Case closed! FBI finally cracks its oldest mystery after successfully extracting DNA from a 4,000-year-old severed mummy's head that was originally discovered in 1915 The FBI successfully uncovered the identity of a 4,000-year-old mummy's head, after deliberating for years whether it belonged to an Egyptian governor or his wife. The mummy's severed head was found in 1915 by a team of American archaeologists working in the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Deir el-Bersha.