‘Brain removal tool’ discovered in ancient mummy skull
A brain-removal tool used by ancient Egyptian embalmers has been discovered lodged in the skull of a female mummy that dates back around 2,400 years, scientists reported Thursday.
Removal of the brain was part of the Egyptian mummification procedure popular around 3,500 years ago and remained in use in later periods.
Identifying the ancient tools embalmers used for brain removal is difficult, and researchers note this is only the second time that such a tool has been reported within a mummy’s skull.
Researchers discovered the object back in 2008 through a series of CT scans and have been working with an endoscope to detach and remove the item for further examination.
The 3 inch object was cut off from the “resin that it had gotten stuck to,” the report stated.
CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS PUBLISHED THROUGH LIVE SCIENCE OF THE MUMMY AND THE ‘BRAIN REMOVAL TOOL’ – HERE
“We cut it with a clamp through the endoscope and then removed it from the skull,” said lead researcher Dr. Mislav Cavka, of the University Hospital Dubrava in Zagreb Croatia, in an interview with LiveScience.
“It almost definitely would have been used in excerebration (brain removal) of the mummy,” Cavka said.
The instrument would have been inserted through a hole punched into the ethmoid bone near the nose. “Some parts (of the brain) would be wrapped around this stick and pulled out, and the other parts would be liquefied,” Cavka said.
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