This continued well into the 19th century, even when at that time, tighter control were exerted by the Egyptian authorities, many mummies were still sold on the black market, and even some of the mummies that were acquired for museums for scientific purposes were bought clandestinely.

These days, archaeologists and anthropologists have more moral scruples about the way they treat the dead, even those who have been dead for thousands of years. That's one reason why, even though new techniques of analysis can reveal fascinating information, there is some hesitation about carrying out autopsies on too many mummies in an indiscriminate way.

Besides the ethical question, there is the practical one that any analysis must involve at least some degree of destruction. The studies that have been made in recent years have therefore for the most part been of mummies which were already in poor state of preservation, and the investigators have tried to do the minimum damage possible, taking only tiny samples of tissue for analysis, or using non-destructive means of study such as X rays.

At the end of each study, it's now customary to restore the mummy to a state of decent burial, in this way, the scientists involved have tried to satisfy both their curiosity and their consciences. In a moment, I'm going to ask Dr. Albert Simons, a noted expert on Egyptian archaeology, to give us an overview of some recent studies and what they have revealed.