Egyptian boy mummy was buried with a ‘second heart’ made of gold

X-rays have been used to digitally unwrap the mother of a teenage boy courting again about 2300 years, revealing 49 treasured protecting amulets, together with a gold scarab signifying the center

By Alex Wilkins

Digital scans of an Egyptian mummy have revealed a teenage boy buried with a “second heart” comprised of gold, in addition to dozens of different amulets that the traditional Egyptians believed had been necessary for the afterlife.

The mummy, which had been left undisturbed within the basement of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo since 1916, is from round 300 BC within the Ptolemaic interval.

Sahar Saleem at Cairo University digitally unwrapped the small, gold-covered mummy with computed tomography (CT), which concerned utilizing lots of of high-resolution X-ray photos to show the skeleton and tender tissue, and reveal 49 amulets of 21 differing kinds.

As nicely as discovering a 3-centimetre golden scarab within the mummy’s chest cavity, symbolising a coronary heart, Saleem and her workforce found a golden tongue contained in the cranium’s mouth space, an amulet within the form of two fingers subsequent to the embalming incision mark on the left thigh, and different spiritual amulets comprised of gold, semi-precious stones and brightly colored ceramics.

The boy’s personal coronary heart remained within the chest, as a religious image, say the researchers, as was regular with Egyptian mummies.

The amulets had supposed protecting properties for the arduous journey to the afterlife that the Egyptians believed got here after loss of life. “The family of the boy offered him a very expensive level of embalming treatment to be prepared properly and equipped for the underground journey to reach the afterlife safely,” says Saleem, similar to sandals to stroll out of the coffin and a golden tongue to talk with.

The researchers used the CT scans to 3D print a reconstruction of the golden coronary heart. “The large, golden heart scarab amulet is really amazing, especially after I printed it and was able to hold it in my hands,” says Saleem. “There were engraved marks on the back of the 3D-printed amulet that could represent inscriptions and spells.”

These inscriptions appeared to incorporate verses from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which states that the center scarab is required to silence the center when judged by the gods en path to the afterlife.

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