Polish University Researchers Use Advanced Radiological Scanning To Identify Eight-Year-Old Ptolemaic Mummy From Upper Egypt

University of Wrocław researchers use radiological scans to identify an 8-year-old Egyptian boy mummy and discover a potential name-bearing papyrus.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 6, 2026, 5:38 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Notes from Poland

The Radiological Investigation Of A Lost Legacy

A multidisciplinary team of Polish scientists has concluded a high-tech investigation into a child mummy that has been a fixture of the Wrocław diocesan museum for over a century. At the formal request of Bishop Józef Kupny, researchers from the University of Wrocław employed non-invasive radiological scanning at a specialized facility in Lublin to look beneath the ancient bandages. The study, which has since been documented in a formal academic paper, represents a significant effort to reconstruct the history of an artifact whose original documentation was destroyed during the catastrophic border shifts and urban destruction of 1945.

Identifying The Subject Of The Ptolemaic Era

The scans provided definitive biographical data that was previously obscured by the mummy's fragile cartonnage and wrappings. According to lead author Agata Kubala, the findings confirm the mummified individual was a boy who died at approximately eight years of age. Chronologically, the child lived during the Ptolemaic period, a timeframe spanning the 4th to the 1st century BCE. The physical analysis shows a height of 123 cm, with a significant layer of embalming resin still present on the neck and head, despite the partial removal of bandages over the preceding centuries.

Tracing Origins Through Funerary Artistry

Beyond biological data, the research team successfully pinpointed the mummy’s geographic origin by analyzing the stylistic and material properties of its cartonnage. This funerary mask material indicates that the boy most likely came from a necropolis in the southern reaches of Upper Egypt, specifically naming Kom Ombo or Aswan as the probable sites of interment. This discovery provides a vital link to the artifact's provenance, which had been lost since it was brought to the then-German city of Breslau in 1914 by Bishop Adolf Bertram.