Stanford scientists scan 2,500-year-old mummy

(AP) -- Scientists in California are using computer scans to help unwrap the mysteries of a more than 2,500-year-old mummy.

The mummy, believed to be an ancient Egyptian priest named Irethorrou, belongs to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

On Thursday, it was in a lab at Stanford University Medical School undergoing tests that could help determine what Irethorrou looked like and how he died.

The tests could also help piece together what life was like in Egypt in an era just before the Persian conquest, when the last native Egyptian dynasty ruled.

Irethorrou's mummy will be the centerpiece of an exhibit starting in October at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco. The exhibit will incorporate findings from the computer scans.

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On the Net:

Stanford University Medical School: http://med.stanford.edu/

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco: http://www.famsf.org/index.asp

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