Egyptian mummy returns, virtually

Computer experts in the United States8217; Silicon Valley used 21st century science to virtually revive a two-century-old Egyptian mummy.

Technicians at computing visualisation company Silicon Graphics Incorporated used body scan data to create three-dimensional imagery of a mummified girl kept at Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose since about 1930.

8216;8216;This mummy is no longer just a fascinating artifact, but a lively young child who lived many ages ago,8217;8217; said museum curator Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff. Museum workers dubbed the girl mummy 8216;8216;Sherit8217;8217;, which they said is ancient Egyptian for 8216;8216;little one8217;8217;.

Sherit was close to five-years-old when she died, and the absence of signs of injury suggests she succumbed to dysentery or another illness common among children in the Nile Valley at the time. 8212;AFP