Meresamun was a priest in temples of Ancient Egypt who lived about 3000 years ago. His body is layed in decorated and closed coffin.

Scientist decided not to open the coffin but to use a hospital x-ray scanner to see what's inside.

Scanner images revealed the skeleton of Meresamun.

Meresamun is believed to have lived in the temple of Thebes around 800 years BC. Mersamun was female priest-musician.

Scientists found that she was in good health condition when she died. They believe that she was in late 20s when she died but they did not revealed cause of her death.

The mummy and coffin of Meresamun are excellent examples of the skill of the ancient embalmer and coffin maker of Dynasty 22, about the year 950 B.C. The mummy and coffin were purchased in Egypt by James Henry Breasted, the founder of the Oriental Institute, in 1920.

Meresamun's form-fitting sheath-like coffin is made of cartonnage, a type of papiér-mâché, composed of layers of fabric, glue and plaster. It is 63 inches (1.6m) long.

Cartonnage coffins were formed over a temporary inner core made of mud and straw. After the coffin shell was completed, the wrapped mummy was inserted into the case through the back, and the back seam was then laced up.

The separate footboard was laced on, the entire case covered with another layer of thin white plaster and then painted. The colored areas of the coffin were painted with a final layer of protective varnish which has turned slightly yellow with age.

This type of mummy case was normally part of a more complex set of coffins. It would probably have been placed within a wooden anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin, or even in a series of two or three nested coffins, all of which would have been painted with religious scenes.

Foto sources: DailyMail.co.uk, Flickr.com and Chicago Oriental Institut