The mummy within: 2500-year old coffin's contents revealed
Mer-Neith-it-es being CT scanned. Image: Macquarie Medical Imaging.
Introduced to the collection by the eponymous in around 1860, the 2,500-year old coffin was described as empty by curator Arthur Trendall in 1948, although museum records noted the coffin contained 鈥渕ixed debris鈥�.听Hieroglyphics on the coffin name its inhabitant as Mer-Neith-it-es (pronounced mer-neth-it-ees), who served in the temple of the goddess Sekhmet.
The revelation last year of bandages, beads and other materials made by current curator , when he opened the coffin while photographing its hieroglyphics, sparked further investigation. Dr Fraser and a team of researchers embarked on the Mummy Project, scientifically investigating the remains of the 惭耻蝉别耻尘鈥檚 four mummies and finding more about the remains inside the Mer-Neith-it-es coffin.
鈥淭he hieroglyphs on the coffin showed its original occupant was the woman Mer-Neith-it-es,鈥� said Dr Fraser. 鈥淏ut it was commonplace for coffins bought at 19th century Egyptian markets to be paired up with mummies who weren鈥檛 the original occupants. One of the great questions of this project is 鈥楧oes this coffin contain Mer-Neith-it-es?鈥欌��
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CT-scanning of the coffin at Macquarie Medical Imaging in December brought with it some astounding revelations. The scanner detected two mummified ankles, feet and toes, consistent with a single person, and had fused bone endings which suggested the person was an adult when they died.
鈥淚n short, the scans were the first step towards identifying whether the coffin contained its original inhabitant,鈥� said Dr Fraser.
While the clues are thus far encouraging, they are not cast-iron proof of the coffin鈥檚 contents. Bone analysis, radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis and vibrational spectroscopy are among the myriad of investigations in the pipeline that will further help identify the coffin鈥檚 remains.
鈥淔or me, the most exciting aspect of the project will be the recolouring of a digital model of the coffin,鈥� said Dr Fraser.
Those recoloured images, and findings from the Mummy Project, will be incorporated into the Mummy Room at the museum鈥檚 new听, due to open in 2020.
