(Photo : KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
The float carrying the mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I (15251504 BC) advances as part of the parade of 22 ancient Egyptian royal mummies departing from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square on April 3, 2021, on their way to their new resting place at the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) about seven kilometres south in historic Fustat (Old Cairo). - Dubbed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade, the 18 kings and four queens will travel in order, oldest first, each aboard a separate float decorated in ancient Egyptian style.
Scientists will unwrap Pharaoh Amenhotep's mummy in modern times without the use of invasive means on the ancient king this frailty of the remains was in danger of getting damaged.
Amenhotep I is the only mummy discovered during the 19th and 20th centuries already opened for study. He is the only pharaonic mummy who has not been open yet due to the challenges in keeping the body intact during the examination.
Pharaoh perfect mummified remains
According to experts, the ancient remains had perfect wrappings with a flower garland. The face to the neck was concealed fancy stone and a lifelike facemask worn by the Egyptian king, according to Phys Org.
Egyptologists used the technology called three-dimensional CT (computed tomography) to allow a non-invasive means to see his face and examine its contents finally. The findings were published in Frontiers in Medicine.
The coffin has been shut for thirty centuries, and only in modern time is the lid lifted off it. In the 11th century BCE, about four centuries after the first sealing.
Priests refurbished and interred royal mummies during previous dynasties during the latter part of the 21st dynasty to restore harm inflicted from grave robbers, according to hieroglyphics. Incursions by common folk into the royal tombs were a common sight.
Dr. Sahar Saleem from the Cairo University, the first author and X-ray specialist of the Egyptian Mummy Project, mentioned that Pharaoh Amenhotep's mummy is the first time that anyone in the present day can see the image of a long-dead ruler.
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The purpose is not only to see how the process of mummification was done but to see how the process was repeated hundreds of years after death, by Amun High Priests, cited Live Science.
Adding to the digitally unearthing of the layers, from the facemask, coverings, and the remains of Amenhotep. One goal is to finally see all the details of the intact remains of the great Pharaoh.
Study couldn't justify Pharaoh's cause of death
The Pharaoh was about 35 when he passed away, based on the research. He is estimated to be 169 centimeters tall, circumcised, with good teeth. Discovered in his wrapping were 30 amulets and a golden girdle adorned with gold beads.
They describe Amenhotep I had looked like his father, possessing a narrow chin, smallish narrow nose, and slightly thrusting upper teeth.
Dr. Saleem remarked that the remains were free from injury or deformities caused by sickness that could explain the Pharaoh died. Grave robbers did damage soon after the first burial. Intestines were removed from the embalmed body, except his brain and heart were not.
She and Dr. Zahi Hawass had stated how, in the 11th century, the tools for burial were used for other pharaohs. But their idea is disproven by them.
The Amun priests had fixed the injuries caused by the grave robbers' injuries to restore the mummy to its former magnificence.
Hawass and Saleem examined about 40 royal mummies from the New Kingdom in the Egyptian Antiquity Ministry Project from 2005. Of the twenty-two mummies with Amenhotep I included was sent to a new museum in Cairo in 2021. The two showed the use of CT imaging is beneficial for the studies of ancient mummies.
Pharaoh Amenhotep's mummy has been seen thoroughly by the eyes of technology to see what traditional tools would have damaged. New tools like CT imaging is less intrusive and preserve relics better.
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