RICHMOND, Va. -- Using modern technology, a Virginia museum is
working to unwrap the story behind one of the earliest surviving
Egyptian mummies.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond partnered this week
with a medical imaging center to complete a CT scan on Tjeby
(CHEH-bee), its 4,000-year-old mummy, in hopes of piecing together
more information about the mummy itself and better understanding
the early history of the mummification process.
While it isn't the first time a mummy has gone under the digital
knife, only a handful from the time period have been examined in
this fashion. The information gathered will help provide greater
detail of the body, create a 3-D digital model and even reconstruct
the face of the mummy that has been on display off and on since
being acquired by the museum in 1953.
Little is known about Tjeby, who was buried in a rock-cut tomb at a
site known as Sheikh Farag in upper Egypt and excavated in
1923.
What museum officials do know is that he dates to between 2150 and
2030 BCE, a time of instability in Egypt, with the breakdown of
central authority and economic decline. Previous research suggests
Tjeby was 25 to 40 years old when he died.
Experts hope a closer look at data will help piece together more
biographical information, such as Tjeby's specific age, diet and
cause of death. They also will look at the materials used to
mummify the body and the amount of soft tissue that has survived,
and will determine whether organs have been removed, as they were
in mummies from later periods.
Researchers say the technology allows them to learn about the mummy
in remarkable detail without invasive or damaging procedures.
"It's easier to unlock that door of mystery to discover the secrets
of the past," said Alex Nyerges, the museum's director. He
anticipates incorporating information gleaned from the scan into
the display of the mummy, which also includes its coffin and other
artifacts from inside, such as a model of a boat and a granite
statue.
The first mummy CT scan took place in 1977. But back then – and
even when Tjeby had his first imaging scan in 1986 – the technology
was fairly primitive, and little could be seen, said Jonathan
Elias, director of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, a
Pennsylvania-based organization that has collected imaging data on
about 30 mummies and offered to help the Virginia museum analyze
its information.
"We're really at the
beginning of the process, even with modern technology, to unravel
what's gone on in this culture," Elias said. "Compared with 1986,
2013 is just like going to another planet in terms of what we're
now able to do."
On Friday, museum
employees removed the mummy, wrapped in preservation material, from
his coffin and used Velcro ties to secure him to a platform,
readying him for the 15-minute van ride from the museum to suburban
Richmond for the scan. One employee rode in the back with Tjeby as
the van drove slowly, trying to avoid sudden bumps or
movements.
When he arrived at
HCA's Independence Park Imaging Center, Tjeby was carefully rolled
in on a gurney, placed on a sliding table head-first and uncovered,
revealing aged, brown-tinted cloth wrapping. A group of
technicians, doctors and museum employees began snapping photos to
personally document the occasion.
Then, with the click
of a button, an automated voice urged the patient to lie still and
not breathe for the CT scan.
"He's the ideal
patient," joked Peter Schertz, curator of ancient art at the
museum. "If he only stopped fidgeting."
Within seconds,
thousands of images began to flash on the computer monitors.
"He's like a jigsaw
puzzle," said Dr. Jim Snyder, a diagnostic radiologist who assisted
the museum with the scan.
Immediately apparent
to the group was that some of Tjeby's bones had fallen or moved
into the mummy's chest cavity at some point in his history – likely
after he had been mummified. Doctors and the museum staff noted
that the main portion of his body was wrapped separately from the
limbs and other parts of the body were a bit "jumbled."
A more in-depth
examination of the images will take some time, but Snyder was able
to do a quick 3-D rendering, giving Tjeby his first close-up in
more than 4,000 years. Museum officials did not provide a timeline
on the rest of the process, but were excited about the
prospects.
"It's amazing that we
are able to do this," Schertz said. "This is history."
