A….dental seal at the time and at kingdom of the pharaohs, is definitely an amazing archaeological discovery. The diagnosis of a skeletal deformity, after … 2300 years, can also be considered impressive, as was the discovery, using computed tomography, of a deformity in a mummy’s face, without having to remove the linen bands that cover it. Finally, only in a science fiction scenario, or a detective film, could the revelation of a possible “collusion” of embalmers, who perhaps decided to display – possibly to relatives of the famous deceased – instead of his mummy, a “pseudo-mummy”. ..

What “secrets” were for centuries hidden, untouched, dark, well sealed inside the impressive ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, are revealed today with the help of modern medical technology and indeed without invasive methods, which could alter elements, or destroy relics, offering a wealth of information on ancient Egyptian methods, practices, customs, symbolism and beliefs.

Some of these very interesting facts were presented during a scientific lecture by the founder and president of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology, professor of the KE.DI.VI.M.-E.A.P. and of the E.I.A. Seminar, Alikis Maravelia, on Wednesday afternoon, at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, on the topic: “The Athens Mummy Project: The preservation of memory and form through the centuries – How modern Egyptology and and Tomography shed light on ancient burial customs”.

Original research program, impressive discoveries

The impressive discoveries came about in recent years, during the conduct of an original and so far unique research program for Greek data, thanks to the collaboration of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology (EIA) with the National Archaeological Museum and the Athens Medical Center.

Within the framework of the program, five of the ten bodies of the Ptolemaic Period were examined, whose sarcophagi had already been studied Egyptologically [Maravelia & Cladaki-Manoli 2004 // Maravelia 2005]. They were examined by non-invasive scanning, using the latest technology CT scanner, so that they can be imaged and studied in a medical, anthropological and forensic way. Another four mummies will go through the CT scanner around mid-May 2023. They are a child, a woman and two men, who lived during the Ptolemaic Period in Panopolis, Egypt (present-day Akhmim).

All ten mummies belong to the Egyptian Collection of the Archaeological Museum of Athens. The embalmed dead were of Egyptian origin, although at that time, in the Hellenistic years, there were also prominent men, women and children of Greek origin, who in this way sought their remembrance, their “immortality”, in the centuries … The tenth mummy is in a fragmentary state and will not be examined.

“It’s a purely non-invasive study, the mummies are put through the CT scanner and scanned. From 2016 the research started and from 2018 we have progressed to a series of very interesting scientific publications”, said Ms. Maravelia, speaking on the radio of the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency “Agency 104.9 FM”.

The average height of embalmed bodies does not exceed one meter and fifty-five centimeters, which, according to experts’ estimates, is the average height of people in the Egyptian area during that period. In total, there are two children, five men and three women, one of whom was a priestess of an ancient Egyptian deity…

Dental impression and bone deformities

The first five mummies were examined in October 2016 and since then there have been six original publications in international scientific journals [Michailidis, Kyriazi, Maravelia et al. 2019 // Maravelia, Bontozoglou et al. 2019 // Kalampoukas, Kyriazi, Maravelia et al. 2020 // Pantazis, Tourna, Maravelia et al. 2020 // Bontozoglou, Maravelia et al. 2021 // Maravelia, Bontozoglou et al. 2022.].

The most prominent deceased among the examined mummies was a priestess of the god Min, daughter of a high priest … On examination of the mummy it was revealed that her body had been embalmed in a state of early decomposition, that is, at least three or four days after death her.

“We interpreted it in two ways. The first, with the testimony of Herodotus, that the relatives avoided giving the embalmers young and beautiful women immediately after their death, so as to exclude necrophilia. And the second, that probably the embalmers were late to intervene, because maybe they were busy with other embalmings” said Mrs. Maravelia.

Impressive was the finding of a deformity on the dead man’s face (the right sinus was smaller in volume than the left, resulting in the right eye being in a lower position), which is due to a pathological syndrome known today. Also, sensation had been created by the … dental seal in the tomography of the jaw of another mummy, which is also the second confirmed seal, after the first recorded corresponding finding in a museum in Canada.

“It is a recorded official dental procedure” emphasized Ms. Maravelia, noting that even from the Ancient Kingdom, the existence of medical procedures in Egypt and doctors, including women…

In another mummy that was examined by the CT method, it was revealed that its internal organs had been removed and repositioned after embalming, while the revelation of a pseudo-mummy, that is, a composition of only bones, wrapped in linen bands, was shocking. The embalmers in this case seem to have mobilized their imaginations and put together bones, without flesh and skin, from … at least two different persons. The bones were fixed with a reed and the empty space occupied by the flesh was filled with two palm branches before they were wrapped in linen and the pseudo-mummy was placed in the sarcophagus.

As Mrs. Maravelia explained, the pseudo-mummy is immediately an authentic mummy, it is not a fake, either the deceased was not in a condition that allowed embalming, or the embalmers confused his bones with those of others, or they simply wanted to to mislead, or perhaps even please, the relatives by returning their dead body to them as they would have wanted it: embalmed for burial …

Embalming and its symbolism

The smooth transition of the dead to the other life, their remembrance, as a form of “immortality” ensured by embalming, held a central place in the worldview of the ancient Egyptian culture.

The deceased was handed over to the embalmers and the mummification process began immediately. After removing the internal organs, they placed the corpse for fifteen days in nitron/natron (hydrated sodium carbonate, mainly, with admixtures of sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, etc.), with the aim of dehydrating it. Decomposition would stop and the dehydrated body would be smeared with special substances to maintain the skin’s cohesion and elasticity and fight bacteria and other putrefactive agents.

“Essentially, we have a pickled body, which is being preserved,” said Ms. Maravelia and added: “Then, after the preservation of the body was completed, the embalmers filled the space of the abdomen with sawdust, pieces of linen, etc. The heart was placed back into the body after it had undergone the appropriate embalming treatment. Next came the wrapping of the fingers, hands, feet, and then the entire body, with tens of hundreds of meters of strips of linen fabric, covering it with a shroud bearing the image of the God Osiris and placing it inside the sarcophagus. The internal organs (liver, stomach, intestines, lungs), after their removal, were also embalmed and placed in four separate containers, with lids bearing sculpted representations of the heads of four ancient deities.”

The fact is impressive, that together with the stage of praises and prayers, in its entirety, the process of perfect embalming lasted seventy days, which the archaeo-astronomers also associate with a related astronomical phenomenon.

“Sirius disappears from the night sky around May 10, becoming invisible for seventy days. In other words, as many days as the embalming of the deceased, the mummification process takes” Mrs. Maravelia pointed out and continued: “It is also important that the last act of mummification is the ‘Opening of the Mouth of the deceased with a special tool, which has the shape of the seven bright stars (a-h) of the Big Dipper, in a special ritual, which is depicted in many performances. As we know, the Ursa Major constellation is inconspicuous, constantly visible. Therefore, the dead “lives” and “communicates” forever with the living from above, from the stars, which never change.”

During the lecture, excellent findings from the Egyptologically studied sarcophagi and their inscriptions were highlighted, as well as exciting medical results from their study, with the CT scanner, while the importance and intense metaphysical symbolism of the embalming process was demonstrated, the secular and its astronomical implications, and its perfectly balanced inclusion in the bundle of funerary customs and rituals.

“All these are indications that the supposedly “death-centered” view of the Egyptians had as its sole purpose the perpetuation of life after death and the smooth passage of the mortals into eternal life, in the Basilion of Osiris,” emphasized Mrs. Maravelia and underlined: ” The ancient Egyptians had two fears. The disruption of the cosmic order (which was embodied by the ancient goddess Maat) and the decay of bodies, which they tried to overcome by embalming and they succeeded very well.

Finally, the mention, during the lecture, of the connection of the inscriptions on the studied coffins, “which are mostly the Epidemics of Offering of the Nenomites” with the embalming process and the funerary beliefs of the ancient inhabitants of Nilochora, was impressive.