FOR nearly 40 years, no one at the British Museum was sure what the strange object on the head of Nesperennub’s mummy could be. They are now. And it’s all thanks to a 3D imaging technology that is set to change the way we use museums.
Nesperennub was an important Egyptian priest who died in about 800 BC. The museum acquired his mummy in 1899 and its cartonnage—a papyrus-based papier mâché case—has never been disturbed. In the 1960s, the mummy was X-rayed and a strange curved object appeared on the priest’s head, something that had not been found in any…
