A CT scan of a nearly 1,000-year-old Chinese mummy by researchers at the Meander Medical Center in the Netherlands uncovered amazing results.
The mummy, seated in a meditation pose, is the mummified body of the Buddhist Master Liuquan and dates back to the 11th or 12th century. It is the only mummy of its kind and the only Chinese Buddhist mummy available for scientific research in the West, reports NL Times.
Those involved in the study of the mummy include Erik Brujin, an expert in the field of Buddhist art and culture, and guest curator at the World Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands, gastrointestinal and liver doctor Reinoud Vermeijden, and radiologist Ben Heggelman. Vermeijden and Heggelman received the mummy at the hospital to examine it internally on Sept. 3, 2014.
The CT scan revealed an intact skeleton inside of the mummy, reports Mad World News.
The use of an endoscope enabled Vermeijden to take samples of a yet-to-be-identified material. He also examined the thoracic and abdominal cavities.
What he found inside the mummy, where organs used to be, is additionally amazing: paper scraps with ancient Chinese characters.
DNA samples from bone were also taken from the mummy to be tested.
The research on the mummy will be published in the monograph that will appear on Master Liuquan.
The mummy is currently on display at the national Museum of Natural History in Budapest until May 2015.
Sources: NL Times, Mad World News
