Umi by the Numbers

UMI BY THE NUMBERS

NKU SCANNED A 2,000-YEAR-OLD MUMMY CHILD IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER.

By Rodney Wilson (’00)

ON JAN. 17, 2019, NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY’S HEALTH INNOVATION CENTER OPENED ITS DOORS TO A DISTINGUISHED GUEST—A MUMMY, POSTHUMOUSLY NAMED UMI (WHICH MEANS “LIFE” IN NORTH AFRICA). The child mummy was granted a very special day pass from his home at the Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) for a project spearheaded by NKU’s Jason Applegate (radiologic sciences), Tom Baxter (respiratory care) and Brian Hackett (public history) and aided by the CMC’s Bob Genheimer (CMC George Rieveschl Curator of Archaeology) and Tyler Swinney (NAGPRA coordinator/tribal liaison).

The purpose of the visit was to obtain new imaging—both radiographs and CT scans—of the mummy, updating previous ones taken nine years ago. In addition to showing molded amulets held within the wrappings, the scans presented an opportunity to further study the carcass for clues to the cause of death. Scans were then used to create new, 3D-printed replicas of both Umi and his amulets, replacing the CMC’s aging model (see sidebar for more on that). A 3D holographic project is also in development for an exhibit to be built and presented by public health students.

Read on to learn more about Umi’s big day out at NKU.

60 The number of years Umi resided at the Cincinnati Art Museum. He was gifted to the CMC 10 years ago, in 2009.

9 radiograph images and 2,888 axial images were taken during the scans.

$1,000 The project was made possible by a $1,000 mini-grant from Northern Kentucky University.

43 students were involved in the project: 28 radiology students worked on the scans (15 on CT scans, 13 on radiographs) and 15 public history students are creating a special exhibit.

16 One of the machines used was a G.E. Lightspeed 16-slice CT scanner, cutting-edge technology that allowed students and faculty to produce updated scans with maximized contrast (necessary when no fluid or organs are present), replacing a set of Umi images the CMC obtained nine years ago.

3-5 The approximate age at which the child, who was mummified and later named Umi, is believed to have died.

2,000 The approximate age of Umi, who died in the second century close to the year 140 CE.

24 molded amulets are suspended within the wrappings above Umi’s body. These funerary amulets were placed strategically by ancient Egyptians in order to protect parts of the body during the afterlife. These amulets were recreated by 3D printing for display at the museum.

180 seconds was all it took to conduct the CT scans, followed by

40 hours of image processing.

MODELING THE MUMMY

IT WAS, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, ONCE COMMON PRACTICE TO UNWRAP MUMMIES. Elites of 19th-century Victorian Europe used to host parties in which mummified corpses were unrolled from their wrappings, gruesome affairs that historical reports indicate were regarded as the social events of the season. Gross, but to each their own.

Today we understand that undressing a mummy is not only rude but can seriously damage the historically significant corpse under. Luckily, this realization was accompanied by advances in technology that allow us to peak under the bandages virtually, using scanning machines that reveal the bodies beneath.

Which is all well and good for researchers, but what of the public spectacle of viewing a mummified body? Once again, technology offers up an answer in the form of 3D-printed replications. For nine years, the Cincinnati Museum Center displayed a skeleton printed from a delicate powder material, but, using 1.5 gigabyes of scanned data, NKU produced new, durable replications of Umi’s body, resting board and amulets found in the cartonnage out of polylactic acid, a durable but biodegradable thermoplastic.

“The students collected very high resolution data from the mummy during the CT scan that was used to develop the files for printing the replica,” says Jason Applegate of the Radiologic Sciences department. “File creation took more than 50 hours and the printing process took over 100 hours. The mummy had to be printed in 12-inch sections since the maximum print size for the printers is 12 inches.”

The new Umi went on display at the CMC in March 2019, and a second 3D-printed mummy is set to be created and displayed in Founders Hall in the near future.