Researchers say the imprints were created by the blood vessels delivering oxygen and nutrients to the mummy's brain

Sep 30, 2014 07:29 GMT  ·  By
2,000-year-old skull unearthed in Egypt sports blood vessel imprints on the inside
   2,000-year-old skull unearthed in Egypt sports blood vessel imprints on the inside

Back in 2010, archaeologists excavating the site of the Kom al-Ahmar/Sharuna necropolis in Egypt came across the remains of several dozen people who lived millennia ago and whose bodies were mummified after death.

Of the human remains recovered at this archaeological site, a skull displaying odd patterns on the inside very much stood out from the crowd. Hence, researchers decided to study it in further detail.

Not your run-of-the-mill mummy skull

A photo of the patterns found on the inside of this 2,000-year-old mummy skull unearthed in Egypt is available next to this article. According to specialists who have had the chance to examine them, the patterns are no more and no less than imprints created by the mummy's brain.

More precisely, they were created by the blood vessels in charge of delivering oxygen and nutrients to this Egyptian man's brain. As detailed in a recent paper in the journal Cortex, these blood vessels were embedded in the meninges, which is the membrane covering and protecting the brain.

Despite the fact that it's been millennia since this man passed away and had his body mummified, the blood vessel imprints on the inside of his skull are mind-bogglingly detailed. Thus, as noticeable in the photo, it is easy to tell which path each of the vessels took, and which of them were the thickest.

Live Science tells us that, according to Dr. Albert Isidro and fellow researchers, this 2,000-year-old skull recovered at the site of the Kom al-Ahmar/Sharuna necropolis in Egypt is the oldest case of mummified vascular prints to have until now been documented by the scientific community.

A stroke of good luck

Researchers have been digging up and studying Egyptian mummies for decades now. However, very few cases of brain imprints have until now been documented. This is because, in order for such patterns to form inside the skull, the corpse must be exposed to very specific conditions.

Thus, Dr. Albert Isidro and colleagues say that these blood vessel imprints were cast not into the skull per se, but into the layer of preservative substances that were introduced into the man's body in order to mummify his remains.

Interestingly enough, the imprints were created despite the fact that, during the process of mummification, the brain was removed in order to fill the skull with preservatives. Specialists believe that, somehow, this mummy retained his meninges, maybe part of his brain as well. This tissue eventually imprinted on the skull.

The mummy, identified as W19, is the only one sporting blood vessel imprints on the inside of the skull to have until now been discovered at the site of the Kom al-Ahmar/Sharuna necropolis.