mummies

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Fire at Dublin Church 'Disastrous for History'

Remains of a 'Crusader' mummy have been destroyed, as have other centuries-old remains

(Newser) - Centuries-old mummified remains, including those of a Crusader , are thought to have been destroyed in a fire deliberately set Tuesday at a historic Dublin church. A man was arrested and charged with an offense under the Criminal Damage Act, per the BBC . He allegedly broke into the the crypt beneath...

Cops Make Unusual Find in Ex-Food Delivery Man's Bag

Man in Peru called 'Juanita' his 'spiritual girlfriend'; police say it was an ancient mummy

(Newser) - Peruvian police have arrested a 26-year-old man allegedly found carrying an ancient mummy—whom he reportedly described as his "spiritual girlfriend"— in his food delivery bag. Police said three men were acting drunk at a park, also described as an archaeological site, in the southern region of Puno,...

'Time Machine' Unearthed on Ancient Egypt's Mummies

Embalming workshop found in 2016 offers hints on the mummification process

(Newser) - For thousands of years, ancient Egyptians mummified their dead in the search for eternal life. Now, researchers have used chemistry and an unusual collection of jars to figure out how they did it. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature , is based on a rare archaeological find: an embalming...

It's the First Study to Examine Sicily's Child Mummies

Researchers to examine 41 'tiny dolls' mummified in Sicily's Capuchin Catacombs

(Newser) - The Capuchin Catacombs in Sicily, Italy, are famous for their nearly 1,300 mummified corpses on display to the public. Now researchers plan to conduct the first-ever study devoted to a subset of those mummies—the children. Specifically, researchers from Staffordshire University in the UK will examine 41 mummified children,...

Mummy That Escaped Others' Fate Gives Up Secrets

Amenhotep I was never unwrapped, unlike other pharaohs found in 19th, 20th centuries

(Newser) - Amenhotep I ruled Egypt from 1525 to 1504 BC, and his mummy managed to escape the fate of many others: Though it was discovered in 1881, it was never unwrapped in modern times, with a press release saying it's the only royal mummy found in the 19th and 20th...

Mummy May Rewrite the History of Mummies
Mummy May Rewrite
the History of Mummies
in case you missed it
Oct 30, 2021 7:00 AM CDT

Mummy May Rewrite the History of Mummies

Remains in Egypt may be oldest ever found by about 1,000 years

(Newser) - A dignitary named Khuwy who lived about 4,400 years ago just might end up being one of the more famous mummies in history. Provided his story checks out. Archaeologists in Egypt say the remains discovered in 2019 could prove that Egyptians were carrying out sophisticated mummifications about 1,000...

Alleged Cult Leader Dies, Followers Apparently Can't Part With Her

7 members of Love Has Won religious group kept mummified remains of Amy Carlson in home

(Newser) - Police say a man returned to his rural Colorado home last week to find a mummified woman, who "appeared to be set up in some type of shrine." The face, with missing eyes, was caked in glittery makeup, and the body was wrapped in a sleeping bag and...

Egypt Just Moved the Remains of 22 Royal Mummies

They'll go on display at the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

(Newser) - They've been dead for centuries, but on Saturday they were on the move. NPR reports that 22 ancient Egyptian royal mummies were paraded from the nearly 120-year-old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The Pharaohs' Golden Parade, as the spectacle was called,...

How to Make a Mummy: Oldest Manual Yet Is Found

It dates back to Egypt from around 3.5K years ago

(Newser) - A doctoral student in Denmark has uncovered the oldest instruction manual on mummification to date. Sofie Schiodt of the University of Copenhagen deciphered a papyrus from ancient Egypt that goes back about 3,500 years, reports CNET . The papyrus is a medical text of sorts, and the section on embalming...

Golden-Tongued Mummy Unearthed in Egypt

Archaeologists are searching for the tomb of Cleopatra

(Newser) - Archaeologists working in northern Egypt have unearthed several mummies that date back some 2,000 years, the BBC reports. Among the human remains discovered in 16 burial chambers on the outskirts of Alexandria was a skull in which had been placed a tongue crafted from gold foil, per the New ...

Egypt Unveils Another Kind of Mummy
From Egypt, Another
Kind of Mummy
Nov 23, 2019 4:40 PM CST

From Egypt, Another Kind of Mummy

Exhibition of animal mummies in Saqqara includes crocodiles, birds, and cats

(Newser) - Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities on Saturday revealed details on recently discovered animal mummies, saying they include two lion cubs as well as several crocodiles, birds, and cats, the AP reports. Items from the new find were displayed at a makeshift exhibition at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in...

800 Years After Death, Crusader Loses His Head

Thieves wreak havoc in crypt of St. Michan's in Dublin

(Newser) - If you happen to stumble across an 800-year-old mummy head, Irish police are looking for one. The head of a man who fought in the medieval-era Crusades was "severed from his body and taken away" from the crypt of St. Michan's church in Dublin sometime before Monday afternoon,...

Hidden in Rock Chambers, Egypt's First Big Find of 2019

40 mummies, including 10 that were children, unearthed at Tuna El-Gebel necropolis in Minya

(Newser) - Egypt says it just made what Ahram Online calls its "first antiquities discovery of 2019," and it's a big one: a number of ancient burial chambers containing some 40 mummies at the Tuna El-Gebel necropolis in the desert province of Minya, south of Cairo, the AP reports....

7 Pharaonic Age Tombs Uncovered in Egypt

Along with statues of cats and birds

(Newser) - A top Egyptian antiquities official says local archaeologists have discovered seven Pharaonic Age tombs near the capital Cairo containing dozens of cat mummies along with wooden statues depicting other animals and birds, the AP reports. Mostafa Waziri told reporters Saturday that the discovery at Saqqara also includes mummies of scarabs,...

Earliest Mummy 'Recipe' Found


Earliest Known Egyptian
Mummy Is Discovered
new study
Aug 16, 2018 10:35 AM CDT

Earliest Known Egyptian Mummy Is Discovered

He moves back the start of the embalming practice about 1,500 years

(Newser) - He was probably in his 20s and died nearly 6,000 years ago in Egypt. Beyond that, not much is known about the mystery man—except that he has helped scientists rewrite the book on mummification. Chemical analysis reveals that whoever buried him also embalmed him, and that pushes back...

FBI Solves the Mystery of an Ancient Severed Head
FBI Solves the Mystery
of an Ancient Severed Head
In Case You Missed It
Apr 7, 2018 2:09 PM CDT

FBI Solves the Mystery of an Ancient Severed Head

In an Egyptian tomb belonging to Djehutynakht and his wife, there was just one head

(Newser) - It has to rank among the less usual undertakings doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital had attempted: In 2009 they removed a molar from a severed Egyptian mummy's head via an endoscope with grasping forceps they inserted through the neck. The tooth was a hopeful clue in a nearly...

It Looks Like a Smudge. But Its Significance Is Huge

Mummy tattoos among the oldest ever found, say scientists

(Newser) - The ancient Egyptian mummy has been a favorite attraction at the British Museum since it was discovered a century ago in Gebelein, but only keen-eyed passers-by would've wondered at the dark smudges on the male's upper arm. Turns out, they were worth noticing. Infrared scans have revealed them...

Mummified Remains Found in Indiana

The head and torso could be 2K years old

(Newser) - Workers exploring the site of an intended quarry in rural Indiana stumbled upon a mummified body that experts say could be anywhere from 500 to 2,000 years old, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. "They could distinguish a head and a torso," says a local sheriff. "...

Researchers Mummify a Leg With Ancient Instructions

Though the Egyptians got the job done much faster

(Newser) - It's one thing to say that ancient Egyptians had a masterful technique for turning corpses into mummies and another to prove it. But researchers in Switzerland appear to have accomplished just that by mummifying a human leg with those ancient methods. Researchers treated the leg (it came from a...

Scientists Find Proof of Pharaohs' Incest

They did so by measuring the height of 259 Egyptian mummies

(Newser) - A new study has found that "pharaohs varied less in height than men of the common population," as a researcher explains—a rather plain statement with some pretty gossipy implications. Swiss researcher Frank Rühli and his colleagues examined the height of 259 mummies—a group that included...

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