Mummies

We know what they look like, and even sound like, but there’s one question you might not have pondered: what do ancient Egyptian mummies smell like? Whether you wanted to know or not, scientists have now given us an answer.

Bizarre clumps of organic matter found buried alongside Bronze Age mummies in China have now been identified as cheese. New DNA analysis has finally solved a long-standing mystery, and it makes it the oldest cheese ever found, dating back 3,600 years.

New insights into a mummy frozen in time with mouth agape, which has disturbed and fascinated archeologists for decades, have revealed that her animated expression was not due to bad embalming but more likely caused by dying in immense, emotional pain.

Ötzi the Iceman is one of the most well-studied individuals in human history, but there always seems to be more to learn about him. A new genomic study has now found that he looked very different from the way previous studies had imagined him.

Six incredible ancient Egypt animal coffins have been examined for the first time. To do so, scientists used pioneering neutron imaging, which meant the mummified lizards' stories could be pieced together without the sealed sarcophagi being opened.

A mummified body discovered over a century ago has been digitally unwrapped using CT technology, revealing the body of a teenage boy decorated with nearly 50 amulets highlighting a variety of different ancient Egyptian burial rituals.

A 3,500-year-old Egyptian medical text is shedding new light on the ancient practice of mummification. Recently discovered inside a much larger work, the papyrus document being studied by University of Copenhagen is the oldest known mummification manual.

A gold miner in Canada has discovered what may be the most complete wolf pup mummy ever found. Locked in the permafrost for 57,000 years, the pup is so well preserved that scientists can learn a lot about her diet, genetics, life and death.

Scientists have recreated the “voice” of a 3,000 year-old mummy by scanning the shape of his vocal tract, 3D printing a replica of it, then hooking it up to an electronic larynx. The resulting sound is a single vowel that's quite eerie.

Mummification is usually associated with the age of Pharaohs, but it didn't spring up overnight. Now an international team has found further evidence that deliberate mummification was taking place a millennium and a half earlier and across a much wider area of Egypt than previously believed.

Archaeologists have opened the giant black sarcophagus discovered in the city of Alexandria a few weeks ago. Three skeletons were found inside – as well as a fetid pool of sewage.

​New technologies are continuing to unravel the mysteries of the mummies. Now, next-generation DNA sequencing has helped solve a mystery that has perplexed scientists for decades – whether a pair of mummies known as the "Two Brothers" were in fact full brothers at all.