Several studies have upended what we thought we knew about mummification using scientific dating techniques to reveal some fascinating – and surprising – insights.
Statues of pharaoh Tutankhamun and mythology jackal.
JK21/Shutterstock
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s ancient Egyptian tomb in 1922 thrilled the world. But people know more about rumours of a curse than the amazing things science revealed about the boy king.
Howard Carter, Ahmed Gerigar and King Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus, opened three years after the tomb was discovered, in 1925.
Wikimedia Commons
The discovery of his tomb full of magnificent and unique objects is more than a story of treasures. It’s also a story of class, privilege, colonialism, political freedom and national identity.
A man takes a picture of a statue representing the 5,300-year-old mummy named Ötzi, discovered in the Italian Alps 30 years ago.
Andrea Solero/AFP via Getty Images
When the 5,300-year-old mummy of Ötzi the Iceman was found 30 years ago, researchers found 61 tattoos on it. A scholar explains how tattoos have been a sacred part of many cultures across the world.
Some people think the mummies brought good luck!
Dusida/shutterstock
Are DNA samples today’s version of the human skeletons that hung in 20th-century natural history museums? They can provide genetic revelations about our species’ history – but at an ethical price.
The Mummy, in its 2017 rendition, rehashes an 80-year-old franchise focused on revived Egyptian corpses.
AlloCine
The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe, is the latest manifestation of our centuries old fascination with Egypt. But beneath this obsession is a darker story of looting and destruction.
Ötzi the Iceman has come to life.
Simon Claessen/Flickr
For the first time, scientific evidence has shown that prehistoric Egyptians experimented with techniques to preserve bodies around 4000BC, some 1,500 years before artificial mummification was believed…
Barbara, 14-year-old sister of Terézia Hausmann, who was found in the same crypt.
Ildiko Pap
In 1994, a crypt containing 242 bodies was discovered in Vác, Hungary. Many of the bodies were naturally mummified, including the remains of a woman, Terézia Hausmann, who died apparently from tuberculosis…