Egyptian mummy's story will be unwrapped by CT scan

Egyptian mummy’s story will be unwrapped by the modern technology.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond partnered this week with a medical imaging center.

A CT scan on Tjeby, its 4,000-year-old mummy, will be completed.

More information about the mummy will help the researchers better understand the early history of the mummification process.

A 3-D digital model will be presented and even the face of the mummy will be reconstructed.

Little is known about Tjeby. What museum officials do know is that he dates between 2150 and 2030 B.C., and that Tjeby was 25 to 40 years old when he died.

More biographical information is to be gathered such as Tjeby's specific age, diet and cause of death.

They also will look at the materials used to mummify the body and the amount of soft tissue that has survived.

They will also determine whether organs had been removed.

Researchers say invasive or damaging procedures are needless thanks to the modern technology.

Main portion of his body was wrapped separately from the limbs and other parts of the body were a bit 'jumbled.', said the doctors and the museum staff.

A more in-depth examination of the images will take some time.

Museum officials did not provide a timeline on the rest of the process, but were excited about the prospects.