The University of Illinois Mummy Project
Photo by B. Wiegand, UIUC News Bureau
The Spurlock Museum (formerly the World Heritage Museum) at the University of Illinois owns an Egyptian mummy dated to the early second century A.D. (Roman period) by the style of the painted and gilded decorations on its cartonnage. Below a Roman face portrait are typical depictions of Egyptian gods and goddesses: the sky god Horus, represented by two falcons; the sky goddess Nut, with outstretched wings; and the god of the afterlife, Osiris.
The mummy, which has been in the United States since the 1920's, came from the Fayum oasis district, a center of Greek and Roman settlement in Egypt begining with the reign of Alexander the Great. The specific site or cemetery of origin is unknown.
Sketch by A. Tsakiropolou
Before the mummy was placed on exhibit in 1990, a research team led by the Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials (ATAM) investigated the mummy's age, sex, medical history, cause of death, and embalming procedures. Over twenty university units and two local hospitals participated in the project. Researchers employed primarily non-destructive techniques such as X-ray radiography and CT-scanning in order to preserve the mummy. An exception was made at the lower end of the mummy, where loosened wrappings and protruding foot bones made possible the extraction of tiny samples of cloth, bone, wood, insects, and embalming fluids. Two three-dimensional renderings of the mummy's head and torso (computerized images and a sculpture) were completed using the CT scans.
Results indicated that the mummy was a child, aged 7-9 years at the time of death, who suffered post-mortem skull and rib fractures. Beetle infestation indicated that the tissues were poorly preserved, yet the body received some special treatment by the embalmers. Extra cloth packings were placed under the fractured skull and over the chest, and hands (and perhaps fingers) were separately wrapped. The body was supported by a cedar board (underneath the body, inside the wrappings), and the heart, lungs, and brain were left in place.
Although the sex and cause of death of the child are still unknown, the combined archaeological and analytical information indicate that he or she belonged to a family that could afford one of the better mummification treatments of the Roman period.
More on Mummies and Ancient Egypt
Mummy Video a Macintosh QuickTime file (4.8 MB)
The mummy project generated several publications in technical journals and popular magazines, including an article in Discover magazine (July 1991).
A complete account for the general public, The Virtual Mummy by Sarah Wisseman, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2003. It is recommended by the American Library Association and is available through the UI Press or the Illini Union Bookstore.
For a murder mystery based on the mummy research, check out Bound for Eternity (May 2005)
For a discussion of Egyptian embalming practices, see the journal Nature (Oct. 25, 2001).