The Egyptian Nesyamun lived during the politically volatile reign of pharaoh Ramses XI over 3000 years ago, working as a scribe and priest at the state temple of Karnak in Thebes (modern Luxor). His voice was an essential part of his ritual duties, which involved spoken and sung elements.
Nesyamun had a desire to speak after his death, combined with the great state of his mummified body. This made Nesyamun the ideal subject for the ‘Voices from the Past’ project, for which his body was re-examined using state-of-the-art CT scanning equipment.
With his mummified remains now displayed in Leeds City Museum, the current project is only the most recent to examine Nesyamun.
Following Computed Tomography (CT) scanning, scientists from the University of York have accurately reproduced the sound of an Egyptian priest, Nesyamun, as a vowel-like sound based on measurements of the precise dimensions of his extant vocal tract.
Scientists used the Vocal Tract Organ to synthesize a vowel sound. In the end, scientists came up with a 3-D printed vocal tract.
Professor David Howard from the Department of Engineering at Royal Holloway, University of London, Professor John Schofield, Professor Joann Fletcher, and Dr. Stephen Buckley, all from the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, started the project in 2013.
Using a CT scanner, scientists observed if the significant part of the structure of the larynx and throat of Nesyamun brought from nearby Leeds Museum, remained intact.
The output permitted the scholastics to measure the vocal tract shape from CT images, and based on these estimations, they created a 3D-printed vocal tract for Nesyamun and used it with an artificial larynx sound that is usually utilized in today’s speech synthesis systems.
Professor David Howard from Royal Holloway, University of London, said: “I was demonstrating the Vocal Tract Organ in June 2013 to colleagues, with implications for providing authentic vocal sounds back to those who have lost the normal speech function of their vocal tract or larynx following an accident or surgery for laryngeal cancer.“
“I was then approached by Professor John Schofield, who began to think about the archaeological and heritage opportunities of this new development. Hence finding Nesyamun and discovering his vocal tract and soft tissues were in excellent order for us to be able to do this.”
“It has been such an interesting project that has opened a novel window into the past, and we’re very excited to be able to share the sound with people for the first time in 3,000 years.”
Professor Joann Fletcher of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York said: “Ultimately, this innovative interdisciplinary collaboration has given us the unique opportunity to hear the sound of someone long dead by their soft tissue preservation combined with new developments in technology.”
“And while this has broad implications for both healthcare and museum display, its relevance conforms precisely to the ancient Egyptians’ fundamental belief that ‘to speak the name of the dead is to make them live again.”
“So given Nesyamun’s stated desire to have his voice heard in the afterlife to live forever, the fulfillment of his beliefs through the recreation of his voice allows us to make direct contact with ancient Egypt by listening to a voice that has not been heard for over 3000 years, preserved through mummification and now restored through this pioneering new technique.”
Journal Reference
- Howard, D.M., Schofield, J., Fletcher, J. et al. Synthesis of a Vocal Sound from the 3,000-year-old Mummy, Nesyamun’ True of Voice’. Scientific Reports 10, 45000 (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56316-y