British Library What's On June 2006

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Springwatch

The Devon farm from which Springwatch broadcasts is home to over 100 bird species.
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In this week's Science & Nature newsletter

** Springwatch interactive **
** Springwatch on air **
** Memory **
** TV & Radio choices this week **

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Mummy Mystery

Posted on Mon, May. 22, 2006

It's the oldest of cold cases: A girl's death 2,200 years ago. Can modern technology explain it?

By Tom Avril

Inquirer Staff Writer

Slideshow | Scanning a Mummy On the Web | More on forensic studies of mummies

When she was rediscovered three decades ago, in a darkened storage area at Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, she caused a bit of a sensation.

Lying in a plain wooden crate was an Egyptian mummy, her gilded death mask undimmed by the passage of centuries.

The Egyptian government had restricted the export of such artefacts decades earlier, so the appearance in 1977 of a "new" one outside the country drew some interest.

X-rays taken at the time led researchers to identify the body tentatively as that of a 14-year-old girl.

But mysteries remained. When did she live, and where? How did she die? Might her dusty linen wrappings hold any clues as to her place in society, or the customs of her time?

In short, who was she?

Now, almost 30 years after the mummy was first rediscovered, new clues are starting to emerge.

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