BMI Shirley Oak Hospital of Croydon, U.K., is working with the British Museum to image six mummies in the museum's permanent collection. The mummies range in age from 800 to more than 2,000 years old and are originally from Egypt, Peru, and Sudan. The hospital imaged them with CT so that British Museum researchers can peel back the mummies' bandages and reveal details about their diets, how they lived, worked, and died.
CT scans showed that one of the female mummies, thought to be headless, had a head that was attached but tucked forward into her upper chest, according to the hospital.
An image of the "headless" female mummy taken at BMI Shirley Oak Hospital in Croydon, U.K."This opportunity provided to us by BMI Shirley Oaks Hospital gives the British Museum an unparalleled opportunity to source scientific data that will help us shed light on the physical anthropology, family relationships, life expectancy, nutrition, health, disease, and the causes of death of these mummies," said Daniel Antoine, PhD, curator of physical anthropology at the museum.
