Worsley Man has head CT at CMFT...
Most Clinicians could be forgiven for running a mile when they
heard they had a 2000 year old patient but when Prof Judith Adam's
was brought the head of Worsley Man for scanning, by senior
conservators from the Manchester Museum, she was positively
thrilled.
The head was found in a Manchester peat bog during the 1950s
and, like Lindow Man, was initially thought to be a modern
murder victim. The police investigated and after an autopsy the
Coroner ruled the head was ancient. The head was kept in a
pathology store until the 1980s when its significance was
realised because of the discovery of Lindow Man. The head even
seemed to share the same pattern of injuries: blows to the head,
garrotting and a slit throat. It was precisely these injuries
that a team of medical and other experts wanted to investigate.
Thanks to the help and enthusiasm of Professor Judith Adams and
her team in the radiology department it was possible for us to take
the head over for computed tomography (CT) scanning. Although he
has been scanned before the CT technology has become more
sophisticated over the years and it is hoped that a fresh look
might reveal new insights about how Worsley Man died.
Although the head won't be going on display in the Museum's new
Ancient Worlds gallery they are going to show the facial
reconstruction and this recent work will provide new information
that the Museum can share with visitors. It is still too soon to
draw conclusions but the photograph gives an idea of how powerful a
tool scanning can be.
