Note: A recent article in “National Geographic” made me realize the Egyptian mummy displayed at the Museum in Racibórz, the town where my father was born in 1907, dates not from the 12th dynasty (1985-1773 BC), as I previously understood, but rather from the 22nd dynasty (943-716 BC). As a retired archaeologist, and in anticipation of an upcoming trip my wife and I have planned to Egypt, this inadvertent discovery allows me to correct the record and provide brief details on the evolution of Egyptian mummification.
Related Post:
POST 140: HOW A 12TH DYNASTY EGYPTIAN MUMMY WOUND UP IN RACIBORZ, POLAND
The August 2023 issue of National Geographic includes a short article by Jason Treat entitled “The Golden Age of Mummification,” describing how archaeological excavations at an ancient mortuary complex is shedding light on how this craft was once a booming business including for more than just pharaohs. The workshop associated with the necropolis, or cemetery, of the ancient capital of Memphis, Saqqara, was discovered in 2016; this site is situated along the west bank of the Nile River not far from Cairo. Excavations in a burial shaft there referred to as “K24,” dating to the 26th dynasty (664 B.C.-c. 525 B.C.), provide evidence that embalming took place underground, in this instance at a depth of 40 feet. Astonishingly, the shaft at K24 extends to a depth of 98 feet. It is believed that the deeper a body was buried, the more wealthy or important the individual was likely to have been in life.
By the 26th dynasty, the rituals and processes of mummification had been around for more than 2,000 years. During the Early Dynastic Period associated with the 1st through 3rd dynasties (3150 B.C.- 2613 B.C.), the mummies found in Saqqara were believed to be royal, though as early as the Old Kingdom, beginning with the 4th dynasty (c. 2613 to 2494 B.C.), elite nonroyals were also being mummified.
A figure included in Jason Treat’s article, labeled “The Evolution of Mummification in Ancient Egypt,” alerted me to the fact that the mummy displayed at the Museum in Racibórz was incorrectly attributed to the 12th dynasty. The dates I initially provided, 946-722 B.C., I quickly realized correspond to the 22nd dynasty. I confirmed with Magda Wawoczny, my acquaintance from Racibórz, that my earlier understanding as to the age of the mummified Egyptian lady, Dzed-Amonet-ius-anch, was in error; Magda explained the mummy and sarcophagus were dated at between 800 and 750 B.C. using C-14 dating.
I expect that for most readers, the significance of the mummy in Racibórz is how the remains wound up there rather than its age, yet in the interest of accuracy I feel a need to correct the previously provided information.
Below, I’ll point out a few differences in how the Egyptian lady may have been mummified.
As mentioned, during the Early Dynastic Period associated with the mummification exclusively of royals, bodies were wrapped in linen bandages treated with resin and mineral salts, with the entrails left in the body. By the Middle Kingdom, including the 12th dynasty, techniques occasionally involved removal of the brain via the nostrils and the injection of resins to dissolve entrails, which were subsequently removed through body orifices. By the 22nd dynasty, part of the Third Intermediate Period, mummification had reached its apex. By this time, efforts were undertaken to make the body look as lifelike as possible and included stuffing the cavity to preserve its shape.
As mentioned in Post 140, the Egyptian mummy displayed in Racibórz supposedly originates from a necropolis in Thebes, near present-day Luxor. Baron Rothschild purchased it along with three canopic jars presumably containing the viscera in 1860 while on a trip to Egypt. Stripped of its provenience and absent any recorded information as to its origin, the hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus provide the most useful clues about the mummy. Supposedly, Baron Rothschild purchased it as a gift for his fiancé who was apparently not amused. I can find no indication a marriage to a second wife ever took place.
In any case, shortly after his return from Egypt, at his palace in Šilheřovice, in current-day Czech Republic, Rothschild in the presence of guests invited to a social gathering had two sarcophagi opened, the cartonnage cut, and the embalmed linen-covered corpse unwrapped. In 1864, the baron decided to donate the souvenirs from his Egyptian journey to the Antiquity Department of the Royal Evangelical Gymnasium in Racibórz. When the museum in Racibórz opened in 1927, they formally took possession of the mummy.
While the Egyptian mummy ultimately wound up in a museum, where it rightfully always should have been, this incident reminded me of an account by the world-famous Egyptian archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass in connection with the 2006 Tutankhamun exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. The incident in question speaks to the fact that antiquities belong in museums not in private collections. In Dr. Hawass’ own words:
“. . .my experiences have provided me with many interesting stories. Let me tell you one of my favorites here: In 2006, the Tutankhamun was going to open in the Field Museum in Chicago under the sponsorship of Exelon, an American energy company. At the press conference, where we were to announce the opening, the executive vice-president of Exelon apologized that the company president, John Rowe, could not attend the conference because he had a meeting with President George W. Bush. The vice-president mentioned that Mr. Rowe loved ancient Egypt and even had an Egyptian coffin in his office.
I stood up and said that King Tutankhamun would not have been pleased to see an ancient coffin in a private office. Antiquities, I announced, must be either left at their original sites or kept in museums where everyone could see and enjoy them. I said that this coffin had to be given to the Field Museum or I would remove Exelon’s name from sponsorship of the Tutankhamun exhibition. Rowe refused, and the story made the first page of the ‘Chicago Tribune.’ I wrote an official letter to delete Exelon from all the written documents associated with the exhibition—and Rowe finally agreed to give the coffin as a gift to the Field Museum. On its front page the ‘Chicago Tribune’ declared that two pharaohs were fighting and the real one won.” (Hawass 2019:14-15)
REFERENCES
Hawass, Zahi. Secret Egypt. Laboratoriorosso, 2019.
Treat, Jason. “The Golden Age of Mummification.” “National Geographic,” August 2023: 66-73.