Explore CT scans of Field Museum mummies on gaming platform Steam

From 26th of June, natural history fans all over the world have been able to take a close look at the Field Museum’s mummies—really, really close. Detailed CT scans of the mummies are available for download from the gaming platform Steam, enabling users to explore the mummies from the comfort of their own homes.  

Inside Explorer: The Gilded Lady offers an epic exploration of a real ancient mummy that dates from 30 BC-AD 395, a period when Egypt was a province of the roman empire. This DLC contains detailed CT scans of one of the most well-preserved mummies from The Field museum’s collection. And it is just a few clicks away. 3D X-ray allow researchers to examine the inside of mummies, revealing details about the person’s age, appearance, and health. Now You can do that too!

Collaboration with Field Museum in Chicago

Inside Explorer software were used in Field’s travelling exhibition, mummies, which toured the US from 2013-2018. Though Mummies made its final homecoming stop at the Field in 2018, with the software available on Steam, anyone with a gaming computer can explore this historical and zoological specimens from the inside out.

Our collaboration with Field Museum offers an outstanding immersive way for the public to access the specimens from the Field’s collections. The Field’s mummies, meteorites, and insects preserved in amber will be released throughout the summer as downloadable content, with the Gilded Lady being the first one out.

Eventually, JP Brown, the Field Museum’s Regenstein Conservator, hopes schools use these user-friendly CT scans in classrooms to spark curiosity about ancient civilizations and the natural world. “My biggest hope is that our content on Inside Explorer ends up in schools,” Brown says. “Every middle school does a unit on Ancient Egyptian civilization, and this is 100% the best way to study mummies.”