CRI听力:3-D Used in Mummy Appearance

The Egyptian mummy arrived under tight security this summer on a three-month loan for an exhibition in Taipei.

Before the exhibition, a medical team at Taipei's Tri-Service General Hospital conducted an X-ray examination of the corpse and recreated 3-D images from data gathered from the mummy's skull and skeleton.

Hua Shih-yuan, the team leader and orthopedic surgeon, says the man died when he was between 20 and 30 years old, and his skeleton is strong.

"We used 3-D imaging to reconstruct a cadaver which has been dead for more than three thousand years. We are able to reconstruct the mummy's appearance based on its skeletal structure and recreate the image of what he looked like when he was alive."

An image comparison was made between the unidentified male mummy and the image of the mummy of Pharaoh Ramesses II. The team believes their mummy has a similar appearance to that of Ramesses II.

Dr. Hua and his team reconstructed the mummy's facial features using 3-D computer-generated imagery. The mummy has large eyes, a long nose and was found in a female coffin.

It's not known when the corpse was excavated in Egypt, but exhibition organizers say the wrappings were removed when it was sold to a British collector around 1900.

Historian Shieh Tse-Ching believes the mummy was placed in a beautiful female coffin by tomb robbers to sell to collectors for a higher price.

Shieh says the material stuffed inside the male mummy during the mummification process reveals precious evidence about his identification.

"The quality of the mummification is very delicate. Ordinary only Egyptian mummies were stuffed with tree resin from the River Nile, but this mummy was stuffed with imported pistachio resin which could be found only in Iran and Iraq at that time. And thyme was found in this mummy as well. It was used to preserve the body and also gave the mummy a good smell. Therefore, we have learned that this mummy was a very special person."

The mummy's identity has remained the stuff of mythology.

Carolyn Routledge, Bolton Museum's Curator of Egyptology and Archaeology, suspects that the mummy is a noble person, perhaps even a son of Ramesses II because of the similarities of their facial features and the meticulous process involved in its mummification.

"We don't know for sure at this time. It's mainly based on the quality of the mummification which would only be available to a very, very important person and the similarities of the facial features (looks like Ramesses II ). So, sometime in the future it would be very important to do a DNA test and confirm one way or the other."

The mummy of Ramesses II who lived from 1279 B.C. to 1212 B.C., is on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.