Two Vatican Mummies Declared Fake

They're fake! That's what archaeologists are saying about two mummies that have long been part of Vatican's collection of antiquities. The small mummies, each about two feet long, had been thought to contain the bodies of children or small animals that dated back to ancient Egypt. But when Vatican researchers analyzed the mummies using 3D CT scans, X-rays, DNA tests, and infrared and ultraviolet light, they found that the mummies actually contained a hodgepodge of adult human bones from the Middle Ages, along with a single nail dating back to the 19th Century, Catholic News Service reported. Archaeologists and experts say two mummies in the Vatican Museum are fakes http://t.co/Y2XUOk39ws pic.twitter.com/fgFgxjRWpj— Donna Yates (@DrDonnaYates) January 22, 2015 DrDonnaYates/Twitter The tests also revealed that the yellowish resin painted on the cartonnage (plastered layers of papyrus or linen that make up the mummy's case) dates back to mid-19th century Europe, The Telegraph reported. The bandages are the only part of the mummies that actually date back to ancient Egypt. The researchers say the fake mummies are probably the product of the "mummy mania" that hit 19th Century Europe in the wake of Napoleon's 1798 expedition to Egypt and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. “These mummies are important evidence of the phenomenon of falsification that managed to regularly fool collectors and sometimes scholars,” Alessia Amenta, curator of the Vatican Museum's depart...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news