The Berkshire Museum's mummy was placed under wraps yesterday to take a trip to the hospital.

The 2,300-year-old Pahat and the lower half of his sarcophagus were wrapped in a clear plastic sheet, loaded into a medical transport van and brought through the back door of Berkshire Medical Centre for a CT scan.

With an entourage of an Egyptologist, more than a dozen museum and medical staff, and some camera-wielding folks, the mummy was placed on a stretcher and ushered into a CT scanning suite.

"I just touched a mummy," gushed Betty Pelletier, a CT technician. "It was very cool. It's probably the only time that'll happen in my life."

The purpose of Pahat's scan — a high-tech X-ray imaging process — is to collect forensic data and to use it to replicate his face and reconstruct his life.

The mummy was chosen to be a participant in the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium (AMSC) research project.

Led by Dr. Jonathan Elias, an Egyptologist and physical anthropologist...

History goes high-tech, Jenn Smith, The Berkshire Eagle, Massachusetts, USA, June 05, 2007.

Previously:

Berkshire Museum's mummy will undergo CT scan, May 24, 2007.

Rameses II is what you might call a hunk. That commanding stare, those square shoulders, that taut torso and that copper-toned body all scream male machismo. And it helps that he's nearly 66 feet tall — sitting down.

The statues of the famous pharaoh at Abu Simbel, a popular day trip for passengers cruising the Nile, take your breath away. Built to give fair warning of his power to the Nubians, and anyone entering Egypt from the south, Rameses' temple continues to wow foreigners some 3,000 years later.

Pharaonic sights in Upper Egypt, from Abu Simbel in the south to King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the north, rank among the most well-known attractions for visitors, particularly those cruising the Nile.

"There is so much to see and learn," says Cindy Cooper of Lake Zurich, who cruised the famous river last February. It's fascinating to "go in the tombs and see the hieroglyphics and hear the stories that are told there," she says.

The view from the deck of her Sonesta boat gave her an unusual perspective of Egypt, she says. "I saw so much life on the Nile.

"One side of the river would be lush and green and the other side just sand and rock...

In the footsteps of the pharaohs, Kathy Rodeghier, Chicago Daily Herald, Illinois, June 08, 2007.

Previously:

Tut tourism: A boy king inspires resurgence in travel to Egypt, June 04, 2007.

When Michelle Moran finished her debut novel , she had no idea of the controversy that would soon be surrounding the three-thousand-year-old statue which inspired her to begin writing about the ancient Egyptian queen. "A few years ago on a trip to Berlin, I was visiting the Altes Museum and saw the bust of Nefertiti. Looking into her mysterious gaze, it was impossible not to wonder who she was and what kind of woman she had been."

In life, Nefertiti had possessed the kind of power that had never before been granted to a woman in ancient Egypt. She had also been a stunning beauty. Her bust in Berlin depicts a woman with a long neck, elegant brows and cheekbones that would have made Angelina Jolie envious ... all of which makes her that much more valuable to Egypt, whose head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities has demanded the immediate return of Nefertiti's bust by Germany...

No it doesn't. Just a good excuse for a press release knowing the power they wield on Google News. Cf. How to spam Google News and How to spam Google News part 2.

Controversy Over Nefertiti Statue Fuels Interest in Novel, eReleases, Maryland, USA, June 12, 2007.

An immense subterranean vault was found beneath the Citadel in Cairo on 07/06/2007, said the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

The vault dates back to the era of King Al-Nasser Mohamed Ben Qalawun in the 8th century of Hejira, said the Minister.

The vault extends along 200 meters between Al-Ablaq Palace and the sideline palaces of the Citadel.

Subterranean vault dating back to 8th Hejira century found beneath the Citadel, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, June 09, 2007.