Inside The Conservator's Art

A behind-the-scenes look at conserving Egyptian artifacts at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology http://conservationblog.hearstmuseum.dreamhosters.com/?p=460 { 2010 04 28 }

In the belly of the beast: CT scanning two crocodile mummies

In February 2010 we had the opportunity to CT scan two crocodile mummies currently on display as part of The Conservators Art: Preserving Egypts Past exhibition. Dr. Rebecca Fahrig of Stanford Universitys Department of Radiology generously facilitated the CT scanning of PAHMA 5-513, the unwrapped crocodile mummy with babies, and PAHMA 6-20100, the wrapped crocodile mummy.

Dr. Rebecca Fahrig oversees the placement of PAHMA 5-513 on the high resolution CT scanner in her lab. Mummy studies and CT Computed tomography (CT), a radiographic imaging technique used extensively in the medical world, has become a powerful tool for the study of mummies. CT scanning creates a three-dimensional representation of the subject by digitally combining slices, or x-ray images acquired at different angles. CT is a non-destructive, non-invasive method for investigating mummies, allowing researchers to answer basic questions about the nature of wrapped mummies and to gain insight into mummification procedures and pathologies that may have afflicted the deceased. CT provides much more detailed information than traditional x-rays because of its three-dimensionality, allowing us to view internal features from a variety of angles and to recreate very accurate renderings of the subject.

Research questions We aimed to answer a number of questions about the mummies with the CT scans. These included: Is there really a single adult crocodile inside of the suspiciously flat wrapped mummy with the painted mask? If not, whats in there? What new information can we learn about the elements used to create the wrapped crocodile mummy? Can we better characterize the plants, textiles and pigments used? Can we see whether the crocodiles died of natural causes or were killed by humans? Can this information help to reveal whether they were sacred animals worshiped as embodiments of Sobek, the Egyptian crocodile deity, or were killed expressly to create votive mummies for pilgrims to dedicate? Can we determine how the crocodile mummy with babies was mummified? Can we tell what gender the crocodile mummy with babies is? What else can we learn about how these crocodiles lived and died? Packing and transportation Because both mummies had undergone conservation treatment, they were stable enough to travel from UC Berkeley to Palo Alto, CA to undergo CT scans. However, the mummies are inherently fragile and required careful packing in order to safely transport them. We created customized boards and crates designed to immobilize the mummies and to protect them during transit in the museum van.

Intern Ramsay Macfie helps to attach 5-513 to a foam-lined wooden carrying board. Both mummies had already been outfitted with long-term mounts/supports upon which they always rest. The supports consist of rigid Plexiglas padded with Ethafoam (closed cell polyethylene foam) and polyester felt. Ethafoam tri-rod was used to create a bumper that follows the contours of each mummy, holding it snugly in place on the support.

Allison builds a support for PAHMA 5-513, attaching Ethafoam padding to a piece of Plexiglas cut to the shape of the crocodiles underside. The supports are covered with muslin or Tyvek (smooth archival non-woven fabric). Velcro straps sewn to the bottom of the supports can be used to attach the supports to larger boards for display or travel. To transport the two mummies, we placed them and their supports on long wooden boards covered with planks of Ethafoam and created Tyvek-lined Ethafoam braces to further immobilize them.

PAHMA 6-20100 and PAHMA 5-513 on their carrying boards before travel to Stanford. 5-513 has its Tyvek-lined braces in place.

Wooden skewers (a conservators best friend) held the foam braces firmly in place. The boards were placed in crates lined with two types of foam designed to reduce shock and vibration.

PAHMA conservator Jane Williams and Ramsay crate 5-513.

PAHMA Designer Marco Centin and Jane begin to uncrate 6-20100 at Stanford Hospital. Scanning the mummies In order to maximize the amount of information obtained on the trip, each mummy was scanned twice. First the mummies underwent clinical CT scans at an outpatient facility. These scans allowed us to quickly get a general sense of the interior of each mummy.

6-20100 in the clinical scanner.

At the clinical facility we also performed dual-energy scans, which utilize x-rays of different energies to discriminate between objects of comparable density that image similarly. After the clinical scans, we brought the mummies to Dr. Fahrigs lab on the Stanford campus where we scanned them with her high resolution CT scanner.

Preparing to scan 6-20100.

Scanning 5-513 at Dr. Fahrigs lab.

So what did the CT scans reveal? Stay tuned for the results!

Posted by Allison on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, at 8:45 pm. Filed under Conservation treatments, Mummies and mummification, Scientific analysis. Tagged Crocodile mummy, CT scanning, Rebecca Fahrig. Follow any responses to this post with its comments RSS feed. You can post a comment or trackback from your blog.