Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Forensic Egyptologists examine our mummy


Tuesday 07 October 08

Here's an update from curator of Egyptology Ashley Cooke about the work on the new Ancient Egypt gallery which opens at World Museum later this year:


"Last week a team of forensic Egyptologists from the KNH Centre for Biomedical and

people looking at an Egyptian mummy

Forensic Egyptology at the University of Manchester came to visit two mummies in our collection. The one you can see in the photograph will soon be displayed in the new Ancient Egypt gallery that opens on 5th December. It is the mummy of a young adult woman of the Roman Period (probably about AD 100 - 400) but actually quite little is known about this type of mummy and this is why the team from Manchester came to visit us. Painted bandages carefully reproduce the shape of her body and her feet have been wrapped to appear as if she is wearing sandals. Across the chest of the mummy a plant fibre framework supports gilded amulets to protect the dead person in the Afterlife. Unlike other Egyptian mummies the top of the skull is left uncovered and her hair is still preserved in places. The other mummy the team looked at shares similar characteristics.
 
The mummies were donated to the museum in 1867 by the goldsmith and antiquarian Joseph Mayer. He purchased the mummy from the collection of Joseph Sams (1784-1860) who visited Egypt in 1832-3 and brought back an important collection of antiquities, much of which is now in World Museum, Liverpool and the British Museum. The mummies belong to a group of eight that all share distinctive characteristics and may indeed all be related. The mummies are divided between 5 museums: 2 in Liverpool, 3 in Leiden, 1 in London (British Museum), 1 in Rio de Janerio and 1 in Avignon. Over the next few years we are looking forward to learning more about these remarkable mummies that are quite unlike others in our collection."


Posted by Sam | 07/10/2008 10:05   | Comments [0]

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