Scanning Finds A Spear in the Head of an Egyptian Mummy

A mysterious mummy of a child was found in central Egypt, near the city of Abydos, in 1912. It was acquired by the Pittsburgh museum and it has been on display since 1989. The child must have lived sometime between 380 B.C. and 250 B.C., during the Greek Ptolemaic Dynasty (Cleopatra was the last of this dynasty), installed in Egypt after its conquest by Alexander the Great.

A CT scan done Wednesday at a Pittsburgh hospital discovered a spearlike object in the upper spine and skull. Scientists cannot say if the weapon killed the child or was only used for the mummification process. The scan also proved that the child was 3 to 5 years old, younger than previously believed.

An 1986 X-rays analysis made researchers think that the child was about 8 at the time of his/her death. The X-ray analysis also made doctors believe that the child could have suffered from macrocephaly ("big head"), a variety of conditions characterized by an enlarged head, brain impairment and dwarfism.
The scan clearly showed that the child did not experience dwarfism or brain injury.

"The earlier scan also showed that the child had an unusually large head, and researchers still don't know what caused the abnormality," said Ellen James, spokeswoman for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Scientists could also not confirm the sex of the child.

The CT scan made doctors bet that the mummy was probably male (but they are not sure) and the child had lost the upper right front tooth.

Like in all typical Egyptian mummifications, the brain, lungs, intestines, stomach and liver had all been removed and the 8-inch (20 cm) stake could have been pushed through the skull and into the upper half of the spine, probably for mummification.

"They don't know if that (the spear) was the cause of death or if the embalmers did that to keep the head steady in the sarcophagus," said James.

"Scientists say they acquired good images of bone structure and the child's face and hope to someday have a facial reconstruction on display at the Pittsburgh museum," she added.