Mystery of Dr Granville’s Mummy finally resolved

Press Release - Links: - A famous Egyptian mummy died from tuberculosis (TB) rather than a tumour of the ovary, according to new research led by UCL scientists. The research, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, gives a definitive answer to a very old mystery. Augustus Bozzi Granville (1783-1872) caused a sensation when he described the first scientific autopsy on an ancient Egyptian mummy to the Royal Society of London in 1825. The remains are those of a woman, Irtyersenu, aged about 50, from the necropolis of Thebes and dated to about 600 BC. They are currently housed in the British Museum. Irtyersenu had an ovarian tumour and Granville concluded that this caused her death. However, the tumour was later discovered to be benign, so was not fatal.