Has the recent cat scan of King Tut changed the way mummies are studied?
This is the first time in Egypt, in the world, that a royal Egyptian mummy was CT scanned. Non-royal mummies have been scanned before, but never a king. Before, there were different opinions about Tut’s age and how he died. I can say that the CT scan gave us accurate information about age, diseases, health, cause of death, and an accurate picture, as it could take 1,700 image inside the mummy. The success of the Tut CT scan will encourage us to do more in the royal and non-royal mummies as part of the Egyptian Mummy Project that I am leading. And will a permanent gallery focusing on the CAT scan (much like the one featured in the touring exhibition) be added to the King Tut galleries in the Cairo Museum or possibly in the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization?) In the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, scheduled to open in 2008, most of the royal mummies will be exhibited, transferred here from the Egyptian Museum. Royal mummies will never be shown again for a thrill. The
