Ancient Piece Of Egyptian History Found Inside Paper Bag

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Museum curators in Scotland discovered an ancient piece of Egyptian history - found inside a crumpled up paper bag.

It looked like garbage just waiting to be tossed out but after more than 70 years sitting on a shelf in the National Museum of Scotland's storage, a team of curious curators finally peaked inside.

Senior Curator Dr. Margaret Maitland made the discovery.

"I think a lot of people don't realize you can make discoveries in museum collections as well," said Maitland.

It was a 2000-year-old mummy shroud - a type of linen cloth used to wrap the mummified bodies of high-ranking Egyptians.

Dr. Maitland's shroud was so fragile; it took 24 hours of humidifying to unwrap.

"Each fold we unfolded revealing another part of the shroud was just so exciting, to see his face emerge," she said.

Maitland says the result was so well-preserved they could even read the name of the deceased as Aaemka.

It turns out the museum already had relics of his well-studied parents - his father was a high-ranking Egyptian official named Montseuf and his mother was named Tanuat.

The shroud officially goes on display Friday.

The museum still has over 11 million pieces from all over the world in storage. Dr. Maitland said who knows what other treasures are waiting to be discovered.