Tattoo of the Nile River mummy 1,300 years old

Wrapped in gauze bandages and described as horror characters in Hollywood movies, long ago Egyptian mummies have created irresistible appeal to scientists. Now, when the British Museum is about to organize a special exhibition program, the human aspect of the Nile mummies that one of them also has a tattoo like modern people, will be revealed.

Using the most advanced scientific techniques to study mummies, including tomography technology, Egyptologists from the British Museum were able to build the most detailed picture possible about hidden things. hidden beneath the cloth wrapped around the mummy, including the secrets they had brought to the grave thousands of years ago.

Woman wearing tattoo

3D scans of mummy women in Sudan

One of eight mummies will participate in the exhibition program found only 7 years ago. This mummy is preserved so well that archaeologists can almost see the tattoo on the inside of the right calf with the naked eye.

In ancient Greek, the tattoo was pronounced MIXAHA, or it means Michael. This tattoo is the symbol of Archangel Michael, who appears in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. This symbol was found earlier in ancient churches and on stone faces. But scientists have never seen it in the shape of a tattoo.

The owner of this tattoo is a woman about 1m58 tall, living in a Christian community on the banks of the Nile River and died around 700 AD. Her body was wrapped in linen and wool and embalmed in dry conditions.

This mummy was found at an archaeological site in a cemetery in Sudan. While other Egyptian mummies were removed from organs before the mummification process took place, the scans showed that this Sudanese mummy had perfectly preserved organs.

According to Dr. Daniel Antoine, curator of the British Museum of Anthropology, the reason this woman has a tattoo may be for protection purposes. It is still unclear who is the author of this tattoo in ancient Sudan and whether other natives see it or not because the tattoo is in a high position on the inside of the right calf. The British Museum also admitted that it was still uncertain at the time of 700 AD, women lived on the Nile River wearing dresses of how long.

Tattoo on mummy

The time of the mummy's life

The prospective exhibition program will be one of the most successful programs that the British Museum does, continuing the traditional blockbuster exhibition based on archaeological findings from ancient Egypt.

One of the messages that the Museum wants to send is the mummification that is not exclusive to pharaohs. For this reason, the curators at the museum intentionally chose mummies from different stages and had different circumstances. The mummies vary in age from 2 to 50 years at the time of death. Some were discovered by adventurers over 100 years ago while others were found recently on the banks of the Nile in what is today Sudan.

New analyzes provide evidence that, like modern people, ancient Egyptians also suffered from a number of high cholesterol and they also suffered from toothache.

'What we intend to do in the next exhibition is to investigate the lives of eight people in the past. We want to convey the idea that these are not objects that they are flesh-skinned people. We want to capture the human part of these people, ' said John Talor, head of the ancient Egyptian and Sudanese department of the British Museum.

Cut the mummy

Bone scans allow the team to determine the age of the remains based on bone damage. In addition, these images also show how ancient inhabitants living on the Nile River suffered from cardiovascular and dental diseases.

'CT scans found two of the eight mummies have . signs of cardiovascular disease and can lead to heart attack or stroke. This may be a consequence of the habit of using high-fat foods or possibly genetic factors , 'said Dr. Antoine.

Besides, he also said another big problem discovered was that the dental health status of most adults was extremely bad. They have large inflammation. In some cases, the inflamed drive is so large that it may have contributed to their death.

The menu of ancient Egypt is quite rich. They ate fish, some meat, drank beer, ate bread and fruit containing many sugar like dates.

Dubbed 'Ancient Life: New Findings' , the exhibition program will take place in May this year, promising to bring visitors a new perspective on mummies at a time when they are still was an ancient resident living on the Nile River, from the royal prince preferring to the black people, in the usual aspects of life.