Sherit
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"Sherit" Child Mummy
For around 75 years, all that was known was that this mummy was a young child wrapped in a combination of plaster and pieces of cloth. Attempting to unwrap the mummy ran a high risk of destroying the shell formed by the mummification process and damaging the mummy itself. In 2005, however, the child mummy was taken from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum to be scanned by a team consisting of staff from the Rosicrucian Museum, Stanford University Hospital , and Silicon Graphics, Inc., with the intent of gathering more information. Over 60,000 CT scans of the mummy were made, yielding 90 gigabytes of images. Those scans, when compiled, made a complete, three-dimensional model of the mummy, including the skeleton inside.
By studying the mummy's teeth, researchers found that the mummy was a girl who died sometime between the ages of 4 and 6 during the Roman period. Dubbed “Sherit" (ancient Egyptian for “Little One") since her name was unknown, the scans indicated she had a healthy skeleton and no signs of trauma or chronic illness, leading to the conclusion that she died of a parasitic or intestinal disease or an infection, such as meningitis or dysentery. Her mummy was covered in perfumes, likely placed there by her parents during her funeral, forming a black substance around the sides of her mask. Sherit was from a very well-off family, which is indicated by the presence of jewelry – an amulet, round earrings, and a necklace – and the gilded exterior of her mummy.
In 2017, a second round of imaging was completed, this time combining 3D scans using a handheld device with CT scans to create an advanced digital model of Sherit.
The mummy of Sherit and items related to this research are on display in Gallery A of the museum.
August 2005, Mummy - news.stanford.edu
Lessons From the Past - the-scientist.com
