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The practice of mummification evolved significantly over time. During the Predynastic period (around 5000 BCE), bodies were preserved naturally by the hot, dry desert sand. By the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BCE), embalmers began using natron – a natural mixture of sodium carbonate and other salts – along with resins and aromatic materials. The process reached its peak of sophistication during the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE), when embalmers employed a complex array of fragrant substances including coniferous resins, oils from cedar and pine, precious spices, and aromatic gums like frankincense and myrrh.Scientists examined nine mummies that showcase this evolution of preservation...

Since their discovery, the ancestry of hundreds of mummified bodies buried in boats in an inhospitable desert region of northwest China has puzzled and divided archaeologists.Found in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang mostly in the 1990s, the mummies' bodies and clothes are strikingly intact despite being up to 4,000 years old. Naturally preserved by the dry desert air, their facial features and hair color can clearly be seen.Their Western looks; felted and woven wool clothing; and the cheese, wheat and millet found in their unusual graves suggested they were long-disticance herders from the West Asia steppe or migrating farmers from...

Ahram Online reports that a tomb dated to the Middle Kingdom period has been discovered in the Asasif necropolis at Thebes, which is located on the western bank of the Nile River in Upper Egypt. The 4,000-year-old tomb contained the remains of 11 individuals, who are thought to have been family members who lived during the 12th and early 13th Dynasties. Damage to the wooden coffins and linen wrappings in the tomb is thought to have occurred during ancient floods. Jewelry and pottery, however, were found to be well preserved and still in place among the skeletal remains. The jewelry...

Mexican politicians were shown two mummified corpses this week that a UFO expert claimed are “a clear demonstration” of “non-human” aliens.

Strikingly tall skeletons uncovered in the Ecuador and Peru Amazon region are undergoing examination in Germany, according to a research team headed by British anthropologist Russell Dement. Will these remains prove that a race of tall people existed hundreds of years ago deep in the Amazonian rainforest? Since 2013, the team has reported finding half a dozen human skeletons dating to the early 1400s and the mid-1500s that measure between 7 feet and 8 feet (213 to 243 centimeters) in height. ... In late 2013, Dement received word that a skeleton had been uncovered by a Shuar local, approximately 70...

... discovered beside baby mummy as tests 'reveal they are NOT human' Could they be aliens? Mystery of three-fingered skeletons as tests 'reveal they’re NOT human' Bizarre skeletal remains with just three fingers and three toes have been found in Peru alongside a nine-month-old baby mummy. The mysterious remains have been named Maria by a research team. Tests reportedly reveal that Maria is humanoid - because she does have 23 chromosomes - but she does have a number of things that mean she is not human. Professor Konstantin Korotkov, from the Russian National Research University says he has also seen...

Two apparently 'non-human' alien corpses dating back 1,000 years had been found preserved in a Peruvian mine. With their small bodies, three-fingered hands and strange elongated skulls, the mummified specimens looked like a cross between humans and the extraterrestrial creature from the movie E.T. Even more bizarre is that their internal cavities also allegedly contained implants of rare metals and eggs. The 'aliens' were officially unveiled at Mexico's Congress as politicians held their first ever hearing on UFOs, but was everything as it seemed? MailOnline takes a look… A team of experts put together by Alexander Sokolov from the Scientists...

The fossilised bodies presented in glass cases by journalist and UFO scientist Jaime Maussan at Mexico's parliament are said to be 1,000 years old. The bodies of two alleged "alien" beings were exhibited before politicians in a special session of the Mexican Congress on Wednesday. The fossilised bodies, presented by journalist and self-proclaimed UFO scientist - or ufologist - Jaime Maussan and displayed in glass cases, were retrieved from Cusco in Peru and are said to be 1,000 years old. "These specimens are not part of the evolution of our world. They were not recovered from a UFO scrap. They...

Many scientists have called the “alien” mummies found in Peru a hoax. But a new study shows something different. Recent analysis of one of the humanoids named Maria showed that it has biological similarities to humans, but with many morphological and anatomical structural differences. It turned out that the elongated skull of the mummified humanoid does not show any signs of artificial deformation. Scientists were also able to find out that the mummy was created between 240 and 383 AD, reports the Daily Mail. .... Snip.... Scientists found that the mummy did not have hair and external ears, that is,...

Scientists analysing ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies have discovered they overwhelmingly share genes with people from Europe and not Africa, as previously believed. The first ever full-genome study of mummies dating from 1400 BC to 400 AD found that the ancient Egyptians were closely related to populations in the Levant – now modern day Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.Daily Mail reports: They were also genetically similar to Neolithic populations from the Anatolian Peninsula and Europe. In plain English, Egyptians were related to Persians, Rome and Greece whom were all white European people.The groundbreaking study used recent advances in DNA...

Egypt 'starts work on mummifying shark that devoured Russian tourist so it can be displayed in a MUSEUM after removing victim's head, chest and arms from the predator's stomach' Vladimir Popov, 23, was mauled to death by a tiger shark at Egyptian resort It comes after a 68-year-old was killed by shark at a nearby resort last year Egypt has started work on mummifying the shark that devoured a Russian tourist so that it can be displayed that it can be displayed at a museum, according to a report. The body parts of Vladimir Popov, 23, who was eaten alive...

Scientists may soon get glimpse of mummy's face 6/26/2005, 5:49 p.m. ET The Associated Press NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Pesed has called a western Pennsylvania college home for about 120 years, but her caretakers don't know what she looks like. But that might change now that researchers have a CT scan of the 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy. Officials believe the scan will provide enough information to allow a forensic artist to construct a bust of Pesed, a mummy from the Nile River town of Akhmim, about 350 miles south of Cairo. Pesed has been the property of Westminster College, located...

Excavation work carried out by an American mission from New York University at the temple of Ramses II in Abydos has stumbled upon a menagerie of mummified animals that provides previously undocumented evidence of cultic worship through the ages.The most significant find at the site is over 2,000 mummified heads of rams from the Ptolemaic period along with other mummified ewes, dogs, wild goats, cows, gazelles and mongooses, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.The mummified remains, some still in their linen wrappings, were found stored in one of the recently discovered magazines within the temple’s northern...

Egyptologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital Cairo containing what may be the oldest and "most complete" mummy yet to be discovered in the country, the excavation team leader said on Thursday (Jan 26. The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft in a recently uncovered group of fifth and sixth dynasty tombs near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Zahi Hawass, director of the team, told reporters. The mummy, of a man named Hekashepes, was in a limestone sarcophagus that had been sealed in mortar.

A prominent Egyptologist has boldly claimed to have solved one archaeology’s greatest mysteries: the location of Queen Nefertiti’s mummified remains. Zahi Hawass, the previous Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs in Egypt, is part of the Egypt-led team that undertook a high-profile excavation in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings that allegedly uncovered amulets once owned by King Tut. The team announced last December that they had also unearthed several unnamed mummies, one of which Hawass believes is the famed ruler. “We already have DNA from the 18th dynasty mummies, from Akhenaten to Amenhotep II or III, and there are two...

664 B.C. Egyptian Mummy Finally Gets a Face Scientists at the FAPAB Research Center in Italy have unveiled the forensic facial reconstruction of a young woman who lived in Thebes, Egypt in the early 26th dynasty. The mummy of the young woman arrived in Switzerland as early as 1820 and has been the star among mummies in the country ever since. The forensic reconstruction on the skull was made in multiple phases following the Manchester method, the gold standard of available forensic methods. According to the published paper, once the mummy’s skull was digitized, the team reconstructed the soft tissue...

A team of experts has found a mummy estimated to be at least 800 years old on Peru's central coast, one of the archaeologists who participated in the excavation said on Friday. The mummified remains were of a person from the culture that developed between the coast and mountains of the South American country. The mummy, whose gender was not identified, was discovered in the Lima region, said archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen Luna. "The main characteristic of the mummy is that the whole body was tied up by ropes and with the hands covering the face, which would be part...

Fires from incendiary bombs burned the cake to a crisp.. A 79-year-old nutcake lies on a table in the workshop of the Department of Archaeology for the Hanseatic City of Lübeck Historic Monuments Protection Authority. (Image credit: dpa picture alliance/Alamy Live News) Archaeologists in Germany are salivating over a hazelnut-and-almond cake that was baked 79 years ago and was recently dug up in a cellar in the German town of Lübeck — as a blackened, mummy-like relic. Though the charred delicacy hasn't been edible for a very, very long time, it's still recognizable as a cake, representatives of the Hanseatic...

The faces of three ancient Egyptian men who lived up to 2,797 years ago have been reconstructed using genetic data extracted from their mummified remains. It is the first time such a technique has been used on human DNA of that age. The trio came from Abusir el-Meleq, an ancient city on a floodplain to the south of Cairo, and are estimated to have been buried some time between 780 BC and 5 AD.... ...'This is the first time comprehensive DNA phenotyping has been performed on human DNA of this age,' Parabon said in a statement. The firm's experts found...

In the nearly 200 years since his mummy’s arrival at the Leeds City Museum in northern England, an ancient Egyptian priest named Nesyamun has slowly but surely revealed his secrets.Employed as a high-ranking priest and scribe at the Karnak state temple in Thebes, Nesyamun performed rituals filled with both song and speech. Active during the turbulent reign of Ramses XI, who served as Egypt’s pharaoh between 1099 and 1069 B.C., he died in his mid-50s, likely due to a severe allergic reaction, and suffered from ailments including gum disease and heavily worn teeth. And, as evidenced by inscriptions on his...