Scientists in Israel were shocked to find two small ancient Egyptian mummies, believed to hold human hearts, weren't actually the remains of humans at all.
Instead, one of the mummies is tightly packed with grain and mud and the other holds the remains of a bird that is missing several organs, Live Science says.
The mummies have been housed at Haifa Museum in Israel for about 50 years, and Ron Hillel, registrar and head of collection management at the museum, says previous records "were not kept as diligently as they are now". Not much is known about them other than they're over 2000 years old.
The mummies were found while curators were going through its collection and determining the best way to preserve each artifact, Live Science says.
Although records noted these two artifacts contained mummified hearts, the researchers looked beneath the wrappings and found non-human remains. They then conducted CT scans to identify what was interred in the sarcophagi.
These scans found a 45 centimetre-long human-shaped mummy that was designed to look like Osiris, the god of the afterlife, contained mud and grains.
"During Osiris festivals that were held, [the ancient Egyptians] would produce these," Hillel told Live Science. "It would be a mixture of a clay or sand with these grains, and then they would dip it in water and the grains would germinate."
The second mummy is about 25 centimetres long and is in the shape of a bird to represent the god Horus.
Dr Marcia Javitt, who helped with the CT scans, is now helping to identify the bird's bones and tissues with her team. She says the bird's neck is broken and it is missing some of its organs, but more research is needed to find which ones aren't there.
Hillel says the Haifa Museum may make a special exhibit for these two mummies in the future. He also hopes to use radiocarbon so the museum can determine their ages more accurately.
