A COLCHESTER hospital admitted its oldest patient, after it volunteered to scan a 2,500-year-old mummy.

Lady Ta-Hathor, whose name was written in hieroglyphics on her sarcophagus, is tightly wrapped in layers of bandages.

She was X-rayed in 1967, but with the advances technology has made in the past 40 years, staff at the Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service were keen to carry out further tests to reveal her hidden secrets.

The Oaks Hospital agreed to allow the museum service to put the mummy through its CT scanner free of charge.

Caroline McDonald, curator of archaeology at Ipswich Museum, explained: “We were looking to see if what we knew about mummification had happened with Lady Ta-Hathor.

“It was a brilliant experience. We knew her name from the sarcophagus, but to see it digitally on the screen above the scan was really interesting. She has even got a patient record now.”

Traditionally, a person’s organs are removed during the mummification process, and the heart is replaced to allow the deceased to get into the afterlife.

Caroline said: “In the first scan, we couldn’t see her heart, which was worrying.

“In a second scan, we managed to spot it. They had put it back lower down in her body. We were pleased to know she had made it into the afterlife after all.

“Everything we discovered was just matching up our knowledge about both mummification and about Lady Ta-Hathor.”

The machine at the Oaks Hospital is so hi-tech, it even showed the woman’s bone density.

Caroline continued: “We always believed she was in her mid-twenties and the scan revealed her bone density was excellent, which backs up our thoughts. It had no deformities or breaks, and her spine was in excellent condition, with good posture, which also reinforced our belief she died of natural causes.”

Lady Ta-Hathor was revealed to be about 5ft tall, a fact never known, because she is so well-wrapped.

It is the first time the technology has been used in the region, as it had previously only been available to large museums, such as the British Museum which has the funds to pay for it.

The mummy will be on display in her sarcophagus at an Egyptian display, at Ipswich Museum, from August 7. Staff have decorated the room like a tomb.