Western-trained Egyptologist ’unwraps’ mummy mystery 

Royal mummy Amenhotep I was virtually unwrapped with CT scans by Western University-trained Egyptologist Sahar Saleem. The secrets of King Amenhotep I had been buried and reburied for three millennia beneath layers of linen and a stunningly lifelike mask. He was the only one of Egypt's royal mummies whose body was unviewed by modern eyes. Unviewed, that is, until Cairo University professor Sahar Saleem virtually unwrapped and reconstructed his life with 3D, computerized tomography (CT) images. The Egyptologist - whose training at Western University inspired her career in paleoradiology - has been called the country's leading "mummy doctor." She has outlined her discoveries about Amenhotep I in a new paper in the journal Frontiers in Medicine , co-authored with archaeologist and Egyptian antiquities expert Zahi Hawass. Saleem has CT-scanned or X-rayed more than 40 royal mummies, including Ramses III and Tutankhamen, and hundreds of non-royals. But Amenhotep I was unique.