P.J. Brown, Regenstein Conservator at the Field Museum examines the burial mask on the mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy who was the son of a priest. Brown and his team have opened the coffin of the 2,500-year-old mummy to perform conservation work before it becomes part of a traveling exhibition.

Brown, second from left, and his team of scientists open the coffin containing the mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy who was the son of a priest.

The detached feet of the mummy of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, will need to be reconnected.

Brown describes what a CT scan reveled about the mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy who was the son of a priest. Brown's team will have to fix his burial mask, shroud, reconnect his detached feet, and do work to shore up the coffin and mummy so they can withstand travel.

Richard Lariviere, left, President and CEO of the Field Museum, gives visiting students from Liberty Intermediate School in Bourbonnais, Ill., an impromptu, up close look at the mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy who was the son of a priest.

The mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy and his burial mask lie in his opened coffin after J.P. Brown and his team of curators at the Field Museum opened the coffin for the first time.

Brown, Regenstein Conservator at the Field Museum describes the conservation process that will be given to the coffin and mummified body of Minirdis, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy who was the son of a priest. Brown says they have to fix his burial mask, shroud, reconnect his detached feet, and do work to shore up the coffin and mummy so they can withstand travel.