Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
The structure of a curiously shaped clay jar, identified as a mandrake fruit vessel (1479-1425 BCE), initially intrigued #Egyptologists at the @FitzMuseum due to its complicated #design. What was it like on the inside? And how did all the different elements connect?
Professor Graham Treece, from the Department of Engineering’s Medical Imaging Group, part of the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, was able to show – by careful analysis of micro-computed tomography (#microCT) – how the 19-cm-tall artefact had been made.
High-resolution 3D images and a fly-through video of the interior of the artefact were then created using a visualisation and analysis package for 3D imaging data.
The results show the potter combined moulded and handmade elements to create six mandrake fruits tied together with a loop at the top. The jar was burnished (polished with a hard tool) before firing to help make it more watertight and has the capacity to hold 135ml of liquid.
Find out more: eng.cam.ac.uk/news/revealing-inner-secrets-ancient-egyptian-artefacts-using-3d-imaging-technique
The structure of a curiously shaped clay jar, identified as a mandrake fruit vessel (1479-1425 BCE), initially intrigued #Egyptologists at the @FitzMuseum due to its complicated #design. What was it like on the inside? And how did all the different elements connect?
Professor Graham Treece, from the Department of Engineering’s Medical Imaging Group, part of the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, was able to show – by careful analysis of micro-computed tomography (#microCT) – how the 19-cm-tall artefact had been made.
High-resolution 3D images and a fly-through video of the interior of the artefact were then created using a visualisation and analysis package for 3D imaging data.
The results show the potter combined moulded and handmade elements to create six mandrake fruits tied together with a loop at the top. The jar was burnished (polished with a hard tool) before firing to help make it more watertight and has the capacity to hold 135ml of liquid.
Find out more: eng.cam.ac.uk/news/revealing-inner-secrets-ancient-egyptian-artefacts-using-3d-imaging-technique
