Scientists began unravelling today the mysteries of a mummified child who lived more than 2,000 years ago in Egypt and has been on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for nearly two decades.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette A CT scan of the Carnegie Museum's child mummy. Click photo for larger image. Listen in Excerpts of comments from Dr. Jeffrey Towers, chief of musculoskeletal radiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, about the CT scan and what he learned.

The mummy was taken to Children's Hospital to have a CT scanning procedure, allowing anthropologists and medical experts a look at what is behind the wrappings and painted cartonnage, or plaster case.

For starters, the child is probably a boy, said Dr. Jeffrey Towers, chief of musculoskeletal radiology for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. More detailed examination is necessary to confirm the mummy's sex.

Dental findings suggest the child was around 4 years old at death. The anatomy and development looked normal on preliminary review, so infection seems to be a more plausible cause of death than chronic disease, trauma or a genetic syndrome.

Suspicions that the child had macrocephaly, or an enlarged head, now seem unfounded, but measurements of the skull, shoulders and other features must be conducted to validate or refute the possibility.

A "wow" went around the roomful of viewers when a scan revealed a wooden spike or stick within the child's skull and upper spine. It was likely placed during preparation of the remains to support the positioning of the body.

The CT study was conducted as part of a collaboration between the museum and the medical school, which last year established a Natural History of Medicine course for medical students.

Scientists hope to one day have a facial reconstruction of the child and the CT images on exhibit in the museum.

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More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.