Wired News: Child Mummy Wows Egyptologists: "Two thousand years ago, the grieving parents of a 4-year-old girl lovingly mummified their daughter's remains to ensure her soul would thrive in the afterlife. The parents in some ways got their wish today, when seven experts revealed remarkable new details they've learned about the child mummy thanks to breakthroughs in imaging technology.
Scientists were able to view each layer of linen bandages wrapped around the mummy's body. One of the most remarkable discoveries was the drawing of a sphinx on one layer of the bandages."
Many mummies have hieroglyphics on their bandages, possibly identifying who they are and where they came from. But physically peeling back the bandages would destroy the artifact. So the sphinx discovery is particularly exciting for people who study mummies.
"The Egyptologist was jumping up and down," said Afshad Mistri, head of advanced visualization marketing at Silicon Graphics. "There are thousands of mummies which have information under these bandages."
The researchers could also clearly see the tree sap resin used to fill the mummy's body, and the gilded chest plate and face mask, which are all that remain of her plaster cartonnage. They revealed their results on Wednesday during a "virtual unwrapping" of the mummy at Silicon Graphics in Mountain View, California.
"You don't need to unwrap mummies anymore," Mistri said. "This is so lifelike, and it's all interactive."
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