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When a teenager died in Egypt 2,300 years ago, he was mummified and adorned with 49 protective amulets and a golden mask to lead him to the afterlife.
Researchers discovered the amulets placed on and within the body of the mummified “golden boy” when they used computed tomography scans to digitally unwrap the remains without disturbing them.
The remains were first uncovered in 1916 at a cemetery called Nag el-Hassay, which dates from around 332 B.C. and 30 B.C. in southern Egypt. Thousands of preserved bodies, many still in their original coffins, were excavated in Egypt in the 19th and early 20th centuries before being brought to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Like many others, the mummy remained unexamined after its discovery and was moved to the museum’s basement.
Although researchers are interested in learning more about human health in ancient times and the death rites and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, unpacking mummified remains is a destructive process. In recent years, researchers have used CT scans to look under packaging while leaving the bodies fully intact.
The remains of the golden boy were kept in two nested coffins. The outer coffin was plain and inscribed in Greek letters, while the inner wooden sarcophagus bore patterns and a gilded face.
When the researchers scanned the mummy, they discovered 49 amulets with 21 different designs, including a gold tongue in the mouth and a gold heart scarab in the chest, which the ancient Egyptians believed could aid in the passage to the afterlife.
The young man, believed to be between 14 and 15 years old, also wore a gold-plated head mask inlaid with stones and a protective case, described as a carton, over his torso. All of his organs were removed except for his heart, and his brain was replaced with resin.
The ancient Egyptians believed that after death another life awaited them, but reaching the afterlife required a perilous journey through the underworld. According to a study published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, embalmers took care of preparing the bodies for this passage, and the golden boy was well equipped for the journey.
“Here we show that the body of this mummy was extensively decorated with 49 amulets, beautifully stylized in a unique arrangement of three columns between the folds of the wrappings and in the body cavity of the mummy. These include the Eye of Horus, the Scarab, the Achet Amulet of the Horizon, the Placenta, the Knot of Isis, and others. Many were made of gold, others of semi-precious stones, baked clay or faience. Their purpose was to protect the body and give it vitality in the afterlife,” said study author Dr. Sahar Saleem, a professor at Cairo University Faculty of Medicine, in a statement.
White sandals were pinned to his feet, while his body was garlanded with ferns.
“The sandals were probably intended to enable the boy to get out of the coffin. According to the ancient Egyptians’ ritual book of the dead, the deceased had to wear white sandals in order to be pious and clean before he could recite his verses,” Saleem said. “The ancient Egyptians were fascinated by plants and flowers and believed them to have sacred and symbolic effects. Bouquets of plants and flowers were placed next to the deceased at the funeral.”
Although the scans did not elucidate his cause of death, they showed the boy was 128 centimeters tall and had an oval face with a small nose and narrow chin.
His identity remains unknown, but his good dental hygiene, the high quality of his mummification, and the amulets suggest he had a high socioeconomic status, according to the study.
The golden tongue amulet that was placed in the boy’s mouth was said to help him speak in the afterlife. An Isis knot amulet meant that the goddess Isis would protect his body. Falcon and ostrich feather amulets represented the spiritual and material aspects of life.
A two-fingered amulet shaped like the index and middle fingers of his right hand was found in his abdomen to protect his embalming incision. And the golden scarab beetle is supposed to help in the arduous underworld.
“The Heart Scarab is mentioned in Chapter 30 of the Book of the Dead: it was important in the afterlife when judging the deceased and weighing the heart against the feather of the goddess Ma’at,” Saleem said. “The heart scarab silenced the heart on Judgment Day lest it bear witness against the deceased. It was inserted into the torso cavity during mummification to replace the heart if the body was ever deprived of that organ.”
By collecting data using the CT scans, the researchers were able to 3D print a copy of the heart scarab.
The golden boy has been moved to the main exhibition hall of the Egyptian Museum and will be surrounded by CT images and the copy of the heart scarab to give more insight into the mummification process and death rites of the ancient Egyptians.
“The aim of the exhibition was to humanize this individual from the past in order to teach modern people about life in ancient times,” the researchers write in the study.