Next Stop For X-Rayed Mummy: Legion Of Honor

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When he died over 2,000 years ago, Iret-net-Hor-irw could hardly have dreamed his mummified remains would one day become the center of a scientific investigation with profound implications for understanding the past. But then again resurrection never happens quite the way you imagine.

His name means "The Eye of Horus is Upon You," but lately it has not been Horus' eye probing his mummified remains. Researchers at Stanford University have begun using sophisticated CT scanners to map a 3-D picture of Iret's body. The large device, which resembles an X-Ray machine, has taken over 3,000 tiny pictures on Iret's linen-wrapped remains. The scans will help scientists understand how he died, how he was buried, and what he looked like, without ever having to actually partake in the messy business of undressing him.

Iret is important because he comes from a period in Egyptian history about which we know little. Scientists date his remains to 500 B.C, a time just before the Persian conquest of Egypt. Dr. Jonathon Elias, director of the Pennsylvania-based Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, believes that with the findings they will "be able to begin to write a history that has never been written."

What comes next for the archeologically vital corpse of a former cult priest? His remains will be shipped out and put on display at the Legion of Honor for an exhibit beginning October 31st and running into the summer of 2010.