‘Golden Boy’ mummy revealed after 2,300 years: Scientists recreate true face of mysterious teen who was buried with 49 amulets – including one next to his PENIS

By William On Nov 13, 2024

This is the true face of the ‘golden boy’: a mysterious teenage mummy buried in lavish style with a wealth of treasures to serve him in the afterlife.

The mummy, found in Edfu, Upper Egypt, wore a gold head mask and had 49 amulets hidden around his body, including next to his penis.

And while the identity of the deceased has been lost to history, a new study has revealed his face for the first time in more than 2,000 years.

Using data from a 2023 study that “virtually unwrapped” the mummy via CT scans, experts were able to rebuild its skull.

Cicero Moraes, lead author of the new study, then used a combination of techniques to recreate the mummy’s living face.

He said: ‘With the available skull it was possible to project structures such as the nose and the soft tissue boundaries along the face.

‘I also used the anatomical deformation technique.

‘This involves fitting a virtual donor’s head to the mummy’s skull until the donor’s face matches what the ‘golden boy’ could have had in life.

This is the true face of the ‘golden boy’: a mysterious teenage mummy buried in lavish style with a wealth of treasure to serve him in the afterlife

The mummy, found in Edfu, Upper Egypt, wore a gold head mask and had 49 amulets hidden around his body, including next to his penis

‘By crossing all this data, plus some statistical facial projections, it was possible to generate the final failure.’

Moraes said the end result was “a pleasant-looking young man, with innocence still in his eyes.”

Two versions of the living face were generated.

One is objective, with eyes closed and in shades of gray to avoid making judgments about skin color or eye color.

Another is in color, with open eyes, giving the teenager a Mediterranean appearance.

The “golden boy” was about 14 or 15 when he died, according to the 2023 study by Sahar Saleem, Sabah Abd el-Razek Seddik and Mahmoud el-Halwagy.

There was no evidence of trauma or disease and no cause of death could be determined.

He was buried in a cemetery from the Ptolemaic period, which lasted from 305 BC to 30 BC – a time when the pharaohs were of Macedonian-Greek descent.

Using data from a 2023 study that “virtually unwrapped” the mummy via CT scans, experts were able to rebuild its skull. Cicero Moraes, lead author of the new study, then used a combination of techniques to recreate the mummy’s living face

The scans show how amulets were placed around his person with different intentions. One in his mouth was meant to ensure he could talk in the afterlife, another next to his penis was meant to protect the embalming incision

The amulets were placed around his person for various purposes.

One in his mouth was meant to ensure he could talk in the afterlife, another next to his penis was meant to protect the embalming incision.

Others were intended to ensure his resurrection, or to appeal to the protection of the goddess Isis.

Gold was used to make 30 of the amulets, while the others were variously made from quartz, semi-precious stones or fired clay.

With the exception of the heart and brain, the mummy’s internal organs had been removed and replaced “with expensive embalming materials, resin and linen packets.”

He was buried in two wooden coffins: the outer one engraved with Greek letters and the inner one decorated with various drawings and a face.

According to the 2023 study, the “lavish” funeral indicates a “high socio-economic status.”

Mr Moraes, a Brazilian graphics expert with extensive experience in forensic facial reconstructions, said we could be confident that the mummy’s rebuilt face was a true likeness.

He said: ‘Given past results, where we have even worked on police cases involving identification of crime victims, the level of confidence is significant.

‘But we must not forget that facial approximation is a technique that also involves margins of error.

‘The real face may have slightly different detailed aspects, but the general size is usually the size presented.’

The mummy’s remains have been kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo since 1916.

Mr. Moraes published his research in the journal OrtogOnLineMag.

Embalming the dead in ancient Egypt

It is thought that ancient cultures used a range of chemicals to embalm and preserve the bodies of the dead.

Russian scientists believe that a different balm was used to preserve the hair fashion of the time than the concoctions applied to the rest of the body.

The hair was treated with a balm made from a combination of beef tallow, castor oil, beeswax and pine gum and as an optional extra a drop of aromatic pistachio oil.

Mummification in ancient Egypt involved removing the corpse’s internal organs, dehydrating the body with a mixture of salts, and then wrapping it in a cloth soaked in a balm of plant extracts, oils, and resins.

Older mummies are believed to have been naturally preserved by burial in dry desert sand and not chemically treated.

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques have been used in recent years to learn more about the age-old embalming process.

Research has shown that bodies were embalmed with: a vegetable oil, such as sesame oil; phenolic acids, probably from an aromatic plant extract; and polysaccharide sugars from plants.

The recipe also contained dehydroabietic acid and other diterpenoids from coniferous resin.