News© Institutional Communication, 03/09/2010

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Researchers at the University of Navarra participated in a pioneering project on Egyptian animal mummies

Thanks to two state-of-the-art machines, the researchers were able to achieve high resolution images of the interior of the mummies

Part of the team: back row: from left to right, Carlos Ortiz de Solórzano, Image Unit Director at the CIMA, priest and diocesan restorer, Joaquín Martinena Lorente, and Gorka Bastarrika Alemán, radiologist at the University of Navarra Hospital. Front row, Egyptologist Mariluz Mangado Alonso; and Gabriel Heras Arribas, biologist and image technician at the CIMA.
Photo: used by permission

Researchers at the University of Navarra, alongside Egyptologist Mariluz Mangado, a graduate in History from the University, have participated in a pioneering project on 3,000 year old mummies. The study has helped unearth new information about Egyptians beliefs, their vast knowledge of medicine, veterinary medicine and zoology, and their civilization in general.

These findings were the result of the examination of two fish of the Oreochromis niloticus (or Nile Tilapia) species, two cats, a falcon, a feline head, a crocodile and a mormyrid fish; all from museums in Spain and personal collections.

"By studying the images it became clear that that the embalmers placed animals in their most natural position. The fish, for example, look as if they were swimming, the crocodile as if it were crawling, the cats are sitting down… all of which shows a similarity with their respective hieroglyphic representations. The postures of the mummified animals are the same as those depicted in writing and painting. In this way, mummies are part of Egyptian art,” said Mariluz Mangado.

A system that does not damage the specimens

At the same time, more than a dozen amulets (used to ask the gods for protection) were found. "We can tell that they were used frequently with animals; something which had not been totally confirmed until now,” indicated Mangado.

Two different scanning devices were used in the study: a Micro CT (an ultra-high resolution CAT, for smaller sized specimens) lent by the Center of Applied Medical Research (CIMA) and a CAT, which is normally used to diagnose patients at the University of Navarra Hospital. Both institutions generously collaborated in this worldwide pioneering study, given the fact that it is the first known study of its kind, in which the techniques used were not applied to human mummies.

“We were moved to collaborate due to the desire to know what is inside a ‘black box,’ without opening it, because this would cause irreparable damage, given the fact that by unravelling the bandages, we would cause the deterioration process of the specimen to accelerate,” explained the engineer Carlos Ortiz de Solórzano, Image Unit Director at the CIMA.