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Mummies

The catacombs contain the bodies of 1,284 people, including 163 children.

Researchers Are Using X-Rays to Solve the Mystery Behind Sicily’s Child Mummies

The bodies were preserved and put on display at the Catacombs of Palermo between 1787 and 1880, and have yet to be identified

Centuries after Amenhotep's death, 21st-Dynasty priests reburied his mummy to protect it from grave robbers.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Researchers Digitally Unwrap Egyptian Pharaoh’s 3,500-Year-Old Mummy

Scanning technology revealed new insights on Amenhotep I’s life

A roughly 2000-year-old mummified man of the Ansilta culture, from the Andes of San Juan, Argentina, had lice eggs and cement in his hair which preserved his own DNA

DNA Preserved in Lice Glue Reveals South American Mummies’ Secrets

Remarkable samples from an ancient culture offer scientists a promising new way to study the past

The sealed tomb held about 400 funerary figurines.

Cool Finds

Mummies With Gold Tongues Found Inside 2,500-Year-Old Tombs in Egypt

The rare discovery of a sealed tomb yielded well-preserved grave goods including 400 funerary figures

Researchers have yet to confirm the mummy's gender but say the deceased was likely a man who died between the ages of 25 and 30.

Archaeologists Unearth 800-Year-Old Mummy in Peru

Scholars are studying the remains in hopes of learning more about the Indigenous peoples who lived in the region prior to the rise of the Inca Empire

The tomb was decorated with colorful painted scenes.

Cool Finds

Tomb of Ramses II’s Treasurer Unearthed at Saqqara Necropolis

Carved scenes in the grave depict the life of Ptah-M-Wia, an important figure in the 19th-Dynasty pharaoh’s government

The naturally mummified remains were remarkably well preserved, with some still sporting clothing and hair.

Cool Finds

New Research Reveals Surprising Origins of Millennia-Old Mummies Found in China

Once thought to be migrants from West Asia, the deceased were actually direct descendants of a local Ice Age population, DNA analysis suggests

Researchers discovered Khuwy's richly painted tomb in 2019.

Cool Finds

Richly Adorned Egyptian Tomb Could Rewrite the History of Mummification

A new analysis of a Fifth-Dynasty official’s mummy suggests sophisticated embalming techniques are 1,000 years older than previously believed

Scientists used DNA analysis of mummies from ancient Egypt to reconstruct the faces of three men buried more than 2,000 years ago.

Art Meets Science

3-D Reconstruction Reveals the Faces of Three Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Researchers used a combination of DNA and physical analysis to approximate the trio’s visages

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for captive apes.

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The cranium of an adult male, likely 25 to 30 years old, shows healed trauma affecting the upper jaw. The injury was probably caused by a punch from another individual in a fight.

Human Remains From the Chilean Desert Reveal Its First Farmers Fought to the Death

Three thousand years ago desert dwellers fatally stabbed and bashed each other, possibly due to diminishing resources

Experts transported the boat in a shock-absorbing metal container carried by a remote-controlled vehicle imported from Belgium.

Why King Khufu’s Solar Boat Is on the Move After 4,600 Years

Officials transported the pharaoh’s wooden ship from the Pyramids of Giza to its new home at the Grand Egyptian Museum

Tollund Man was likely the victim of a human sacrifice.

What Did Tollund Man, One of Europe’s Famed Bog Bodies, Eat Before He Died?

The enigmatic, 2,400-year-old mummy’s last meal consisted of porridge and fish

This fragment of the Egyptian Book of the Dead depicts the god Osiris. Two segments of a different Book of the Dead were recently reunited digitally.

Cool Finds

Fragments of Ancient Egyptian ‘Book of the Dead’ Reunited After Centuries

Researchers in Los Angeles realized that a linen wrapping housed in the Getty’s collections fit perfectly with a piece held in New Zealand

DNA from the skin of this mummified sheep leg allowed researchers to study sheep husbandry practices in ancient Iran.

Researchers Recover DNA From 1,600-Year-Old, Naturally Mummified Sheep Leg

The molecules offer insights on ancient farming practices near the Chehrabad salt mine in Iran

Archaeologists are working to decipher the slab's 15 lines of hieroglyphs.

Cool Finds

Farmer Stumbles Onto Egyptian Pharaoh’s 2,600-Year-Old Stone Slab

The large sandstone marker may be connected to a military campaign led by the 26th dynasty ruler Apries

Researchers study burial sites like the Falcon Necropolis at Quesna to learn more about ancient Egyptian culture and biodiversity. The site is protected by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Smithsonian Voices

Mummified Shrew Discovery Unearths Ancient Egypt’s Wetter Climate

The mummified Güldenstaedt’s White-toothed shrew adds to scientists’ understanding of climate in the region more than 2000 years ago

“When we saw the little foot and then the little hand [of the fetus], we were really shocked,” says anthropologist and archaeologist Marzena Ozarek-Szilke.

World’s Only Known Pregnant Egyptian Mummy Revealed

The unprecedented discovery opens up new pathways into the study of maternal health in the ancient world

The burials span three eras of ancient history, from the predynastic period to the reign of the Hyksos dynasty.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover 110 Ancient Egyptian Tombs Along the Nile Delta

The remains, most of which predate the pharaonic period, include two babies buried in jars

New research suggests that Swedish Bishop Peder Winstrup was buried alongside the remains of his grandchild, a stillborn fetus delivered at five or six months gestation.

Why Was This Mummified 17th-Century Bishop Buried With a Fetus?

The stillborn baby was likely the grandson of Peder Winstrup, whose well-preserved remains have been the subject of much study

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