Mummies Know Best: Heart Disease a Natural Part of Aging

In this undated photo released Sunday March 10, 2013, by a group of cardiologists lead by Saint Lukeâs Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, USA, showing The mummy Hatiay (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1550 to 1295 BCE) being scanned in CAiro, Egypt, where it was found to have evidence of extensive vascular disease by CT scanning. This scanning is part of a major survey to investigate some 137 mummies which has revealed that people probably had clogged arteries and heart disease some 4,000 years ago. CT scans of 137 mummies showed evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardened arteries, in one third of those examined, including those from ancient people believed to have healthy lifestyles. (AP Photo/Dr. Michael Miyamoto) (MICHAEL MIYAMOTO2010)

In this undated photo released Sunday March 10, 2013, by a group of cardiologists lead by Saint Lukeâs Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, USA, showing the mummy Hatiay (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1550 to 1295 BCE) as it is returned to its display back in the Antiquities Museaum in Cairo after it underwent a CT scanning. This scanning is part of a major survey to investigate some 137 mummies which has revealed that people probably had clogged arteries and heart disease some 4,000 years ago. CT scans of 137 mummies showed evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardened arteries, in one third of those examined, including those from ancient people believed to have healthy lifestyles. (AP Photo/Dr. Michael Miyamoto) (MICHAEL MIYAMOTO2010)

In this photo released Sunday March 10, 2013, by by a group of cardiologists lead by Saint Lukeâs Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, USA, showing Egyptologists as they prepare the mummy Hatiay (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1550 to 1295 BCE) for CT scanning in Cairo, Egypt, which later demonstrated evidence of extensive vascular disease. This scanning is part of a major survey to investigate some 137 mummies which has revealed that people probably had clogged arteries and heart disease some 4,000 years ago. CT scans of 137 mummies showed evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardened arteries, in one third of those examined, including those from ancient people believed to have healthy lifestyles. (AP Photo/Dr. Michael Miyamoto) (MICHAEL MIYAMOTO2010)

In this undated photo released Sunday March 10, 2013, by a group of cardiologists lead by Saint Lukeâs Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, USA, showing the sarcophagus of the mummy Hatiay (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, 1550 to 1295 BCE) as it is closed after the mummy underwent a CT scanning, in Cairo, Egypt. This scanning is part of a major survey to investigate some 137 mummies which has revealed that people probably had clogged arteries and heart disease some 4,000 years ago. CT scans of 137 mummies showed evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardened arteries, in one third of those examined, including those from ancient people believed to have healthy lifestyles. (AP Photo/Dr. Michael Miyamoto) (MICHAEL MIYAMOTO2010)