The Study of Mummies

My group's scientist is an archaeologist. This scientist could investigate where a mummy comes from in the world. A question an archeologist would ask is: Where in the world did the mummy come from? This would help an archeologist understand what its culture may have been, how the mummy may have lived, what it wore, and what it ate.

To know where a mummy was found, scientists take good notes about where a mummy is found in the field. If you don't know where a mummy was found, you could also look at how the mummy was made because different mummies are made in different ways in different areas. Archaeologists use grids to divide the study area to describe where remains are found. Archaeologists can also use computers and 3-D imaging to model the mummy and see how it was made. For example, in the Nova video, The Emperor's Ghost Army, scientists used 3-D images to remodel missing pieces of artifacts.

Archaeologists are sometimes challenged when they find new evidence that has never before been discovered. To investigate the new evidence they would look at all of the artifacts found in the environment to help understand the new culture. They could also look for similar artifacts in the surrounding area because the groups may have been similar.

Archeologist may never know for sure where a mummy comes from because there could always be new evidence that adds new understanding. For example, we could learn that mummies were moved over time. Or, technology in the future might help us better understand human history.