Two ancient Egyptian mummies have made an intrepid visit to Manchester for a state-of-the-art radiographic investigation, conducted by researchers at The University of Manchester.

The two human mummies, one of which has been identified as Pypy-Iw – a priest from the 23rd Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (837 – 728 BC) – travelled to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to be photographed, CT-scanned and digitally X-rayed to provide a comprehensive insight into the mummified remains. Their journey was documented by BBC News, and was broadcast on Monday 16.

The mummies are currently part of the Derby Museum and Art Gallery and have only left once in the last 140 years, when they visited Lincoln University in the early 1990s for cleaning, stabilisation and X-raying. It is hoped that modern imaging techniques, including CT-scanning, will reveal more about the mummies’ provenance and condition to help with future conservation efforts.

Dr Lidija McKnight, Research Associate at The University of Manchester, oversaw the imaging procedure at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. “Although these two mummies were X-rayed many years ago, the clarity and resolution of the images is relatively poor, enabling little more than a basic assessment to be made.” she said.

“Imaging technology is so advanced nowadays, that even mummies studied as recently as 5-10 years ago, can benefit from repeated study. This new investigation will provide much clearer evidence on the lives and death of the two individuals.”

The mummies were imaged in the evenings when the hospital clinics finished, to minimise inconvenience to patients. They were then repackaged into their specially produced crates and couriered back to the museum.