Mummies on the loose at Field Museum

The Field Museum in Chicago is opening its vaults this month to show off some very special mummies.

Many of the more than 20 mummies from Egypt and Peru that will be featured in a new exhibit, Opening the Vaults: Mummies, have not been on display since the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

The oldest mummy is 7,000 years old.

Chicago Parent

CT scans unravel mysteries of museum’s mummies

The life and times of the Field Museum’s ancient mummy collection, the largest in the Americas, recently got a little clearer. Since July 6, select mummies from ancient Egypt and Peru were given CT scans in a trailer in the museum parking lot. The CT machine was donated by Genesis Medical Imaging in far northwest suburban Huntley, Chicago.

he coffins cannot be opened without damaging them, and standard X-rays were flat, distorted and unable to capture objects beneath other objects. A CT scan, in three dimensions, allows researchers an unparalleled look at what lies within the ornate coffins, such as the 3,000-year-old cedar one lying on the CT scan bed Monday.

For more, see Chicago Sun-Times.