Unit 27 Curse of Heart Disease Is Found in Mummies
Researchers said they found evidence of hardening of the arteries in Egyptian mummies dating as far back as 3,500 years, challenging longstanding assumptions that cardiovascular disease is mainly a malady of modern societies. A team of heart-imaging experts and Egyptologists examined 22 mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo in a CT scanning machine, looking for evidence of calcium buildup that could indicate vascular disease. They were able to identify the hearts, arteries or both in 16 of the mummies, nine of whom had deposits of ca1cification.