Pseudo Mummies or Mummified Foetuses?

I don't have the answer here but was prompted to write something by the recent interest in a newly discovered foetus mummy in the Fitzwilliam Museum and also one which we have known about for a couple of years from the Egypt Centre in Swansea. Both have been CT scanned to show that they have the remains of a foetus therein. Both are young. The Fitzwilliam one is estimated at 'no more than 18 weeks' and the Egypt Centre one at 12-16 weeks.

W1013. This was first thought to be fake because of its meaningless hieroglyphs and because the X-ray showed no bones

CT scan showing foetus and placental sac

The Egypt Centre example, was at first thought to be a pseudo-mummy, partly on the grounds that the hieroglyphs down the centre are false, and partly because when we had it X-rayed nothing can be seen. The story of it and more detail on the findings are available here.

There are very many pseudo-mummies in museums around the world, and many have been shown by X-rays to contain a few random bones (Piombino-Mascal, et al. 2014), sometimes not human. However, some have been X-rayed, but not CT scanned, and seem to show nothing.

However, with foetal mummies X-rays may very well not show bones (Germer et al 1994). The bones would have been far too small to appear. But, could it be that, like the Egypt Centre example, a CT scan, might show foetal remains.

Pseudo-mummies are often small, no more than 50cm long, and certainly some, as stated above, are fake, in that they may either not contain bones or not be ancient Egyptian. Some of these were made for 18th and 19th century century collectors, looking for mummies to use in medicines or as souvenirs of Egypt. Some may even have been faked in ancient times by unscrupulous embalmers, or even perhaps, by individuals in ancient times wanting a burial for a preterm infant, where the remains were not available.

However, there are projects underway examining 'pseudo-mummies'. For example the Vatican Mummy Project, and work carried out at Manchester. Hopefully, as their work progresses we will have more light on ancient Egyptian burial practices regarding foetal remains, as well as on genuine pseudo-mummies, both ancient Egyptian and more recent.

Further Reading

Germer, R., Kischkewitz, H. Lünning, M. 1994. Pseudo-mumien der ägyptischen Sammlung, Berlin, SAK, 21, 81-94.

Piombino-Mascal, D, Jankauskas, R., Snitkuviene, A. McKnight, L., Longo, M. and Longo, S. 2014 Radiological assessment of two pseudo-mummies from the National Museum of Lithuanaia, JSSEA, 40, 69-77. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284869488_Egyptian_pseudo-mummies (accessed May 2016).

Lions and beds

Big thank you to Alison and Phil John for restoring our lion bed to its former glory.

Here are a few pics of its reinstatement:

Our lion bed is used to support Bob, the dummy mummy's, journey to the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians decorated furniture such as beds with the legs of lions and some were made even more lion like by the addition of heads and tails.

The Egypt Centre has a couple of legs in the Egypt Centre which are in the shape of lions:

W1309a, right, is on display in the woodworking case upstairs. Doesn't he look splendid? Lions are associated with rebirth and thus were often used to decorate funerary beds from the New Kingdom. If you look at our replica you might notice a strong resemblance between the golden funerary beds of a well known New Kingdom Egyptian king!

And here we have a close up of a stela in the Egypt Centre showing Anubis (or a priest with Anubis mask) carrying out a mummification rite on a body which is on a lion bed:

Winifred Needler gives a good outline of such lion beds.

Needler, W. 1963. An Egyptian Funerary Bed of the Roman Period in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto.

Daemons 'playing drums', mummy bandages and sky journeys

Very interested to read Rita Lucarelli's article yesterday. I'm certainly not an expert on the Book of the Dead, not indeed daemons, so advance apologies to Rita if I misinterpret her. Her paper can be seen by clicking here.

Basically, it is about mound 14 from the Book of the Dead Spell 149. This mound is one of several illustrated on copies of Book of the Dead Spell 149, and one through which the deceased had to travel in order to get to the afterworld. Rita compares demons from the Book of the Dead papyri with other daemons which appear to be very similar from elsewhere. She concludes that the daemons seem to be very similar to those describing the journey of the sun boat across the sky, a means by which the deceased shared in the sun god's daily rebirth and the annual Inundation of the Nile, another rebirth trope.

So, we haven't got a mound 14 on any of our Book of the Dead fragments, but we have got a fragment of mummy bandage showing Spell 149, and the first 5 mounds. That's it on the picture above. It shows 5 mounds, each with a daemon. The one second from the right looks like he is playing a drum! More about the fragment here.

I am wondering if  the other mounds in this Spell too, show any comparison with journeys across the sky? Certainly the Four Sons of Horus, which you can see on the far right of our papyrus, are associated with the Northern Sky, and rebirth. In Book of the Dead 17 the Four Sons of Horus are associated with the bull's leg in the sky (the ancient Egyptian constellation Msxtyw). The Northern Sky is, in its turn associated with the Inundation, the Imperishable ones, as well as the vigil of Osiris, all rejuvenating factors.

I understand Rita is writing up an article on the other daemons in Spell 149, when it's published expect another blog on this piece!

Weird things used in the Opening of the Mouth ritual

The Opening of the Mouth ritual was used to bring the mummified dead and also statues 'back to life', or rather to imbue them with some life-like qualities. Most Egyptologists know about the flint knife, the peseh-kef being used for this (please don't confuse this with the fish-tailed knife); which was altogether 'another kettle of fish'!

Here is a pesesh-kef (this example is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 11.765)

Here is a fish-tailed knife from the Petrie Museum (UC10244).

And if you want to know why they are different the best paper is Thomas Hikade's 'Getting the Ritual Right'. You can find it online here. And he has lots of references about the things. I would like to 'talk' more about these because they are flinty, but must move on....

People also know about the model adzes waved in front of the mummy too. Here you can see a detail of a piece of the Book of the Dead in the Egypt Centre showing the priest on the far right waving things at the mummy. The adze is on the top of his heap of magic tools and you can see the foreleg of an ox under that.

And, if you want to know more about this fragment of the Book of the Dead, click here.

Well what about this:

Things like this have proved a bit of a mystery to Egyptologists, and have been considered granaries or even cosmetic containers! However,a few years back I was privileged to hear Silke Grallert talk about them. It seems they were used in the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony from the 26th Dynasty. And if you want to know more, here is the link.

Of course, I can't actually resist flints. So, a picture, not very good I'm afraid of some miniature polished stone knives from a photo I took in Cairo Museum in 2003. They are from the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Similar ones were found in KV55. Their context suggests they were part of the 18th Dynasty Opening of the Mouth 'toolkit' put in tombs. Such things aren't listed in texts, or drawn on tomb walls in association with the Opening of the Mouth ritual.

Why the green face Ptah?

Ptah, the god of craftsmen has a green face. You can see him second from the right on this tomb fragment (more about that through clicking here).

But why the green face? In the literature it is often stated that it is because the green is a reference to the newness of the vegetation growing alongside the Nile after the annual inundation. Indeed he often has the epithet nfr Hr (Lüscher, 246) which fits. Nfr, is often translated as ‘beautiful’ but it has connotations of newness and youth, so a green face could indeed be described as ‘nfr’. The plant association seems to be at least partly correct as Tatenen who is associated with vegetation is also shown green, but then again, he is linked with Ptah.

He is also green as he is in a transformative stage, of becoming a divine form, a mummy. Mummy's were not just dead bodies but something more like statues of gods, indeed, like statues of gods they could be revived through the Opening of the Mouth ritual.

So, Ptah, the mummy is undergoing a transformation? So it would seem. 

The whole idea of mummies being trasformed into gods is also made explicit by Chapter 151a of the Book of the Dead. This appears on several mummy masks, including, one of ours, W920. This Chapter describes the face of the deceased in terms of gods and indeed the whole process of mummification was concerned with making the deceased godlike. And so in Chapter 151a, the deceased is described as nfr Hr, and the Chapter is often illustrated on tombs, etc. by Anubis carrying out a mummification. Anyone in a stage of transformation is obviously going through a new stage and thus has to be nfr. Osiris, also sometimes shown as a mummy is also called nfr Hr.

References

Lüscher, B. 1998. Untersuchungen zu Totenbuch Spruch 151 Wiesbaden: Harrossowitz Verlag.

Animal mummies, Jasmine Day, Alex the Cat, and our poor croc.

I've been photographing our croc in the Egypt Centre, in readiness for the visit of renowned Egyptologist and anthropologist Jasmine Day will be visiting the Egypt Centre. Our lucky volunteers will receive a free talk from her. Jasmine is the author of the book The Mummy's Curse: Mummymania in the English speaking Word (Routlege 2006). She has lectured and published internationally..

Jasmine has also long been a supporter of the Centre, so we will be delighted to see her again. She made several of the replica animal mummies which we sell in the shop, and, has made Alex the Cat. 

Who is Alex the Cat?. Here he is on the left. We use Alex who is a replica of a mummified cat we have in the collection. Click here to see the original. He is used to explain to children preventative conservation and safe handling
of objects in museums.

Anyway, on Friday, Jasmine is giving us a talk and here is the title and abstract: The Time Machine: The Coffin in Ancient Egypt - The changing face of Egyptian society and funerary fashions can be traced through centuries of development in the design of coffins, sarcophagi and cartonnage mummy casings. Ever conscious of their own history, the Egyptians periodically revived coffin styles dating back to eras well beyond living memory. Like time machines, coffins were intended to magically and physically protect and carry their occupants through eternity – and have indeed transported them into our own time. This is free for our volunteers but we have one or two spaces for non-volunteers for which we will charge £2.

We are feeling excited.

You may be wondering why I've been photographing the croc.  Well, Alex has been so successful that we are also going to do a croc version. Jasmine is going to copy him.

Guest Post by Beverley Rogers: Peering Beneath the Layers

Peering beneath the Layers

or

The day we took ‘Rover’ for a walk

by Beverley Rogers

As Carolyn, Wendy and myself walked into the Faraday Building on the morning of 30 April, the students and staff, noticing that Carolyn carrying a big box in her arms, kindly opened the doors to allow us to pass.  They had absolutely no idea what we were carefully guarding as we carried on through to the Engineering Department in time for our appointment with Dr. Richard Johnston.   They may have been more than a little surprised had they known- for inside the rectangular box, delicately protected in tissue, was ‘Rover’ the Egypt Centre’s mummified dog (EC438).

The three of us had come to meet with Richard to discuss the results of an exciting collaboration which has risen between The Egypt Centre and two of the colleges from Swansea University.  The Institute of Life Science and the Engineering Department, together with the Egypt Centre, are helping to bring Egyptian antiquities ‘back to life’ by allowing mummified remains to be unwrapped without evasive procedures.  As part of this project, we had brought ‘Rover’ along to see if he was a suitable candidate. 

Richard, Senior Lecturer in Material Science in the College of Engineering, greeted us in his laboratory, which houses an impressive x-ray machine and a 3D scanner.  Digital imaging is key to this collaboration, for several of the mummified objects held in the Egypt Centre’s collection have undergone 2D, 3D scans and CAT scans over the last few months to determine what is inside their mummified wrappings.  The results have been truly astonishing. 

It should be said that it is not the first time that Richard has worked on projects with a historical theme. Richard has worked with the Mary Rose Trust, where human remains from the Mary Rose have been x-rayed.  He has also previously assisted Egyptology at Swansea by working with Dr. Kasia Szpakowska in her research on clay cobra figurines and their ritual breakages, by analyzing the experimental fractures of modern made objects.  The idea to apply digital technology to objects from the Egypt Centre came to him last year.  “It is very rare to have such an important resource on campus” Richard told us.  ‘We wanted to take advantage of that”.  After pitching his idea to curators Carolyn and Wendy, a selection of mummified animals were chosen for the first scans.  Both Carolyn and Wendy had warned Richard that often a ‘cat mummy’ or ‘bird mummy’ may in fact turn out to be something completely different – a bag of dislocated bones perhaps, or twigs and debris wrapped up to resemble the supposed animal.  The results when they came through however were more than could have been hoped for.

2D Imaging

Four objects have undergone 2D imaging so far –  two cat’s heads,  a bird mummy and a further body of a cat.  Results show that the scan of one of the cat heads seems to be no more than a bag of bones, however the bandages with its layers and fibers have come up so well that the individual strands of the weave can be seen.  This in itself is exciting!  The second cat head is an actual skull and clear cracks can be seen indicating damage. The bird mummy was revealed to have a perfectly intact skeleton and the imaging is so detailed that it could easily be identified as to what type of bird it is by the right kind of specialist.

Richard showing us the cat’s head before digital ‘unwrapping’

Scans of the cat’s head from different perspectives

Scans of the other cat -  originally from the Aberystwyth collection – literally blew the three of us away.  It is perfect in its detail and, the ability to rotate the image on the screen, allowed viewing to be seen from all angles and the high resolution of the scanning showed remarkable clarity.  The cat’s ears are situated above its head and are shown separated from it.  You can also see that there has been a lot of damage to the skull in the region of the right eye socket.  The cat also seems to have a full set of teeth which suggests that it was not old when it died.  These scans are so clear that further research could be undertaken to look at age of cat and type of cat by a feline specialist.  The manner of death could also be a source of further investigation.

Aberystwyth cat mummy showing dislocation of ears

Close up of the Aberystwyth cat showing Damage to skull by the right eye socket

Amazing detail of the teeth of the cat mummy

All images are to be given to the Egypt Centre for their future display within the galleries and outside foyer.  A huge thanks must be given to Jack Christie – 3^rd year graduate student in the College of Engineering- for the use of his research images.

3D Imaging

3D imaging, is I must admit, completely new to me.  Richard’s lab is kitted out with both a 3D scanner and printer, and I was keen to learn how it works.  I will attempt to explain in layperson’s terms.  Once an object is scanned, a 3D model of the object is printed using plastic.  The raw material, which is fed into the printer from above, looks exactly like strimmer cord, which you see used in garden mowers.  It is relatively inexpensive and lightweight to use and produces very realistic and intricate detail.  An example shown to us that day was a model of the Eiffel tower (see below), created recently by Richard’s team.  It was made up of the most exquisitely complex struts and layers.

Wendy and Carolyn with 3D scanner in background.

Richard demonstrating the 3D scanner

Richard shows us the plastic cord used to create 3D models

3D model of the Eiffel Tower

The ways in which this type of printing can be used is becoming more and more numerous and this type of printing will certainly become more popular as time goes on.  One use that has recently hit the headlines at the time of writing this article is in the production of casts for limb breakages.  The design allows ultrasonic treatment to be transmitted through the cast and  can be hooked up to an ultrasound machine that promises to reduce the time it takes for a broken bone to mend. The cast is lighter, better for the environment and more comfortable than bulky plaster ones.

3D Plastercast

(Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/3d-printed-cast-cool-speed-healing-article-1.1762100#ixzz30OII2Szq)

In terms of how this technique can be used in Egyptology research, well Richard was able to show us a first hand example.  Some months ago, the Egypt Centre had agreed to lend artifact number EC308 – labeled in the archive records as a mummified snake – to the College of Engineering to see if there was an animal within the bundle of linen.  When scanned, and a 3D model of the contents produced, it did indeed reveal that there was a complete snake within the bandages.  The 3D model took 10 hours to print due to the complexity of its shape; the mass of ribs on the snake meant that the scanner had to print a scaffolding structure to support the printed object so it can build up the shape (the scanner cannot print in mid-air but instead has to be supported by a structure.  An example of the supports can be seen below).   It can be a real nightmare to remove the supports, hence the 10 hours taken to complete the model.  On the plus side however, what was then left was an accurate representation of the ancient snake without there being any harm done to the linen in any way.  Richard also showed us high resolution images of the snake on screen.  This allowed us to travel virtually through the snake, from its head to its tail.  It was a strange experience but one that was mesmerising.  There appears from the scans to be some anomalies in the snake, specifically a number of strange protusions coming off the body – to the untrained eye they were almost like thin pipe-cleaners! Part of the jaw and head are also missing. 

The snake has featured recently on the BBC One programme ‘Rhys to the Rescue,’ presented by Dr Rhys Jones, a wildlife adventurer and Cardiff University lecturer.  Both he and Richard Johnston examined the scans and Rhys identified the snake as a young cobra.  Two objects were noted as being lodged in the mouth but identification is difficult.  The objects appear dense in matter and Carolyn has suggested that it may have been food placed in mouth.  

The copy of the video is to be given to the Egypt Centre for showing on the display screen in the foyer and research is continuing: Carolyn is going to send the images to animal mummy specialist Salima Ikran to analyse further.  For those of you that are interested in seeing the snake model, it is now displayed in the Egypt Centre next to actual mummified snake on display in the House of Life.

Bundle containing a mummified snake

3D printer with model of Egypt centre snake in front of it.  Inside the 3D printer, can be seen 3 curved arches, which were the scaffolding left over from a previous print.

3D scan of the snake

The collaboration with the Institute of Life Science (ILS) has also been the inspiration of Richard who put the Egypt Centre in touch with their CT scanning department.  They have the capacity to carry out scans of some of the larger objects in two dimensional data.  ILS have recently CT scanned the mummy of a baby which is enclosed within its cartonnage cover.   This object has been the subject of much speculation over the years, most notably because the hieroglyphs on the front of the cartonnage are confusing and unreadable.  It has often been speculated that that the mummy may in fact have been a fake so when the Egypt Centre were given the opportunity to put this mystery to bed, they seized upon it.  It wasn’t just the Egypt Centre staff who were excited at learning the truth however - the mummy scan created a lot of interest in the medical department as well; all the department staff were eager to take a look at their new ‘patient’. 

The results came back within 3 hours and confirmed that the cartonnage contains a foetus estimated to be at around 12-14 weeks old.  Remarkably, the shape of a head can be seen.  There could also be identified a possible fringe or string of beads contained within the wrapping (a similar example has been found in the British Museum where a baby mummy has been shown to have a string of beads wrapped with it).  The scan may also show an amulet within the wrappings but the angle is difficult to positively confirm.   The images of the CT scan are also going to be given to the Egypt Centre for display with the object.  News surrounding this discovery has been phenomenal.  Publications announcing the results of the research have included The Telegraph, Live Science, Discovery and the South Wales Evening Post.  It even appeared on the news in Canada!

The cartonnage coffin of the baby foetus

You can read the blog about it here.

The scanning of the Egypt Centre mummified remains is a wonderful example of inter-disciplinary collaboration and it seems that the marriage of Egyptology and scanning techniques is growing even more in popularity.  Some museums are going down the laser scanning route, such as the Smithsonian, who are undertaking a huge project to scan the millions of artifacts in their collection.  This technique allows for the objects to be spun around on a digital database where all angles of the piece can be viewed at the click of a button.  The Smithsonian are going to make this data available on-line so that anyone around the world can use it to obtain scan data and be able to print images for their research.  Laser scanning, which was also used for the Mary Rose project mentioned above, shows a great deal of detail and allows for colour to be incorporated into the scan.  It does have its limitations however as a lot less information is captured from using surface scanning.  The British Museum have also used both x-rays and laser scanning for mummified objects, again with the potential for people to observe these digitally.  Museums are also creating displays with which to showcase the work undertaken via imagery.  Sweden has produced digital autopsy tables, which allow specimens to be ‘unwrapped’ by computer rather than be hand, so allowing for a great density of mummy and unwrappings to be exposed, layer by layer.  It is great interactive technology but at the moment it is very expensive. 

Will this create problems for future museums in that people will not have to go to or want to see the original if they can get scans online?  The general belief from our animated discussion that morning was that this wouldn’t be the case.  It was felt that people would still want to see the original rather than a replica, as there was something magical about observing originality (a bit about that from the curator's view here). The museum also creates an environment that adds to the visitor experience, which cannot be replicated in database access.  

What to the future?  Well, further objects will be identified as suitable for scanning either in 2D or 3D.  ‘Rover’, the mummified dog, was a little too big to scan in Richard’s lab that day so he will shortly be off to ILS to undergo scanning and we wait to see what lies beneath the wrappings.  There are also endless possibilities to which digital imaging technology could help Egyptology research.  For example, when objects are drawn, there can be many different interpretations of them – the 3D printing technique would produce an accurate copy without the problem of human interpretation.  Or imagine a situation where 3D scanning can allow students and visitors to ‘peer’ beneath outer wrappings of objects without causing damage and these models being used as a handling resource.  Think of the researchers who are undertaking work on specific objects – what if they could have their very own copy of the artifact with which they could then transport around with them?  The 3D technology could be used to make mounts for objects; it would avoid damaging the real object when trying to sculpt a base to achieve a close fit.  Or how about being used to make copies of original amulet moulds and the replicas then being used to make amulets in the same format as they would have done thousands of years ago?   Exciting isn’t it?  We certainly came away thinking so!

‘Rover’ the mummified dog

Carolyn, Wendy and Richard discussing scans

Images courtesy of Wendy Goodridge and Beverley Rogers.  Scanning images are reproduced with kind permission of the College of Engineering and remain the intellectual property of the same.

.

A Mummified Baby?

Addendum: since this article was written a slightly older foetus has been found at the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, What both show is that we should not rely on X-rays but rather CT scans for such tiny mummies. I wonder how many more are extant in museums.

W1013 (left) is part of the Wellcome collection at Swansea University’s Egypt Centre. It came to Swansea in 1971. Unfortunately we do no not know from where Henry Wellcome obtained it. It measures 52 cm long and is carefully, though not over elaborately, painted. The style fits with what might be expected of a 26^th Dynasty (c.600BC) mummy. However, the inscriptions on the front and back are meaningless. Could this suggest that this means that the artefact is a fake?

In fact, it is not unusual for sham hieroglyphs to be placed on coffins. For example, several of the Twenty-first Dynasty intrusive coffins (c. 900BC) found in the Nineteenth Dynasty tomb of Iurudef at Saqqara, the Memphite necropolis, are also inscribed with mock hieroglyphs (Martin 1992: 144-145). Petrie (1893: 124-5) discusses sham inscriptions of 22 to 25^th Dynasty on coffins at Lahun and suggests they were due to maker not being literate. Evidently it was important to put hieroglyphic signs upon coffins, perhaps as a magical aid to the afterlife.

W1013 is the size of a very small child and is a case made of cartonnage (layers of linen stiffened with plaster or glue). The cartonnage case would have been made by forming the wet cartonnage around a disposable core (possibly clay and straw).  A hole could be cut in the back and under the feet in order to removed the core and place the mummy therein. Once the cartonnage was dry and stiff the piece could be covered with another thin layer of plaster and painted. On some cartonnage cases of this date you can see where the case was laced up. EC1064b, for example shows lacing holes.

The mummy is shown wearing a heavy, yellow and blue striped wig and a wide collar. Striped wigs are most common on male coffins, but are not uncommon on those of women (Taylor 1984: 51). The face is painted reddish-brown, a colour usually associated with men in ancient Egypt.  The body is decorated with a criss-cross pattern of rhombus shapes perhaps imitating the bead net placed over some other mummies. It has also been suggested that this pattern is reminiscent of feathers, or even the stars of the night sky. The pattern can be seen on several mummy related artefacts in the Egypt Centre, for example: EC232 (a Sokar hawk); W2001 (a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure); Osiris himself is can be seen wearing a rhomboid patterned garment on W1042 (a pink Roman Period coffin) and some of our Soter-type shroud fragments of the Roman Period.

But the question remains, is there a child in this mummy case? In 1998 Singleton hospital kindly agreed to X-ray the cartonnage case but the results were inconclusive. Then on 28^th April Swansea Univerity’s Paola Griffiths of Clinical Imaging College of Medicine kindly CT scanned the artefacts. This showed most of the interior was taken by folded of a material, presumably linen bandages and within that an area is a darker area about 10cm long which appears to be a foetus (in foetal position and with placental sac) and what could be a femur. The length of the femur together with the size of the dark patch is consistent with that of a 12-16 week old foetus. Another dark patch suggests and amulet and there are several areas with dark circles resembling strings of beads or tassels. It is not unusual for strings of beads to be placed loose in mummy wrappings of this date. For example, the British Museum mummy EA6676.

Here are the scans:

In contrast to the usual practice in the west today, it seems that the foetus could often be treated with care in ancient Egypt. Two coffins holding the foetuses were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. In New Kingdom (c.1550-1070BC) Deir el-Medina, a part of the Eastern cemetery seems to have been set aside for child burials but also foetuses and even placentas in bloody cloths (Bruyère 1937; Anthes 1943). The placenta was believed to represent the twin of the self (Pinch 1994:130) and so was disposed of with care too.

It is sometimes claimed that because there were so many deaths of young children, as well as miscarriages, in the ancient world, that the ancients became ‘hardened’ to such tragedies. However, it is clear from the fact that foetuses and infants were buried with care, that such losses were not treated casually. We can imagine that the probable foetus within W1013 represents someone’s terrible loss; an occasion of great grief and public mourning.

A little bit more on the mummy here.

Adams, C.V.A. `The manufacture of ancient Egyptian cartonnage cases', Smithsonian Journal of History, vol. 1, no. 3 (Autumn 1966), 55-66.

Anthes, R. 1943. Die Deutschen Grabungen auf der Westseite von Theben in den Jahren 1911-1913. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Instituts für Ägyptiwschen Altertumskunde in Kairo 12 (1): 1-72.

Bruyère, B. 1937. Rapport sur les Fouilles de Deir el Médineh (1934-1935), Deuxième Partie FIFAO 15. Cairo: Imprimerie de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale.

Martin, G.T. The Hidden Tombs of Memphis: New Discoveries from the Time of Tutankhamun and Ramesses the Great. London: Thames and Hudson. 

Petrie, W.M.F. 1893, Ten Years Digging in Egypt 1881-1893. London: The Religious Tract Society.

Pinch, G. 1994. Magic in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Trust.

Taylor, J. 1984 ‘A Priestly Family of the 25th Dynasty’, Chronique de Égypte, 59: 27-57

Guest Post: Unveiling mummies

The Egypt Centre Bandage (EC951)

(Image courtesy of the Egypt Centre, Swansea) 

This is  guest post by Beverley Rogers who has studied the item. Enjoy. Thank you Beverley.

In the downstairs gallery of Swansea’s Egypt Centre, amongst the coffin fragments, mummy masks, intricate bead work and an elaborate decorated mummy of an infant, there is displayed an innocuous piece of bandage mounted onto cardboard. Measuring 18.5 cm in length at its longest part and 9.5 cm in width, it is not the most beautiful or impressive of items that the Egypt Centre has to offer its visitors to look at. But behind this brown, stained piece of linen, there is a story that stands testament to an unusual piece of social history. It is evidence of a fashion undertaken during the Victorian period - one of which today may appear unusual and even abhorrent to our modern ears -where Egyptian mummies were unwrapped before public audiences in a form of macabre entertainment under the guise of scientific endeavour.

The bandage was once part of the Wellcome Collection, a diverse and eclectic mixture of objects brought together by the American businessman, Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), who made his fortune by developing a multinational pharmaceutical company. Wellcome’s collecting originally focused on pieces that illustrated the development of medicine and medical science. Such was his passion for collecting however, that he then branched out to collect all manner of object themes. Egyptian antiquity was just one part of a huge collection, which at its peak is estimated to have contained five times more items than the Louvre. Some of the objects obtained by Wellcome came from his own excavations in Egypt; the majority, however, were acquired from other private collections via auction houses and sales. His appetite for purchasing huge numbers of objects, often in an indiscriminate manner, was legendary amongst the auctions houses. Such was the quantity and ferocity of his collecting, that on his death, many objects lay still boxed in their original auction packing cases, not having been opened from the date of his purchase. When the Wellcome Trustees distributed Wellcome’s vast collection in the 1970s to various museums and institutions^⁠, the Egypt Centre took charge of ninety-two boxes of Egyptian antiquities as part of a long-term loan from the Trustees. The bandage formed a tiny part of the loan.

The piece of linen (acquisition number EC951) is displayed in the Egypt Centre’s House of Death and is mounted on a piece of card with an accompanying label stating:

The Palmer Collection

Mummy Cloth

Unwound at Lordship Lane Hall, about the year 1896

Egypt No. 888

The owner of the ‘Palmer Collection’ is at the present time uncertain as no suitable candidate has been identified from the Wellcome archives. In 2005 the Egypt Centre attributed a previous owner of the bandage as being the Reverend William MacGregor (1848-1922) and Wellcome is known to have bought many items from the sale of the MacGregor Collection in 1922 (the Egypt Centre now believes the attribution to be a cataloguing mistake). An extensive search of the MacGregor Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities produced for the MacGregor Collection’s auction at Sotheby’s, makes no mention however of the bandage in the featured lots. MacGregor’s propensity for recording details of his objects’ provenance, coupled with Sotheby’s diligent recording of these facts obtained through MacGregor’s own records, leads me to believe that the bandage is not from his collection but instead acquired from another unknown sale. Whilst the lack of information regarding its previous ownership remains frustrating, the bandage’s more modern history is still a valuable source of evidence of the strange world of mummy unwrappings which gripped the middle of the nineteenth century in Britain.

The practice of unwrapping a mummy was a phenomenon mostly confined to the 19^th century, however the earliest recorded unwrapping can be dated to as early as 1698 where Benoît de Maillet (1656-1738), Louis XIV’s Consul in Cairo^⁠, unwrapped a mummy in front of a select group of tourists. Scattered references to mummy unwrappings are mentioned throughout the 18^th century, but it was really from the 1830s onwards that the desire to unwrap ancient Egyptian cadavers became popular in conjunction with a ready supply of mummy imports finding their way into Britain. These exotic souvenirs of the extended Grand Tour, which by this time included Egypt in its itinerary, found their way into Victorian parlours, studies and sitting rooms.

Early nineteenth century unwrappings, though somewhat lacking in analytical method, were first conducted in a spirit of scientific enquiry with a minimum of general public involvement. In the 1830s however, the process became more of a public spectacle, fuelled by an event organised by Giovanni Belzoni. Belzoni, a showman turned purveyor of Egyptian antiquities, encouraged members of the public to view the unwrapping of a mummy as part of a London exhibition of Egyptian antiquities, tomb replicas and facsimiles acquired during his time in Egypt. The show, held at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, proved to be enormously popular, attracting many visitors. One member of the audience, a London surgeon by the name of Thomas Pettigrew, became inspired to perform his own public unrollings, which he often accompanied with a lecture. Tickets sold out quickly and distinguished guests, dignitaries and medical professionals would attend the viewings, alongside members of the public who were lucky enough to gain entry. Both Belzoni and Pettigrew had a talent for showmanship and the mummy unwrappings became in essence a ‘performance’ where the mummy was the central passive actor. Whilst there were some attempts at serious study - Pettigrew for example published his findings and wrote some seminal works on the methods of mummification - the unrolling of the mummy from its wrappings was no doubt attended by many people more for the spectacle of the event than from any attempt at serious learning on their part.

As travel to Egypt intensified within the middle of the century, ancient Egypt became even more in vogue. A ready supply of mummies and mummy body parts taken out of Egypt as souvenirs, combined with the increased press coverage of Belzonni and then Pettigrew’s unwrapping events, encouraged members of the public to emulate dissection of the mummies they had acquired within their own homes. Unwrapping a mummy became a popular dinner party activity where guests were invited to a sumptuous meal followed by the unrolling of the ancient ‘guest’. Often the mummy came from the host’s own collection and invitations were such as those issued by Lord Londesborough in 1850, who promised ‘A Mummy from Thebes to be unrolled at half-past Two'.

Toward the latter half of the century, examination of mummies became conducted on a more methodical basis. Egyptology was developing as a discipline and recognition that mummies were a source of important historical information encouraged better recording and care. The thrill of a body being unveiled however was still a heady draw for audiences and these events continued to evoke large crowds albeit the premise of the occasion was now on a more scientific footing. A common element of mummy unwrappings was the giving of pieces of linen and bandage from the mummy as souvenirs to the audience. The mounted bandage at the Egypt Centre is an example of such a memento, which at the time of unwrapping would still retain the faint scent of the unguents and spices used to mummify the body.

The Egypt Centre’s bandage is labelled as coming from an unwrapping held ‘about the year 1896’. The approximation of the date suggests that it was mounted much later after the event, implying that the exact date had been forgotten or was unknown. The label also mentions the unwrapping took place at Lordship Lane Hall but no such hall exists today. It has however been possible to trace the exact date and venue for the unwrapping due to a detailed eyewitness account of the event in The Horniman Free Museum Seventh Annual Report of 1897.

The mummy unwrapping took place on Wednesday 24^th February 1897 – a year later than the label suggests -and the venue was St Thomas Moore Hall, which was – and still remains – at 116 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London SE22. The Annual Report states that it was conducted by Mr Henry William Mengedoht (1870 – 1939), before an audience consisting of members of the Dulwich Scientific and Literary Association. Mengedoht was an English Orientalist who had studied within the department of Egyptology and Assyriology at the British Museum. On this particular evening Mengedoht gave a lecture culminating in the unwrapping of a female mummy from Memphis, generously donated by Mr Frederick John Horniman, M.P., from his collection of artifacts held at the nearby Horniman Museum. The mummy had been bought that year, together with its coffin, in Cairo where Horniman had paid £21 for them. As part of the evening’s event, Mr Horniman, a trader in tea, collector, public benefactor and a member of the Egypt Exploration Fund’s Committee, had also arranged for a selection of other ancient Egyptian objects from the museum to be on show. The Annual Report provides details of the evening’s activities:

‘On 24 February 1897, Horniman presided at a lecture, ‘Mummies and their History’, at the Dulwich Scientific and Literary Association. The guest speaker, Professor H.W. Mengedoht, from the British Museum, began by giving a graphic account of the different methods of embalming and explained how such practices had varied at different periods. He illustrated his paper by unrolling, with the help of Quick, a mummy from the Horniman Museum collection. In a scene redolent of the public dissection of corpses in the sixteenth century anatomy theatres.

The body, removed by Mengedoht from a coffin of painted sycamore, was placed on a table before the audience. The lid of the coffin, inscribed with the name Peta-Amen-Neb-Nest-Taiu, was identified as a priestess of Amen-Ra and daughter of an officer of high rank at Thebes. The body was covered in a shroud like garment and secured to the body with diagonal patterned strips of linen. Small in stature, the woman measured approximately five foot in length. After examining the wrapped mummy for signs of inscriptions or amulets and finding none, Mengedoht set about freeing the mummy from her numerous bandages with the assistance of a gentleman called Mr Quick. As he proceeded, he talked to the assembled guests about what he was discovering. Fortunately the bandages came away easily and Mengedoht did not have to resort to a method used on one of his previous unwrappings where he had removed both legs with a chopper.

‘The bandages were numerous and of different texture, applied with great neatness and precision. The limbs were separately bandaged. On the ends of two of the bandages some hieroglyphical characters were found, bearing reference to the date of the operation, etc…The bandages being removed the body was exposed. The brain had been extracted through the nostrils, and the viscera from the abdomen by an incision in the left side, and returned into the cavity, which was filled with the dust of some bitter wood. The nails on both the hands and feet were perfect, and had been stained with hennah. No scarabaei or other ornaments were found.’

Mengedoht’s conclusions from his examination was that the female mummy was between 60 and 70 years of age, that it was from Memphis and it dated from about 1500 B.C. He also told the audience that she was a ‘daughter of an officer of high rank at Thebes (whose mummy is now in the British Museum).’

The exposure of the body caused much excitement and the audience was invited to inspect it. Thanks were offered to Mengedoht ‘for the treat he had offered them that night” and finally “Mr Horniman gave to each of the visitors present a small sample of the mummy cloth, as a souvenir of the occasion.^⁠ The Egypt Centre bandage was one of these souvenirs. The Horniman Museum also has a small box of mummy linen fragments which also came from this unwrapping.

The mummy’s immediate fate after the unwrapping was to reside, devoid of her bandages, on display at the Horniman Museum within the Egyptian room together with six other mummies. A guide dated 1904 from the Museum indicates that the coffin and mummy were still displayed for several years later. Today the coffin lid is currently on display in the Horniman Museum’s African World’s gallery whilst the coffin and mummy are at its Study Collections Centre (accession numbers 4510a-c). A little part of Peta-Amen-Neb-Nest’s story however found itself travelling to Wales. The small piece of linen stands testament to the fate of a large amount of Egyptian mummies found in the Victorian period. The body of Peta-Amen-Neb-Nest was in fact one of the lucky ones, for many mummies were destroyed upon their unwrapping or found themselves being thrown away as rubbish. The names and personal histories of these unlucky ones will never be remembered. Peta-Amen-Neb-Nes however finds herself immortalized as part of British Victorian history and as an interesting and unusual element in the history of Egyptology.

(Image of the Egyptian mummy coffin belonging to Peta-Amen-Neb-Nest-Taiu from Levell (2000), 256).

About the author

Beverley Rogers is in the final year of her PhD at Swansea University, Wales. She has been researching the Reverend William MacGregor (1848 – 1937) - an Egyptologist and collector of Egyptian antiquity – since 2005. Other areas of her research include the rise of Egyptology in the Victorian period, the collectors and collecting habits of the Victorian period, the history of museum collections and the modern reception of ancient Egypt.

Biography

Dawson, W. R. & Uphill, E. (1972). Who was who in Egyptology. London: Egypt Exploration Society.

Forest Hill and Sydenham Examiner (26 February 1897).

Horniman Museum (2010). Ancient Egyptian learning pack. Accessed via http://www.horniman.ac.uk/schools/pdf/lp_ancient_egypt.pdf

Horniman Museum (1904). A Guide to the Collections of the Horniman Museum and Library. London: London County Council.

Ikram, S. & Dodson, A. (1998). The Mummy in Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Montserrat, D. (1998). ‘Unidentified Human Remains: Mummies and the Erotics of Biography” in D. Montserrat, ed., Changing Bodies, Changing Meanings: Studies on the Human Body in Antiquity, pp. 162-212. London: Routledge.

Quick (1898). The Horniman Free Museum Seventh Annual Report 1897 Events of the Year. London: Horniman Museum.

Levell, N. (2000). Oriental Visions: Exhibitions, Travel, and Collecting in the Victorian Age. London: Horniman Musuem and Gardens and the Museu Antropológico da Universidade de Coimbra.

Rogers, B. (2012). Unwrapping the Past: Egyptian Mummies on Show in Popular Exhibitions, Science and Showmanship, 1840-1910 Ed. J. Kember, J. Olunkette and J.A. Sullivan, 199-218.

My thanks to Robert Storrie of the Horniman Museum for providing me with archive information regarding the mummy and coffin. Thank you also to the Egypt Centre for access to the object file and allowing me to take photographs of the object.