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PHOTOS: Mummy's coffin opened at Field Museum

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Monday, December 8, 2014
Egyptian hieroglyphics etched on top of a 2500 year-old Egyptian coffin identify the mummy's name and lineage inside.
P.J. Brown shows what the CT scan of Minirdis showed The Field Museum scientists.
P.J. Brown with the 2,500-year-old mummified body of Minirdis after the 14-year-old Egyptian boy's coffin was opened on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin at The Field Museum in Chicago on December 5, 2014.
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PHOTOS: Mummy's coffin opened at Field MuseumEgyptian hieroglyphics etched on top of a 2500 year-old Egyptian coffin identify the mummy's name and lineage inside.
Charles Rex Arbogast

Chicago (WLS) -- The 2,500-year-old mummy of an Egyptian boy named Minirdis was revealed after scientists opened the 14-year old's coffin at Chicago's Field Museum on December 5, 2014.

The team, led by J.P. Brown, first conducted CT scans and then carefully braced the coffin before removing the lid. Inside were Minirdis' remains, his golden face mask and shroud.

Had he lived, the boy would have been a priest like his father, Brown said. Scientists do not know what led to his death.

"The fascinating thing about any mummy is that it's survived as long as it has," Brown said. "They're actually amazingly fragile."

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