty mummified individual reveals her rare mud carapace, according to a study published February 3, 2021 in the open-access journal
PLOS ONE by Karin Sowada from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues.
Studies of mummified bodies from the late New Kingdom to the 21st Dynasty (c. 1294-945 BC) have occasionally reported a hard resinous shell protecting the body within its wrappings, especially for royal mummies of the period. Here, Sowada and colleagues describe their discovery of a rare painted mud carapace enclosing an adult mummy in Sydney s Chau Chak Wing Museum.