Scientists reconstruct voice of 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy

“The idea of ​​going into a museum and hearing a voice from 3,000 years ago is something people will probably remember for a long time.”

Teaching Hospitals in Leeds/Museums and Galleries in LeedsUsing a CT scanner, a 3D printer and an electronic larynx, scientists have reproduced the voice of the 3,000-year-old mummy of Nesyamun.

Thanks to amazing advances in 3D printing technology, researchers have now succeeded in reconstructing the vocal tract of an ancient Egyptian mummy, allowing the world to hear its voice for the first time in 3,000 years.

As The New York Times Archaeologists have reportedly rediscovered the voice of an Egyptian priest named Nesyamun, who sang hymns at the Karnak Temple in Thebes and recited words to Egyptian gods such as Nut, the ancient goddess of the sky and the heavens.

When he died, his gift for melodies was immortalized on his coffin with the inscription “Nesyamun, true in voice.” But what exactly did Nesyamun’s voice sound like? Scientists were keen to find out.

According to a recently published study in Scientific reportsA team of researchers in England described their amazing efforts to reconstruct Nesyamun’s voice after three millennia.

Their main goal was to restore his vocal apparatus. Fortunately, when the singing priest was mummified, his throat and mouth remained largely intact.

“The actual mummification process was the key here,” explained Joann Fletcher, an Egyptologist at the University of York in England and co-author of the study. “The excellent quality of preservation achieved by the ancient embalmers meant that Nesyamun’s vocal tract is still in excellent condition.”

Using a CT scanner, the research team scanned the mummy to create a 3D image of the inside of its throat. The images were then printed out using a 3D printer and combined with an electronic larynx to “reconstruct the sound that would come out of his vocal tract if he were lying in his coffin and his larynx came back to life,” said David Howard, a linguist at Royal Holloway in London and another member of the research team.

The result is an incredible revival of Nesyamun’s vocal tract. So far, the high-tech replica has produced just one sound – a slurred murmur that scientists say resembles a vowel sounding like “ah” or “eh.” To some, the sound may not sound too far from the mooing of a cow.

“He certainly can’t speak right now,” Howard said. “But I think it’s quite plausible that one day it will be possible to find words that are as close as possible to how he would have sounded.”

The short audio clip may be disappointing—or even eerie, depending on your perspective—but reconstructing the voice of someone who lived thousands of years ago in this particular way has never been accomplished before.

In 2016, a team of Italian researchers reconstructed the voice of Ötzi the Iceman, a caveman who lived 5,300 years ago and whose remains were discovered frozen in the Alps. Similar to Nesyamun, researchers were only able to reconstruct Ötzi’s vocal tract with enough accuracy to produce a few vowels.

The reconstruction of Nesyamun’s voice is an important first step towards restoring his entire sound vocabulary and regaining his full language competence.

The team hopes that in the future they will be able to modify the computer software to predict elements of speech such as the size and movement of the tongue and the position of the jaw in order to create an accurate replica of his speaking patterns.

David Howard/University of LondonThe reconstruction of Nesyamun’s vocal tract was created using a 3D printer.

“This can be taken to its natural conclusion,” said Katherine Baxter, curator of archaeology at Leeds City Museum and another co-author of the paper. “Could we actually get Nesyamun to utter his original words that were written on his coffin?”

But with the scientific breakthrough of bringing Nesyamun’s voice back to life – and ultimately making him say whatever one wants – the ethical question arises.

“When you take a person and make so many inferences about what they looked or sounded like, it can be done with an intention that you may not even be aware of,” notes Egyptologist Kara Cooney of the University of California (who was not involved in the study).

According to archaeologists who have examined Nesyamun’s mummy up close, the ancient priest probably died in his 50s. Initially, the cause of death was thought to be strangulation, but later it was suggested that it was an allergic reaction, possibly caused by an insect bite in his tongue. This could explain why the mummy’s tongue was hanging out without any injury to his throat.

We may never know what caused the priest’s death 3,000 years ago, but perhaps one day we will hear him speak.

Next, take a look at 29 reconstructed faces of ancient people from Neanderthals to Jesus and listen to the only known recording of Frida Kahlo’s voice, discovered 60 years after her death.