The Persian Princess

In October 2000, Pakistani authorities questioned a man who was trying to sell a mummy for $11 million on the illegal market. When questioned, the man stated that an Iranian man had found the mummy after an earthquake and had given it to him. The mummy was said to have been a Persian princess. She was found in a wooden tomb that included cuneiform inscriptions that claimed she was linked to the legendary King Xerxes. While both countries claimed ownership of the "finding," there were momentary tensions between Iran and Pakistan, but they would soon pass.

The mummy was eventually brought by Pakistani officials to the National Museum in Karachi, where it underwent rigorous testing to establish its legitimacy. The mummy was shown to be a counterfeit after CT scans, examination of the ancient Persian writing, and carbon dating, and what's worse was how old the body was.

The body belonged to a 4-foot-7 woman who was above 21 and most likely passed away around 1996. Officials initially suspected the woman had been murdered, but after re-questioning the two men who had been trying to sell the mummy, they came to the conclusion that it was more likely that they had taken the body from a cemetery illegally and removed the woman's internal parts.