An Egyptian Mummy and Coffin

I guess it is time for me to let you all in on the little secret that I have been hinting at over the last few weeks. I am sorry for this, but I had to be elusive as this matter does have the potential for massive political ramifications. I wanted to be sure that this project was going to happen before I let you all in on it. As this project has some elements that the University would rather not have publicized I will keep my discussion about the project to my personal involvement and basic information about it. Furthermore, as this is going to be my thesis project, I will not be elaborating on much of the details via this blog. I am more then happy to discuss the project in greater detail in private (email, skype, etc.). OK, enough of that crap!


My project involves the examination of a 2,500 year old mummy and coffin from Late/ Ptolemaic Period Egypt (747-30 BC). There are several aspects which I am going to study. The primary goal of this examination is that of conservation. The mummy itself is in poor condition. I will be documenting any and all postmortem damage and providing recommendations on how best to halt or even reverse the damage that has been sustained during the 100+ years since its excavation near Thebes, Egypt. The purpose for this is to allow for further studies to be carried out without further harm and damage to the material. Eventually, I would like to see the material officially curated into the college museum, but that is unlikely due to its poor condition. The next phase of the project builds off the first. I will be recording and analyzing the funerary texts inscribed and painted along the outside and inside of the coffin. Much about the coffin's original occupant would have been written on the coffin including his/her name, their occupation, as well as instructions for the afterlife. These texts will be compared with the Book of the Dead as well as several other funerary texts popular at the time. Lastly, I hope to preform a high tech investigation of the mummy. This would include 3D CT scanning and digital X-rays which, in turn, would allow me to conduct a virtual unwrapping of the mummy. I am also hoping to have portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) preformed on several spots within and upon the mummy and coffin in hopes of understanding the elemental composition of the paints and resins used during the mummification and coffin construction.

Much of my time is currently spent reading books on this subject matter.  As this is the first Egyptian mummy I have worked with I have a lot of learning to do in regards to Egyptian funerary practices, religion, and technology.

The primary reason there is so much sensitivity surrounding this mummy and coffin is because its history is practically unknown. No one is sure exactly how it came to University College Cork. Previous investigations have hinted that it arrived some time between 1890-1910. It was originally stored in the Anatomy Department until some time in the 1920s. During this time, for reasons not entirely known, the mummy was stored (or hidden) under the floorboards of the Pathology Department. It wasn't until a remodeling of the department in the 1970s that the mummy was 're-discovered' and moved to the central library on campus, where it has been ever since. A study was conducted on the mummy in the late 1980s by a former master's student in the archaeology department. Since then, no one has had much contact with the mummy until a month ago. As you read in the newspaper article I posted some time back, Egyptian officials visited the campus to examine the mummy and determine its fate. With the opening of a brand new museum in Cairo scheduled for 2013, Egypt is attempting to collect all the mummies from various museums around the world in hopes have centralizing Egyptian archaeology in Egypt.  I have many issues with this, and their approach, but that is another rant for another time.  However, the recent events in Egypt have put a stall on everything.  Only time will determine the true fate of the material at UCC.

So that's the big secret I have been keeping from you all.  I will update you on my studies as best I can via this blog.  If you have specific questions about the mummy, I would email them to me.  For general questions, I am more than happy to answer them publicly.  That way I can discuss it at further length with the potential consequences of a public discussion.  

Below is a picture of the coffin.  As you can see, it's not in great shape.  I'm hoping to fix that.

Egyptian coffin at UCC. Photo: UCC