Scientists Recreated The Voice Of A 3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy
David Howard/University of London
Archaeologists created a 3D reconstruction of the throat and vocal cords of an ancient Egyptian priest.
In one of the most astounding science articles that came out in 2020, archaeologists announced that they had recreated the voice of an ancient Egyptian man who lived 3,000 years ago by 3D printing his vocal tract based on his mummified remains.
The man was an ancient priest named Nesyamun. He likely died in his 50s, either from strangulation or an allergic reaction. During his lifetime, he would’ve sung praises at the Karnak temple in Thebes and recited holy prayers to the Egyptian gods.
Now, scientists believe they have successfully recreated Nesyamun’s voice.
“The actual mummification process was the key here,” said Joann Fletcher, a co-author of the study and an Egyptologist at the University of York in England. “The superb quality of preservation achieved by the ancient embalmers meant that Nesyamun’s vocal tract is still in excellent shape.”
Researchers scanned the mummy to produce a 3D image of the inside of his throat, which was then printed out using a 3D printer.
Using an electronic larynx that was connected to the 3D model, researchers were able to reconstruct “the sound that would come out of his vocal tract if he was in his coffin and his larynx came to life again.”
The electronic model could produce only one sound — a drawl that sounded like an “ah” or “eh.” It’s far from full-fledged speech, but it’s one step closer to possibly resurrecting the voice of an ancient human being, which is a stunning feat on its own.
Scientists suggest the invention could also serve as a compelling addition to interactive museum exhibits.
The team hopes to modify the computer software to predict speech elements, like Nesyamun’s tongue size and the position of his jaw, to further recreate a nearly-perfect replica of his speech patterns. But the reconstructed mummy voice also raised concerns among other researchers who questioned the ethics of “resurrecting” someone from the dead.
“When you’re taking a human being and using so much inference about what they looked or sounded like, it can be done with an agenda that you might not even be aware of,” Egyptologist Kara Cooney of the University of California, who was not involved in the study, noted.
Still, the voice of the Egyptian mummy was among the most intriguing scientific articles of the year.
