Mummies with surprising secrets
Two Egyptian mummies, a woman and a man, from Bergen Museum have now been treated in the CT-scanner at the Haukeland University Hospital. This gave many new results and surprises for researchers. Also a mummified crocodile and a cat were sent to x-ray treatment.
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Teshemmin, minister's daughter from around Kleopatra time around Christ's birth, appears to have had a facepiece that has been stolen from her. Ugly traces of this can be seen on the mummy and are also very clear on the CT-images of her face. Imprints of the mask can be seen on the bandages in which we clearly see the eyebrow and beautiful formed eyes. Wounded at the nose and mouth may indicate that parts of the mummy has been fixed when the mask was torn off. Mummy remains may be found scattered in the bottom of the coffin.
The man seemed to have been very strong and muscular. On his head he had a skullcap of a material we do not yet know what is made of. Cause of death is unclear.
The crocodile was also fine preserved. It was common to dip these animals live in resin. Our crocodile had no bandages. The cat turned out to be small, so small that it was not possible to distinguish it from the bandages and resin around. The head, neck, legs and tail were however visible.
