In a surprising discovery, scientists have found a tattoo of a man's name on the inner thigh of a 1,300-year-old Egyptian mummy.
British researchers found that ancient Egyptians suffered from high cholesterol and agonising toothache, and even had tattoos - just like the modern man.
Researchers at the British Museum made the tattoo discovery while examining the mummified body of a Sudanese woman, aged between 20 and 35, who is believed to have died around 700 AD.
The symbol, tattooed on the skin of the inner thigh of her right leg, spells out the ancient Greek characters M-I-X-A-H-A, which translates as Michael.
The tattoo is thought to be a protective biblical symbol representing the Archangel Michael, 'The Telegraph' reported.
"She is the first evidence of a tattoo from this period. This is a very rare find," said Daniel Antoine, the museum's curator of physical anthropology.
The woman was about 5ft 2in tall and was found in 2005 on an archaeological dig in a cemetery in Sudan. Other ancient Egyptians who were mummified had their organs removed before being preserved.
"The scan of the Sudanese mummy showed her internal organs are remarkably well preserved. We can only speculate why she had a tattoo. Perhaps for protection," Antoine said.
The researchers studied eight mummies in all as they underwent CAT scans in hospitals mainly around London.
The scans showed that ancient Egyptians suffered from heart disease and toothache.
Two of the eight mummies appeared to have suffered from heart problems. The two mummies were found to have suffered from plaque in their legs.
"That is an indication of cardiovascular disease that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. This might have been caused by lifestyle which means a diet rich in fat or it might be genetic," Antoine said.
"The other major find was that the majority of adults had terrible dental health. They had huge abscesses.
"In some cases the mummies have such multiple abscesses that it might have contributed to the death. You can get such severe inflammation of the throat that can lead to asphyxiation," Antoine added.
