Two thousand years ago in the sands of Egypt, grieving parents put their tiny child to rest in a way that was customary even during the time of Christ. They removed all of the youth's organs except for the heart, packed the remains in salt to cure them, and wrapped them in linen coated with perfumed resin. Like all Egyptians of the age, they were certain that their careful efforts would prepare their loved one to someday come back to life.
Today in Silicon Valley, a team of world-renowned experts proved those parents right - although the mummy's high-tech resurrection may not quite be what ancient Egyptians had in mind.
In a press conference at the headquarters of Silicon Graphics (NYSE: SGI), researchers allowed attendees to literally come face to face with the rare mummified remains of the ancient Egyptian child. Equipped with the most detailed 3D models ever created of a mummy, the team of experts showed how 60,000 exceptionally high-resolution 2D scans helped them give life to the mummy without disturbing its delicate form.
The result is the highest quality interactive visualization of a mummy ever seen - one that allowed specialists in various fields from Stanford University School of Medicine and the Stanford-NASA National Biocomputation Center to arrive at several conclusions about the child who lived and died 2,000 years ago.
Curators at San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium, which has housed the mummy since about 1930, have named the child Sherit, an ancient Egyptian name that means "little one."
Press conference attendees also had a unique chance to peer across 2,000 years of history to see the girl's face as real as life itself. After digitally modeling her skull from CT data, a team of scientists led by reconstructive surgeon Stephen Schendel, MD, DDS, professor of surgery at Stanford, displayed a physical replica precisely constructed to match the girl's actual skull. Using that physical model, which was created by Medical Modeling Inc. of Golden, Colo., along with clues derived from studying one of her still-intact ears and knowledge of facial characteristics common to Egyptian children, the team created a clay bust of the little girl's face.
"The bust brings to life the story of this little girl who lived at a time when Egyptians, Romans, Jews and Christians all lived side by side," said Schwappach-Shirriff. "This mummy is no longer just a fascinating artifact, but a lively young child who lived many ages ago."
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