Researchers at Cairo University have used CT scans to "digitally unpack" a mummy discovered more than 100 years ago in a cemetery in southern Egypt, and the results are truly impressive.
Investigators found dozens of different amulets, many made of gold, carefully attached to or inside the boy's body.
These included a two-finger amulet next to his penis, a gold heart scarab in his chest cavity, and a gold tongue in his mouth, each with its own symbolism, which archaeologists are currently investigating.
The boy also wore sandals and was wrapped in garlands of ferns.
The sarcophagus from the Hellenistic period
The mummy of the "golden boy" was buried in two coffins: an outer coffin with Greek inscriptions (since the burial took place in Ptolemaic times) and an inner wooden sarcophagus.
The Ptolemies, in the spirit of Alexander the Great, adopted the Egyptian traditions, customs, and traditions of the Egyptian culture and tried to combine them with the Greek culture so that all these traditions lasted through time.
With the exception of the heart, the internal organs were removed through an incision, while the brain was removed from the nose and replaced with resin, which proves the Egyptians' extraordinary knowledge of the human body for the time that led them to perform such delicate and specialized operations.
With the crucial contribution of technology, which is also playing an increasingly important role in archaeology, the CT scans showed that the boy was 128 points tall, between 14 and 15 years old, had good teeth, and that no obvious cause of death was known.
The mystery of amulets and what they symbolize
Amulets represent a wide range of beliefs and ideas that accompanied Egyptian tradition regarding the afterlife.
For example, a golden tongue was placed in the mouth to ensure the boy could speak in the afterlife, while a rectangular amulet was believed to balance the child's path after death.
One of the researchers, Dr. Sahar Samem, said, "We show here that the body of this mummy was extensively adorned with 49 amulets, beautifully stylized in a unique three-column arrangement between the folds of the wrapping and inside the body cavity of the mummy.".
"Many amulets were made of gold, others of semi-precious stones, fired clay, or fayence," said the renowned archaeologist.
"Their purpose was to protect the body and give it vitality in the afterlife."
The symbolism is not yet known for the golden scarab in the place of the heart or for the two talismanic fingers next to the youth's penis.
The meaning of the "last journey"
In the journal Frontiers in Medicine, the researchers add, "The results of this study suggest that ancient Egyptians valued their children and provided them with ritual healing."
The ancient Egyptians believed that the spirit aspires to an afterlife similar to this world.
However, entry into this afterlife was not guaranteed. It first required a dangerous journey to the underworld, followed by a final personal judgment, according to the Daily Mail report.
For this reason, relatives and embalmers did everything they could to ensure that their loved one could reach a happy destination, giving him everything they thought would be useful on this final journey.
