What Egyptian relic experts thought was a dead bird turns out to be something a LOT more creepy than first thought
Archaeologists made the chilling discovery when scanning the item which had sat unnoticed in a museum exhibition after being discovered centuries ago
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have made a chilling discovery after scanning an Egyptian relic which has sat unnoticed in a museum exhibition after being discovered centuries ago.
What experts thought was a dead bird has turned out to be the mummified body of a human baby.
Some are speculating it could be the love child of a Pharaoh king.
The tiny body has been collecting dust at Maidstone Museum in Kent since it was discovered hundreds of years ago.
It was believed to contain the remains of a 2,300-year-old hawk from the Egyptian desert.
Pharaohs were known for using the birds of prey in hunting games and they would have been highly revered.
But now they think a Pharaoh's mistress was forced to hide her baby so it would remain undetected and not shame the king.
Experts are revisiting several relics in the museum and applying advanced technology to figure out exactly what they are.
The research is being carried out at KIMS Hospital in Maidstone and is part of a Heritage Lottery funded £78,700 redevelopment of the museum's Ancient Civilisations gallery.
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Samantha Harris, collections manager at the museum, said: "Among the items we analysed was a piece that had initially been classified as 'A mummified hawk with linen and cartonnage, Ptolemaic period (323 BC - 30BC)'.
"Following the scans at KIMS Hospital, the remains have in fact revealed it is the mummy of a baby.
"Initial reviews identified the baby to be a miscarried 20-week gestation foetus which, if found to be the case, will be one of the youngest human mummies recorded anywhere in the world.
"Thanks to the CT scanning we are able to learn much more about the collections in a non-invasive way, without damaging the integrity or condition of the artefacts.
An ancient Egyptian ram's horn plugged with mummy linen was also scanned.
It was found to be filled with contemporary items from the Victorian era or later, including a necklace and buttons.
The reason for this remains a mystery and further research will be undertaken as to why the horn was used in this way.
What is a mummy?
Not sure how this baby can be a mummy? Here's everything you need to know about the ancient ritual
Mummies are dead humans or animals whose skin and organs have been preserved either by intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity or lack of air.
This means the body doesn’t decay, so long as it’s kept in cool and dry conditions.
Mummies have been found on every continent, with more than a million animal mummies – mainly cats – being found in Egypt. In Ancient Egypt, when a king (known as a pharaoh) died, it was believed he would ascend to the afterlife and become one of the many gods the people worshipped.
They used the process of mummification to preserve the bodies and prevent them from decomposing.
Deliberate mummification began as early as the 2nd dynasty (about 3400 BCE) and became an integral part of Egyptian rituals for the dead.
It could take up to 70 days to embalm a body. The mummies of Asia are usually considered to have been created accidentally, with bodies buried in a place where the environment could act as an agent for preservation.
This is especially common in the desert areas of the Tarim Basin and Iran. Mummies have been discovered in more humid Asian climates, but recovering them proves very challenging as the bodies are subject to rapid decay after being removed from the grave due to the warm, moist climate.
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