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2012 In Mummies: Top Mummification Discoveries This Year

PHOTOS: 2012 In Mummies
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2012 was a great year for mummy discoveries around the world. From the fascinating to the bizarre, this year's mummified corpses have given a peek into the lives of people living thousands of years ago, and it wasn't always pretty.

Many of the discoveries give insight into a gruesome past, like the arrow wound that likely killed the notorious 'Iceman Otzi,' or the discovery of a fatal throat wound that killed a famous Egyptian pharaoh. Other mummies showed signs of unusual rituals, like the 2,500-year-old princess unearthed with elaborate, well-preserved tattoos, or the Egyptian corpse found with a brain-removal tool left lodged in her head.

And while some of the mummies discovered this year were Egyptian, others came from regions nowhere near the pyramids--from South America to the British Isles to Siberia, mummification has been practiced by many disparate cultures.

Check out the slideshow below to see this year's most harrowing mummies.

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Before You Go

Otzi The Iceman Mummy
(01 of09)
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The mummy of an iceman named Otzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is on display at the Archeological Museum of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstrution. Visitors will get to see Iceman Oetzi under a new light starting on March 1 at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the mummy's discovery. Based on three-dimensional images of the mummy's skeleton as well as the latest forensic technology, a new model of the living Oetzi has been created by Dutch experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis. AFP PHOTO / Andrea Solero (Photo credit should read Andrea Solero/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(02 of09)
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The mummy of an iceman named Otzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archeological Museum of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstrution. Visitors will get to see Iceman Oetzi under a new light starting on March 1 at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the mummy's discovery. Based on three-dimensional images of the mummy's skeleton as well as the latest forensic technology, a new model of the living Oetzi has been created by Dutch experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis. AFP PHOTO / Andrea Solero (Photo credit should read Andrea Solero/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(03 of09)
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A statue representing a mummy of an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archeological Museu of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstrution. Based on three-dimensional images of the mummy's skeleton as well as the latest forensic technology, a new model of the living Oetzi has been created by Dutch experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis. AFP PHOTO / Andrea Solero (Photo credit should read Andrea Solero/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(04 of09)
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A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archeological Museu of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstrution. Based on three-dimensional images of the mummy's skeleton as well as the latest forensic technology, a new model of the living Oetzi has been created by Dutch experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis. AFP PHOTO / Andrea Solero (Photo credit should read Andrea Solero/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(05 of09)
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A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archeological Museu of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstrution. Based on three-dimensional images of the mummy's skeleton as well as the latest forensic technology, a new model of the living Oetzi has been created by Dutch experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis. AFP PHOTO / Andrea Solero (Photo credit should read Andrea Solero/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(06 of09)
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Dutch artists Adrie Kennis (L) and Alfons Kennis, who made the reconstruction of a mummy of an iceman named Otzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, pose near the statue displayed at the Archeological Museum of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation. Based on three-dimensional images of the mummy's skeleton as well as the latest forensic technology, a new model of the living Oetzi has been created by Dutch experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis. AFP PHOTO / Andrea Solero (Photo credit should read Andrea Solero/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(07 of09)
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South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
(08 of09)
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The Alpine landscape where Otzi was found.Image: South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
(09 of09)
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South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
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