Edinburgh Unit for Forensic Anthropology
RESEARCH GROUP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
FORENSICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY
The development of state of the art forensic methods has applications in the study of human remains deriving from archaeological contexts. Some examples of such applications can be found below.
Revealing the secrets of the Rhind Mummy
In 1857, Scottish archaeologist Alexander Rhind excavated this mummy, now in the collection of National Museums Scotland. The mummy has never been unwrapped; instead, medical CT scanning was used to investigate inside the wrappings. This video reveals what was found.
According to the virtual analysis conducted by E. Kranioti the Rhind Mummy was an Egyptian female aged 25 to 29, 1.58m tall (5′ 2″) dating back to around 10 B.C. She was revealed to hold a papyrus scroll in her right hand, the so-called Book of Breathing, with instructions to help her on the journey into the afterlife.
The video formed part of the Fascinating Mummies exhibition, at National Museum Scotland until 27 May 2012
The video shows the hologram which is exhibited at the MIT museum of Holography.
This mummy will remain wrapped so the only means of examination are state of the art scanning and visualisation techniques. A colour animated hologram is the best way to depict this artefact, which is life-sized and shows a level of depth, detail and realism that is difficult to demonstrate in any other way.
Holoxica, a well acknoledged holographic company managed to produce an animated hologram of the head and upper torso, which reveals different layers of information as the viewer moves from left to right.
The first layer is the sarcophagos, or wrapping, peeling away to reveal the face followed by the skull. The outer wrapping is encrusted with jewels and gold amulets, which are visible from all angles. Intruigingly, a metal cap, probably gold, in the shape of a scarb was placed on top of the skull during mummification is revealed towards the right.
Facial reconstructions are often made by re-building muscle and skin layers onto a model of the skull to thicknesses determined from the underlying bone structure and known information from modern populations.
However for the Rhind there is good preservation of soft tissue, and although it is hard to separate the skin layer from the resin soaked bandages it has been possible to show both her mummified face, and to use this to re-create artist’s impression of her appearance.
The two-dimensional approximation of the Rhind mummy presented here is provided by Iakovos Ouranos.
