SGI helps unmask a mummy SGI helps unmask a mummy (August 19, 2005)

MV firm's technology unlocks features of 2,000-year-old girl

By Jenny Baer

Technology created by Mountain View-based Silicon Graphics has enabled researchers at Stanford University to visualize and obtain data on a 2,000-year-old mummified girl without the risk of unwrapping the mummy itself.

The scientists were able to obtain the age, sex and face of a child who lived during the time of Christ. The findings are on exhibit in San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum until the end of the month.

Representatives of Silicon Graphics said the technology had been applied before in a project called "Visible Human" -- the creation of a virtual human being which could be observed inside and out. The company then worked with the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Stanford University to see if the same techniques could be applied to an Egyptian mummy. Museum curators chose the 2,000-year-old child mummy, which the Rosicrucian Museum has housed since 1930, to investigate.

In May, the mummy was scanned using three different scanners, including the latest CT-scanner technology, at Stanford University's Medical School. The session produced over 60,000 images that were reassembled into a single 3-D image that can be interactively viewed using SGI's technology. Radiologists, doctors, neuromuscular experts and graphics experts participated in the scanning.

"Real anatomy exists in three dimensions," said Paul Brown, of the Stanford-NASA National Biocomputation Center, in a press release. "Any time you can view anatomical data in 3-D, you'll have a much more accurate picture of the subject."

Brown, who has worked with high-quality 3-D visualizations for years, added that "this is the best visualization I've ever seen. There is no comparison."

On Aug. 3, the mummy was transported to the SGI headquarters in Mountain View, where leading doctors, scientists and computer experts presented their findings on the project. Those attending were also able to view a clay replica of the girl's skull, created by a team of scientists.

The group has identified features, such as a cavity inside the skull (possibly the result of disease), that could not have been observed if the mummy was simply unwrapped. An orthopedic surgeon determined that the girl was an active child, based on the evidence of her straight leg bones. A plastic surgeon noted her receding jaw line. Based on her teeth, the researchers were able to determine that the girl was between the ages of 4 1/2 and 6 years old at the time of her death.

According to Lisa Schwappach-Shirr, curator of the Rosicrucian Museum, "The images of this little girl are breathtaking, and the details that we can see on her are nothing short of amazing."

E-mail Jenny Baer at jbaer@mv-voice.com

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