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CT-Scanning Analysis of the Inner Structure of Ancient Egyptian Mummy

  • CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC METHODS IN HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES
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Abstract

A detailed analysis of the inner structure and specific features of mummification and decoration of ancient Egyptian mummy from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, inventory no. I,1а 1240, has been performed by X-ray computed tomography. The mummy origin and dating are refined using the complementary method of comparative historical study.

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Notes

  1. For example, mask from the Copenhagen Glyptotek, AEIN 656 (Frankfurt, 1999, Kat. 5); two portraits from the British Museum, EA 74712 and 74713 (ibid. kat. 13, 19).

  2. Raven, Taconis, 2005, pp. 65–66. Mummies from the Leyden Museum of Antiquities: АММ 9 (in the lower part of torso and upwardly between legs, Ibid, Cat. 28, pp. 188–189, 190), АММ 25 (above the center of abdominal cavity, Ibid, Cat. 29, p. 193), АММ 24 (in the region of navel, Ibid, Cat, p. 198, Fig. 30.3). In all these cases the ring has a smaller diameter as compared with the mummy from the Pushkin Museum: 4 cm on average.

  3. Cover or individual overlays (mask, breast plate, footcover) made of cartonnage (gummed linen tissue) were used in different historical periods to protect mummies.

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Funding

The study was performed within an interdisciplinary project with participation of the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute,” Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other scientific organizations and supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 17-29-04144 ofi_m.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, 123182, Moscow, Russia

    E. B. Yatsishina & M. V. Kovalchuk

  2. Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    S. V. Vasilyev & R. M. Galeev

  3. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 119019, Moscow, Russia

    O. A. Vasilieva & O. P. Dyuzheva

  4. Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography, Federal Scientific Research Centre “Crystallography and Photonics”, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333, Moscow, Russia

    M. V. Kovalchuk

Authors
  1. E. B. Yatsishina
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  2. S. V. Vasilyev
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  3. O. A. Vasilieva
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  4. R. M. Galeev
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  5. O. P. Dyuzheva
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  6. M. V. Kovalchuk
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Correspondence to E. B. Yatsishina.

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Translated by Yu. Sin’kov

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Yatsishina, E.B., Vasilyev, S.V., Vasilieva, O.A. et al. CT-Scanning Analysis of the Inner Structure of Ancient Egyptian Mummy. Crystallogr. Rep. 65, 1064–1072 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063774520060401

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063774520060401

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