Using a computer-assisted X-ray tomography machine, the mummy of a boy of high socio-economic class, already nicknamed the “Golden Boy”, was studied, now exhibited in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The images of the mummified teenager’s face and profile – preserved since 1916 in the museum reserve – have revealed the presence of 49 amulets, most of which are made of gold, intended to protect him in the afterlife, after his death approximately 2,300 years ago in Southern Egypt.
The 15-year-old’s golden mummy was found in a cemetery in southern Egypt and his study was described in the journal Frontiers in Medicine by radiologist Sahar Saleem, of the Cairo University School of Medicine, and his colleagues, who they practically stripped her of her rags and strips using an x-ray tomography machine.
In line with the prescriptions made to the deceased in the famous “Book of the Dead of the ancient Egyptians”, his body was accompanied by 49 amulets of 21 different shapes, in hard stones, terracotta or semi-cooked clay, but, for many, in gold. A tongue made of the precious metal was placed in his mouth to enable him to speak beyond the grave, while an amulet of two fingers next to his uncircumcised penis protected the embalming incision. Finally, a golden beetle was placed next to his heart, which was never extracted subsequently.
The young man showed no signs of illness or trauma, his teeth were free of cavities. The cause of death could not be determined by X-rays alone, write the authors of the study, for which “this non-invasive technology offers a unique opportunity to learn more about life and death in ancient Egypt”.
In recent days, near the Pyramid of Saqqara, about thirty kilometers from Cairo, what could be the oldest Egyptian mummy was identified. According to archaeologist Zahi Hawass the tomb belongs to a group of pharaonic burials of the fifth and sixth dynasty and the mummy, belonging to a man named Hekashepes, dates back to 4,300 years ago.