Egyptian mummy's voice restored 3,000 years after death

PanARMENIAN.Net - The “voice” of an ancient Egyptian priest has been heard for the first time since he died and was mummified 3,000 years ago, researchers have said.

Nesyamun lived under the pharaoh Rameses XI, who reigned around the beginning of the 11th century BC, The Guardian reports.

Nesyamun’s mummy, currently in Leeds City Museum, has been the subject of much scrutiny: it was unwrapped in 1824, with subsequent work revealing that he was in his 50s when he died.

His death, which some suggested to have been from strangulation, was later proposed to be caused by an allergic reaction, possibly a result of an insect sting to the tongue – an unfortunate demise but one experts say may explain why the mummy had his tongue sticking out, but had no damage to the bones around his neck.

But while Nesyamun may have been unfortunate in death, he was lucky thereafter: his mummy was moved shortly before a bombing raid on Leeds in 1941 that destroyed the museum it had been in and many of its artefacts.

Now a team of researchers have 3D-printed a reproduction of Nesyamun’s vocal tract to hear what his voice would have sounded like.