How Do You Print a Mummy

Tutankhamun’s mummy has been on display in New York. And what a sensation it was – especially as the 3,300-year-old mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh had never left the tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings where it was originally found. The worry was that the world’s most famous and most valuable corpse would disintegrate in transit, and that was too great a risk to take. So how did King Tut get to New York? Simple – the mummy on display was a replica. The only difference from the original?

This mummy is made of synthetic resin – straight from a 3D printer. American scientists spent 40 hours getting every last detail of the mummy clone just right, from its posture to the position of the fingers. This ultra-precise process created -a replica that is impossible to distinguish from the original. It was exciting news for museums all over the world: now they can display delicate, historic artefacts that could never survive being transported intact.

REALISTIC REPLICA
The clone of Tutankhamun’s mummy weighs six kilos. It’s as close to the original as is technologically possible, yet holds three key advantages over it: the replica is lighter, more robust and waterproof.

ORIGINAL MUMMY
King Tut’s feet are displayed in a climate-controlled case at his tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Exposure to room temperature would cause the feet to slowly disintegrate.

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