Schoolboy reveals mummy's secret

Work experience boy translated hieroglyphics

A schoolboy has solved an ancient Egyptian mystery which had museum experts baffled for 100 years.

Seventeen-year old Adam Cadwell was on work experience at Sheffield Museum when he worked out the meaning of hieroglyphics on a 2,600-year-old mummy case.

X-rays had already shown the mummy was a 14-year-old girl but the rest of the story was a mystery to museum experts.

Hard work

Hieroglyphics revealed the girl was head of a rich household in the ancient city of Thebes in the 26th Dynasty.

Adam's months of hard work paid off when he found out her name was Djema 'atiuesankh.

A museum worker said: "Nobody here could ever read the hieroglyphics - then Adam turned up. He's really enthusiastic and has done a wonderful job."