Virtual autopsy of mummy at Walter Arts Museum
The Walters Art Museum and the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Diagnostic Radiology department joined forces to perform a virtual autopsy of the mummy of a woman who is the centerpiece of the museum’s exhibit “Mummified,” running from Nov. 15 through Nov. 8, 2009. The computerized tomography (CT) scan enables scholars and scientists to learn about the subject non-invasively and in a respectful manner.
Meri (meaning “Beloved”), the name given given to the lady whose real name remains unknown, was a petite woman living almost 3,000 years ago in Thebes. Her height is only 57 3/8 inches, short even for those distant days. Her mummy didn’t even fill her brightly-painted linen and plaster cartonnage (casing) and wooden coffin. She suffered from osteoarthritis and severe dental disease, which may in fact have led to her death somewhere between the ages of 50 and 60. Meri’s teeth were worn flat and she suffered from at least 16 abscesses (then incurable infections); her death may have resulted from the septicemia they caused.
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