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Review
. 2016 Jul 25:3:172-81.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejro.2016.07.002. eCollection 2016.

From first to latest imaging technology: Revisiting the first mummy investigated with X-ray in 1896 by using dual-source computed tomography

Stephanie Zesch  1 , Stephanie Panzer  2 , Wilfried Rosendahl  1 , John W Nance Jr  3 , Stefan O Schönberg  4 , Thomas Henzler  4
Affiliations
Review

From first to latest imaging technology: Revisiting the first mummy investigated with X-ray in 1896 by using dual-source computed tomography

Stephanie Zesch et al. Eur J Radiol Open. .

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to systematically reinvestigate the first human mummy that was ever analyzed with X-ray imaging in 1896, using dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) in order to compare the earliest and latest imaging technologies, to estimate preservation, age at death, sex, anatomical variants, paleopathological findings, mummification, embalming and wrapping of the child mummy from ancient Egypt. Radiocarbon dating was used to determine the mummy's age and to specify the child's living period in the Egyptian chronology.

Material and methods: The ancient Egyptian child mummy is kept in the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. An accelerator mass spectrometer (MICADAS) was used for radiocarbon dating. DSCT was performed using a 2 × 64 slice dual-source CT system (Siemens Healthineers, Forchheim, Germany). A thorough visual examination of the mummy, a systematic radiological evaluation of the DICOM datasets, and established methods in physical anthropology were applied to assess the bio-anthropological data and the post mortem treatment of the body.

Results: Radiocarbon dating yielded a calibrated age between 378 and 235 cal BC (95.4% confidence interval), corresponding with the beginning of the Ptolemaic period. The mummy was a male who was four to five years old at the time of death. Remnants of the brain and inner organs were preserved by the embalmers, which is regularly observed in ancient Egyptian child mummies. Skin tissue, inner organs, tendons and/or musculature, cartilage, nerves and vasculature could be identified on the DSCT dataset. The dental health of the child was excellent. Anatomical variants and pathological defects included a congenital Pectus excavatum deformity, hepatomegaly, Harris lines, and longitudinal clefts in the ventral cortices of both femora.

Conclusion: Our results highlight the enormous progress achieved form earliest to latest imaging technology for advanced mummy research using the first human mummy investigated with X-ray. With the application of DSCT, detailed knowledge regarding age at death, sex, diseases, death, and mummification of a child from Ptolemaic Egypt are revealed while considering the temporary rites of body treatment and burial for children.

Keywords: Ancient Egypt; Child mummy; Dual-energy computed tomography; Hepatomegaly; Pectus excavatum deformity; X-ray.

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Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Photography of the bandaged ancient Egyptian child mummy from the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Frankfurt a.M. (inventory number ÄS 18).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Reproduction of the historical X-ray image of the child mummy’s knees (© German Röntgen Museum, Remscheid-Lennep, Germany). The image shows the mirror-inverted perspective of the knees, which happened when the negative image was transferred into positive.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Thick mean intensity coronal multi-planar reconstruction of the lower extremities of the mummy. The image shows the body in the correct anatomical position.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Coronal whole body multi-planar reconstruction. The densely wrapped bandages are well preserved (a) and the skeleton of the mummy is completely preserved (b). Image (a) represents a coronal thick mean intensity projection whereas image (b) represents a thick maximum intensity projection.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Sagittal multi-planar reformation (a) and sagittal volume rendering reconstruction with plane clipping (b) demonstrates shrunken brain remnants of the child mummy within the posterior cranial fossa and within the cervical spinal canal. Image (a) also demonstrates the Pectus excavatum deformity.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Identified inner organs within the abdominal and thoracic cavity of the mummy. The white asterisk shows the well-preserved liver (a); the white arrow indicates the shrunken heart (b).
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Volume rendering reconstructions of the mummy’s dentition status. Tooth development and eruption of the child in overview (a) and detail (b) indicate an age at death from four to five years.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Multi-planar 2D-reconstruction of the desiccated penis (white arrow).
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Sagittal multi-planar reconstruction of the thorax. The white arrow indicates a soft tissue depression of the thorax and a s-form configuration of the sternum, which is identified as a congenital Pectus excavatum deformity.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
3D volume rendering (a) and multi-planar reconstruction (b) of a longitudinal cleft in the ventral cortical bone of both femora from the lesser trochanter to the distal metaphysis. Image (b) further shows Harris lines within the left distal femur (white triangle).
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
3D volume rendering illustrating hyperdense structures below the outer bandages, directly on the mummy’s face extending from the supraorbital margins to the chin (a), and the facial skeleton below (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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