3D technology uncovers the causes of death of 3 ancient South American mummies — and it isn't pretty

Digital technology has been used to look at mummies before. Two of the three mummies from South America may have died brutally.

The study looked at three mummies from South America that were between 740 and 1120 years old.

Each was preserved with good preservation of soft tissues.

Researchers found that the men died violently and the female died of natural causes after using a non-invasive Scan of the Body.

Anna-Maria Begerock, Robert Loynes, Oliver K. Peschel, John Verano, Raffaella Bianucci, Isabel Martinez Armijo, Mercedes González, and Andreas G. Nerlich

The availability of modernCT- scans with the opportunity for 3D reconstructions offers unique insight into bodies that would otherwise not have been detected.

The first male mummy is thought to have been found in the Arica region in Northern Chile. He is referred to as the "Marburg" man. A young man was buried in a seated position.

The male's and female's lives were dated between 902 and 994CE and between 12 24 and 1282CE, respectively. The mummies were placed on their backs instead of sitting.

Anna-Maria Begerock, Robert Loynes, Oliver K. Peschel, John Verano, Raffaella Bianucci, Isabel Martinez Armijo, Mercedes González, and Andreas G. Nerlich

The Marburg man is thought to have died after he was hit on the head and stabbed in the back by two attackers. The other seemed to have died from trauma to the neck.

The report was coauthored by researchers from Spain, the UK, the US, and Germany.

The study of mummified material can show a higher rate of trauma than the study of skeletons. There are dozens of South American mummies which could make money from the same investigation we did here.

The authors did not reply right away.