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Until now the study of Egypt’s population history has been largely based on literary and archaeological sources and inferences drawn from genetic diversity in present-day Egyptians. Both approaches have made crucial contributions to the debate but are not without limitations. On the one hand, the interpretation of literary and archaeological sources is often complicated by selective representation and preservation and the fact that markers of foreign identity, such as, for example, Greek or Latin names and ethnics, quickly became ‘status symbols’ and were adopted by natives and foreigners alike. On the other hand, results obtained by modern genetic studies are...

Full Title: Theft of decapitated mummy's head from Dublin crypt was 'planned crime' and not 'mindless vandalism', say Gardaí Last weekend, tomb raiders decapitated and subsequently stole the head of 'The Crusader' – 800-year-old mummified remains believed to be those of a man who fought in the Crusades during the Medieval Era. The head remains missing and there are fears it will begin to deteriorate in the open air as micro-climatic conditions in the crypt had kept it preserved. Two other mummies – including the body of a 400-year-old nun – were also "desecrated" …(snip) ...St Michan's Church – founded...

When Ariela Algaze signed up for a spring 2018 course on museums, she didn't expect to get wrapped up in the mystery of an ancient Egyptian mummy case that Jane Stanford herself purchased more than 100 years ago... Algaze's research led her to discover information that was not known by university scholars - including inscriptions on the coffin and the name of the mummified woman inside it... Algaze learned that the artifact contained writing after sifting through hundreds of its fragments, which have been stored in three boxes, unstudied for decades. The mummy case, which Jane Stanford purchased in 1901,...

It is the first time that extensive tests have been carried out on an intact prehistoric mummy, consolidating the researchers' previous findings that embalming was taking place 1,500 years earlier than previously accepted. Dating from c.3700-3500 BC, the mummy has been housed in the Egyptian Museum in Turin since 1901, but unlike the majority of other prehistoric mummies in museums, it has never undergone any conservation treatments, providing a unique opportunity for accurate scientific analysis. Like its famous counterpart Gebelein Man A in the British Museum, the Turin mummy was previously assumed to have been naturally mummified by the desiccating...

The severely elongated head of a preserved skeleton found in Peru's Atacama Desert in 2003 is so unusual that it initially prompted people to suggest that the diminutive body was that of an extraterrestrial. Since then, DNA testing confirmed that the remains — which measure about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long — belonged to a human fetus that researchers named Ata. But the scientists who conducted that investigation and published their findings in March have recently come under fire for their methods. ...Their investigation, which did not include any Chilean researchers, may have sidestepped protocols that typically monitor the ethics...

The sarcophagus was one of four sourced from Egypt around 1860 by the museum's founder. A handbook later classified it as empty. Dr Fraser said the "dowdy-looking and nondescript" object had received little attention while Egyptologists studied the other coffins, which appeared more impressive and had complete mummies. Experts will try to identify the mummy, which was "badly torn apart" and ransacked by tomb raiders at some point in history. Only about 10% of the body remains in the coffin. Dr Fraser said its hieroglyphics date to about 600BC and show that it was built for a woman named Mer-Neith-it-es,...

Nearly two decades ago, the rumors began: In the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, someone had discovered a tiny mummified alien. An amateur collector exploring a ghost town was said to have come across a white cloth in a leather pouch. Unwrapping it, he found a six-inch-long skeleton. Despite its size, the skeleton was remarkably complete. It even had hardened teeth. And yet there were striking anomalies: it had ten ribs instead of the usual 12, giant eye sockets and a long skull that ended in a point. {snip} On Thursday, a team of scientists presented a very different explanation...

A scientist has finally confirmed with 3D models that legendary ice man Otzi was indeed killed 5,300 years ago by an arrow. Otzi, a 5,300-year-old mummified man, was found in 1991 in a glacier in the Alps between what is now Austria and Italy. Since the discovery, Otzi has been examined by multiple teams of scientists, with new discoveries coming to light each time. Now an expert claims it was the arrow that delivered the fatal blow, severing the nerve to his shoulder and hitting his major vessels. Since his discovery on 19 December 1991 by German hikers, Ó¦tzi has...

Researchers have known for many years that workers in ancient Egypt recycled papyrus for different purposes -- one particular use was creating decorated boxes into which mummies were placed. Papyrus scraps were glued together using paste and plaster, similar to modern paper-mâché projects... The technique involved using a digital imaging method that interpreted light bounced back from a subject. Prior research had shown that the pigment in ink used by the ancient Egyptians over 2000 years ago could fluoresce under the proper infrared filter. By using such filters with digital imaging technology, the team was able to see the ink...

It was the first time researchers used a high-energy particle accelerator to study a human mummy. The tool is often aimed for physics-based research, but the experiment allowed researchers to take a look inside without risking damage. Researchers were able to examine the objects that were buried with the girl's body. Early results revealed wires in the mummy's teeth and a small mysterious objected wrapped to the stomach, which some of the researchers think, albeit with uncertainty, is a stone. Researchers also found shards potentially from an object made of tar placed in her skull after the brain was removed...

There were few signs that a major blockbuster was about to premiere when “The Mummy” rolled into Manhattan last week. The marquee of the AMC Loews Lincoln Square Theatres had gone blank. The carpet was totally covered with black plastic. Security only let guests past barricades after quizzing them about what they were there to see, and everybody had to walk through two imposing metal detectors. Inside the theater, Tom Cruise was jubilant, as he stood in front of the crowd. “Hey y’all,” said the 54-year-old actor. He introduced Alex Kurtzman, the film’s director, as well as the cast members,...

Warner Bros. superhero tentpole Wonder Woman held on to the top spot at the box office while Universal’s Tom Cruise-starring The Mummy reboot failed to unwrap big gains domestically as Hollywood’s bleak summer continued this weekend. Wonder Woman — starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian princess-turned World War I peacekeeper — raked in $16 million Friday for an estimated $57.2 million weekend total in its second week of release, according to Box Office Mojo. The well-reviewed Patty Jenkins-directed film, with a 93 percent “fresh” rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, fell just 45 percent in its second weekend for a...

Ancient mummy 'with 1,100 year old Adidas boots' died after she was struck on the head By Olga Gertcyk 12 April 2017 As well as her amazing 'modern' footwear, this Mongolian 'seamstress' went to the afterlife with four changes of clothes, her sewing kit, a horse and a ram's head. 'Adidas mummy', Mongolia. Picture: The Mongolian Observer/The Center of Cultural Heritage of Mongolia New pictures of the mummy's remarkable red striped boots - first highlighted by The Siberian Times in April last year and now cleaned up after being buried in a grave for around 1,100 years - have been released. When they...

Intriguing new details have emerged about a medieval mummy known for her 'Adidas' boots - which she wore more than a millennia ago. The body of the woman was discovered a year ago this week in the Altai mountains region of Mongolia. And her body and possessions remained so remarkably preserved that experts are still uncovering some of the secrets they keep. ... And her trademark felt boots - boasting red and black stripes - have been carefully cleaned, with new pictures revealed today by The Siberian Times. Experts from the Centre of Cultural Heritage of Mongolia now believe the...

Intriguing new details have emerged about a medieval mummy known for her 'Adidas' boots - which she wore more than a millennia ago. The body of the woman was discovered a year ago this week in the Altai mountains region of Mongolia. And her body and possessions remained so remarkably preserved that experts are still uncovering some of the secrets they keep. Now, scientists have discovered that the mummy suffered a significant blow to the head before her death.

Experts in the U.K. were stunned recently when a tiny Egyptian mummy, long thought to be the remains of a hawk, was revealed to be a human baby. The ancient mummy, which is part of the Maidstone Museum’s collection, underwent a Computerized Tomography (CT) scan at the Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (KIMS). “Following the scans at KIMS Hospital, the remains were in fact revealed to be the mummy of a baby,” said Samantha Harris, the Collections Manager at Maidstone Museum, in a statement. “Initial reviews identified the baby to be a miscarried c.20-week gestation foetus which, if found...

Eugene Delacroix's most famous painting, "Liberty Leading the People," hangs in a revered spot in Paris' Louvre Museum. Inspired by the 1830 Paris Uprising, it has been held up as an embodiment of the French national ethos, and most recently as a justification for the country's controversial burkini ban. But "Liberty Leading the People" may also have been literally painted with people. From at least the 16th century until as late as the early 1900s, a pigment made from mummified human remains appeared on the palettes of European artists, including Delacroix. Painters prized "mummy brown" for its rich, transparent shade....

The face of an ancient female Egyptian mummy has been reconstructed with the help of 3D printing and forensic science techniques, an important step to better understand who she was. Other crucial details about her health have also been gathered, completing the picture. This reconstruction was only made possible due to the work of a multi-disciplinary team led by scientists at Melbourne University, combining medical research, forensic science, computerised tomographic (CT) scanning, 3D printing, Egyptology and art. It all started when Dr Ryan Jefferies, curator at the University's Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, stumbled across the skull...

Researchers have presented one of the first computerised tomography (CT) scans of a mummified individual from southern Africa, and also completed the first successful aDNA (ancient DNA) extraction from such remains. The mummy is estimated to have been about 300 years old. Professor Maryna Steyn, Head of the School of Anatomical Sciences, together with researchers from the University of Zurich (Switzerland), University of Pretoria and University of Botswana have published these findings in a paper, Radiological and genetic analysis of a Late Iron Age mummy from the Tuli Block, Botswana, in the South African Journal of Science. Mummified human remains...

A Northwestern University research team has taken CSI to a whole new level: employing sophisticated scientific tools to investigate details of the materials and methods used by Roman-Egyptian artists to paint lifelike mummy portraits more than 2,000 years ago. These visages of the dead are considered to be antecedents of Western portraiture. Marc Walton and his interdisciplinary team have uncovered telling clues about the paintings' underlying surface shapes and colors. The new details, when coupled together, provide the researchers with very strong evidence as to how many of the 15 mummy portraits and panel paintings were made. Walton, a senior...