NARRATOR: This bronze image of a falcon refers to the God Horus. Statues like these, sometimes in wood, sometimes in bronze, were often left as offerings at temples. As part of the offering, the statues could also contain the mummified remains of the animal depicted.

TONY FRANTZ: It's extremely rare to have an example that actually includes the remains of such an animal, and this Horus falcon does.

NARRATOR: Tony Frantz from The Met’s Department of Scientific Research.

TONY FRANTZ: The only way you would recognize that it in fact contains the remains of a bird, indeed, hopefully a falcon, is through radiography. And so we've taken very careful x-ray radiographs, which show the bones inside.

NARRATOR: On the underside of the statue, near the base of the tail, is a little door, but it's impossible to open as it's completely sealed over by corrosion. If you like, peek down underneath to try to see it.

TONY FRANTZ: It's extremely difficult, of course, in the gallery to see the door through which the bird was ostensibly inserted. If you had it in the laboratory, you could perhaps gain better access to that view, but you'll have to take our word for it, that it exists.