On one of the coffins sat the lonely head, mum-
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mified according to an archaic method common
during the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.) – sculpt-
ing linen bandage with padded eyes and lips, and
painted facial features. Because it could not be studied via the typical DNA
May 2018 Edition
sequencing methods, which require
long DNA frag-
ments, the FBI used a next generation DNA sequenc-
ing method with Harvard University and later asked
S&T to help solve this ancient mystery.
The explorers also found a headless torso and what
was left of another mummy lying scattered on the
floor. Present Day Impact of a 4,000-Year-
Old Mummy
Those explorers, who were from Harvard University
and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, knew the mum-
my remains were not of a pharaoh but of the wealthy
governor Djehutynakht and his wife who lived in the
15th Egyptian province around 2000 B.C. during the
Middle Kingdom period (2050-1800 B.C.). The results published in a recent study are
applicable not only for ancient human re-
mains but also for forensic analysis of the
most decomposed and degraded speci-
mens.
But archeologists weren’t sure whom the single head
they found belonged to – the wife or the governor.
By funding cutting-edge scientific research togeth-
er with the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) and
providing DNA-sequenc-
ing expertise and technol-
ogy S&T was able to help.
The FBI released the paper on March 1, which
S&T’s National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC)
of the National Biodefence and Countermeasure
Center (NBACC) contributed to.
It was not for lack of trying
that researchers could not
identify the remains.
They made some progress in
2005 when a Computerized
Tomography scan revealed
that some of the facial bones,
which can help determine
the sex, were altered post-
mortem.
The Museum and a myriad of
biologists had tried to test the
DNA, but were unsuccessful
due to its severely damaged,
fragmented state.
(Four thousand years ago, an Egyptian dignitary and his wife were interred in a tomb on top
of a rugged cliff. When excavators from the MFA opened the tomb in 1915, tomb robbers
had already ransacked it. Amid the disarray, a severed mummy’s head was found. Was it the
governor (Djehutynakht) or his wife? What could it teach us about mummification practices?
Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital studied the mummy’s head to find clues. In this
video, Dr. Rajiv Gupta explains what they found… and what mysteries remain.)
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