A Mummy Hoax Might Be Wrapped up in a Modern Murder

There are many ways to hide the body, but passing a murder victim off as 2,600-year-old royalty is one few would have thought of. In 2000, a dealer was trying to sell a mummy for $11 million. It had a sarcophagus and engravings in an ancient Persian language declaring the body to be that of a Persian princess, the daughter of King Xerxes. But if was a hoax.

The mummy of the Persian Princess generated a lot of international interest because no remains of the Persian royal family had ever been found and mummies are not generally found in Iran. At one point the mummy caused diplomatic tensions between Iran and Pakistan because both countries claimed ownership. But months later, after examinations by experts in ancient Persian script, CT scans, chemical testing, and carbon dating, the mummy was not only declared a fraud, but there was also evidence that she may have been a modern murder victim.

Read how they came to that conclusion, and what they know about the body so far, at Atlas Obscura.