Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, oversees the CT scanning of a mummy known as the Elder Lady.

Hawass recently led a team of Egyptologists that tried to identify the corpse of the legendary queen Nefertiti. Many archaeologists had believed the Elder Lady—one of a pair of mummies found without sarcophagi or wrappings in a small chamber in the Valley of the Kings—was Nefertiti.

But by revealing details of the mummies' original placement, piercings, history of childbirth, and more, the scanning was able to show that neither the Elder Lady nor her companion—a mummy called the Younger Lady—were Nefertiti, according to the experts.

"CT technology virtually unwraps the mummies without damaging them," Hawass said in a statement. "They reveal everything, including age and disease."

• More Photos in the News
• Today's Top 15 Most Popular Stories
• Free Email Newsletter: "Focus on Photography"