Study uncovers ‘rare mud carapace’ of Egyptian mummy

Mummified individual and coffin in the Nicholson Collection of the Chau Chak Wing Museum (Sowada et al/PLOS One)

New analysis of a more than 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy has revealed a rare mud carapace (shell), a study suggests.

Studies of mummified bodies from the late New Kingdom to the 21st Dynasty (around 1294-945 BC) have occasionally reported a hard resinous shell protecting the body within its wrappings.