WESTMINSTER COLLEGE Tests answer questions, add to mummy's aura

Scholars are still waiting for results of carbon-dating on her linen and other tests.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
HARRISBURG -- Tests on Westminster College's 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy have finally given scholars some answers, but they've also produced a few new questions, too.
Egyptologist Jonathan Elias said they are still deciphering the meaning of data collected from a CAT scan and X-rays done on the mummy at the Harrisburg Hospital in mid-August.
The mummy, Pesed, was taken to Harrisburg last month to be part of an exhibit on ancient Egypt opening in October at the Whitaker Center for Arts and Sciences.
The tests were donated by the hospital to help scholars understand more about the mummy and possibly find links to other mummies in Buffalo and Wooster, Ohio.
Revelations: Based on the X-rays and CAT scan, Elias said they were able to determine that Pesed was at least 50 when she died and probably stood just over 5 feet tall.
College officials have always suspected she died as a young girl because of her current size, 4 feet, 11 inches, but X-rays revealed enough wear on her teeth to indicate she lived at least five decades, Elias said.
Her smaller size after death was likely caused by dehydration done as part of the mummification process, he added.
The CAT scan and X-rays revealed that great care was taken in wrapping Pesed's body after death with at least 150 layers of bandages, an indication that she came from a highly esteemed family, Elias said.
"It would probably be an upper-class stratum," he said.
Elias said they also found something unusual when they X-rayed the contents of her body cavity that could also indicate she came from the upper echelon of Egyptian society.
Another mystery: He explained that Egyptians removed what they believed were a person's vital organs immediately after death to help slow down the body's decomposition.
Those organs, which include the intestines, liver, stomach and lungs, were packaged in bundles and later returned to the body after it was dried and before it is wrapped.
Normally there are four bundles which represent the different organ groups, but Pesed has a fifth bundle, he said.
"It seems like one too many," Elias said.
The unusual bundle is the largest, measuring about 25 centimeters long, and was placed near her spine.
"We have some very interesting questions to ask about what that is," he said.
Elias said he has contacted other Egyptologists to help determine what that bundle holds and whether it can reveal more about her life.
All tests on Pesed were noninvasive and there are no plans to remove any of her wrappings, he said.
They are still waiting for the results of carbon-dating tests on a piece of linen taken from Pesed's wrappings and trying to determine whether genetic testing will be done, he said.
Scholars hope these tests will help link Pesed to other mummies to reveal more about the Ptolemaic period, a little-known era of Egyptian history that began 310 years before Jesus Christ was born and ending with the death of the famous Cleopatra in 30 B.C.
Pesed's remains were found in 1885 and were among four mummies sold to a Westminster alumnus serving as a missionary in Egypt.
He brought the mummy back to campus, where she has remained for more than 100 years. Her name appears on her sarcophagus.
cioffi@vindy.com