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.