Scientists Are Using CT Scanners to Reveal the Secrets of More Than Two Dozen Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Scientists at Chicago’s Field Museum are studying Egyptian mummies using a mobile CT scanner. Earlier this year, they spent four days carefully scanning 26 mummies in the museum’s collections. They’re still analyzing the results, which are already shedding new light on the ancient burials’ mysteries.

“From an archeological perspective, it is incredibly rare that you get to investigate or view history from the perspective of a single individual,” says Stacy Drake, the museum’s human remains collection manager, in a statement. “This is a really great way for us to look at who these people were—not just the stuff that they made and the stories that we have concocted about them, but the actual individuals that were living at this time.”

The team also hopes to learn more about the mummification process, which today’s historians don’t fully understand, as J.P. Brown, the museum’s senior conservator, tells NBC5 News’ Charlie Wojciechowski.

The researchers took thousands of scans of the mummies. By stacking the scans together, they were then able to create 3D images of each one without causing any damage.

This technique is a sharp contrast to how scientists once examined ancient mummies. As CNN’s Ashley Strickland writes, it wasn't unusual for 19th-century researchers to remove wrappings off of bodies in order to see what was inside—ruining the mummy’s burial dressings in the process.

In fact, a mummy known as Harwa, who died in his early- to mid-40s some 3,000 years ago, was handled so carelessly that he was briefly lost amidst airplane luggage. In 1939, the Field Museum sent Harwa to New York, where he was displayed at the New York World’s Fair. However, on the way back home, the body was accidentally sent to San Francisco instead of Chicago.

“It’s maybe not what we would consider ethical anymore,” Drake tells CNN. “One of the big things for these ancient Egyptian individuals is how you continue to live after death. And that is part of his story and his journey.”

Now, the CT scans are revealing new information about these individuals’ stories. For example, experts had long been stumped by the burial of Lady Chenet-aa, a high-status woman who lived during the 22nd Dynasty. Lady Chenet-aa’s body is inside a form-fitting coffin, which doesn’t have visible seams on the sides—just a tiny opening at her feet. Researchers couldn’t figure out how the body had been placed inside.

The CT scans revealed a laced seam at the back of the coffin. According to the museum, the ancient Egyptians may have molded the funerary box around Chenet-aa’s body while she was in an upright position before closing the seam. Additionally, painted “supplementary eyes” were placed in her eye sockets so that she would maintain her vision in the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians’ conception of the afterlife was “similar to our ideas about retirement savings,” as Brown says in the statement. “The additions are very literal. If you want eyes, then there needs to be physical eyes, or at least some physical allusion to eyes.”

The scans are also revealing more about Harwa, who was once a doorkeeper of an Egyptian granary. He appears to have lived a comfortable life, as his spine didn’t show any signs of problems that may have developed during physical labor. He also had well-kept teeth, suggesting that he had access to high-quality food.

The research will continue throughout 2025. Drake hopes the project will help change museumgoers’ perceptions about mummies, which are often informed by popular culture.

"These are people. They lived lives. Had names,” Drake tells FOX 32 News’ Dane Placko. “We are using these scans to learn more about these individuals and the experiences they may have had.”

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.