From Egyptian ruins to an x-ray room in Bakersfield, California. Scientists at Cal State Bakersfield are using modern technology to reveal what is under wraps.
Before the scan of a 2,500 year old mummy, CSUB Professor Robert Yohe had his own idea of what lied beneath. "We think it’s a male and that if it was a male it was a short male," said Yohe.
But after the scan. "There seems to be some arthritic changes to the vertebrae. There also seems to be somewhere on the teeth the third molars are erupted so it's a mature adult female which we didn't know before," Yohe said.
The cat scan only took 25 seconds. But the 3-d images have already become pages of history. It's such a rare find because antiquities aren't even allowed out of Egypt anymore so we have a first opportunity to take a look at this and see who this person is that we may not have a similar opportunity in the future,” said Lorenzo Michaels of Quest Imaging.
And radiologists say more in depth studies of the x-rays will tell what kind of life the mummy led. "You can tell the wear and tear. You can tell whether they were a laborer. You an also tell where the bones are fused, kind of an age distribution as far as if this was an older person, middle aged or younger, depending on how the bone is fused," said radiologist James Cusator.
The scan may even uncover how the woman died. Professor Yohe has worked with ancient artifacts nearly three decades. This mummy, on loan from U.C. Berkley, was his first cat scan analysis and it's now his method of choice.