CT scan unmasks mummy

Scans show Ta Sedgemet had strikingly good teeth for her age.

An ancient Egyptian at Auckland Museum has had the benefit of that most modern of medical inventions, CT scanning, to help solve the mystery of her identity.

The name, gender, occupation and probable age of the mummy were revealed during a four-year process to preserve the remains, which also involved repositioning some of the bandages and building a special low-oxygen display case.

"It's nice to be able to give the mummy more of a personal history," said museum curator Julia Gresson. "That's been one of the bonuses of the CT scan."

The scan showed the mummy was a young woman, aged between 20 and 30, who was part of a harem.

Her name, inscribed near the head and revealed for the first time, was "Ta Sedgemet", meaning "she who hears", or one who who listens to the gods.

Her other title was "Mistress of the House", meaning she was a "lady of the harem".

There was no way of knowing how the young woman died. But the scan showed no obvious injury or evidence of disease.

Her teeth were in very good condition, unusual for the time because dentistry was unknown and the amount of sand in the desert usually meant that even rich ancient Egyptians had worn teeth, said retired Auckland University lecturer Shirley Temm.

Further examination of the evidence from the CT scan might show whether the mummy had had children.

"The work the museum has done to preserve her is wonderful," Mrs Temm said.

"She's now something like 2500 years old and here we are still talking about her."

The mummy has been transferred to a special display case that will retard deterioration, excluding oxygen and lowering humidity, and will go on display from today.

Canterbury Museum bought the mummy in 1888 for 5. It went on display at Auckland Museum in 1958.

Perhaps the most famous mummy, the 3300-year-old King Tutankhamen, has also undergone a scan.

The results indicated the boy-king was not murdered, but may have suffered a badly broken leg shortly before his death at 19, a wound that could have become infected.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said the research team found no evidence of a blow to the back of the head - despite a longheld theory - and no other indication of foul play.

The Egyptians mummified the dead in the belief they would then be part of the afterlife, living among the sun and the stars.

Factbox

* A live human would die within two minutes in the mummy's new low-oxygen display case.
* In the Middle Ages, mummies were ground into powder and used as medicine.
* From death to burial, mummification took 70 days.