Researchers in Egypt uncovered previously unknown details about Pharaoh Amenhotep I by using technology to study his mummified body for the first time.
Computed tomography scans allowed archaeologists from Cairo University to unwrap the mummy and see what lies beneath the bandages.
Amenhotep I is the only mummified ancient Egyptian royal who has not been unwrapped since being unearthed in 1881.
Known for his exquisite wooden face mask decorated with garlands of flowers, the mummy was deemed too fragile to be handled.
Dr Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University, said: "This fact that Amenhotep I's mummy had never been unwrapped in modern times gave us a unique opportunity: not just to study how he had originally been mummified and buried, but also how he had been treated and reburied twice, centuries after his death, by high priests of Amun.
"By digitally unwrapping the mummy and 'peeling off' its virtual layers – the facemask, the bandages, and the mummy itself – we could study this well-preserved pharaoh in unprecedented detail.
"We show that Amenhotep I was approximately 35 years old when he died. He was approximately 169 centimetres tall, circumcised, and had good teeth. Within his wrappings, he wore 30 amulets and a unique golden girdle with gold beads.
The scan showed no traces of wounds or disfigurements, which led Dr Saleem’s team to rule out murder as the cause of death.
Amenhotep, she said, seems to have resembled his father, Ahmose I, who ruled between 1550 and 1525BC.
"He had a narrow chin, a small narrow nose, curly hair, and mildly protruding upper teeth," she said.
Amenhotep I, whose name means "Amun is satisfied" – in reference to Amun, the ancient Egyptian god of the air – ruled from approximately 1525 to 1504BC and was first discovered in 1881 at an archaeological site in Deir el Bahari in southern Egypt.
The study further discovered that Amenhotep’s mummy still contained his brain, unlike other mummies found during more recent periods of ancient Egyptian history such as Tutankhamun or Rameses II. In those mummies, the brain had been removed and embalming materials were placed inside the empty skull, said archaeologist Zahi Hawass.
Amenhotep I oversaw what has been described as a golden age in the civilisation's history and, along with his mother, Ahmose-Nefertari, was worshipped as a god after his death.
He was the second pharaoh of Egypt's 18th dynasty after his father Ahmose I, who had expelled the invading Hyksos and reunited Egypt.
Widely considered invaders of Egypt, the Hyksos were an ethnic group of Asian origin that settled in Egypt and ruled parts of it during the 15th dynasty (1650 to 1550BC).
Amenhotep I was one of 22 royal mummies relocated from Downtown Cairo’s Egyptian Museum to the newly-opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in a grand parade that took place in April.
Read more about Ancient Egypt:
Egypt's royal mummy parade commemorated with limited edition silver coins
Seven of Egypt's most famous mummies and their incredible histories
Royal tombs, pharaohs and life in ancient Egypt on show at Sharjah museum
Brewery thought to be the world's oldest discovered in Egypt
Egyptian mummy could help archaeologists rewrite the history books - in pictures:
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
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