Complex Research of Ancient Egyptian ‘Mummy of the Priest’ from the Collection of the Lomonosov Moscow State University Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology

Abstract

Introduction. The article is dedicated to a comprehensive study of a male mummy from the Egyptological collection of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Materials and methods. The mummy of a male stripped of its funerary bandages and shrouds, was donated by Professor A.I. Babukhin in 1876 to D.N. Anuchin, the museum’s founder. Since 2016, the mummy has been the object of detailed studies conducted by the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of the Lomonosov MSU. The study employed the methodologies of diverse scientific disciplines: anthropological study based on computer tomography data, textile analysis, radiocarbon dating, gas chromatography and mass-spectrometry studies, archeopalynological investigation etc.

Results and discussion. A facial reconstruction and a craniological and osteological description of the mummy were produced using computed tomography (CT) data. The interdisciplinary studies have revealed the specific features of the mummification method, which was characteristic of the Late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, but also continued in later periods. The chromatographic analysis of the skin samples revealed a complex mix of embalming agents, one of which was pine resin. This is consistent with data obtained by spore-pollen analysis. The technological characteristics of the burial textiles preserved on the mummy were also studied. The age of the mummy could be determined through radiocarbon dating as 3,080 ± 35 BP (2σ 1426–1259 cal BC), indicating that the individual in question lived during the Eighteenth – first half of the Nineteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom.

Funding. his article was written with the support of the Lomonosov MSU Program of Development. Project No 23 Sch 02-22 "Hystory, anthropology and ethnology of the North-Eastern Africa in context of Ecological Changes during last 13 millenia. Interdisciplinary Research" Archeopalynological investigations were carried out within the framework of the issue Scientific Research Work of the Institute of Archaeology RAS “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studying the Formation and Development of Ancient and Medieval Anthropogenic Ecosystems” (No. of R&D 122011200264-9). The textile studies were carried out within the framework of RSF grant ‘A comprehensive study of archaeological textile and pottery using natural science techniques, based on the findings of the Nubian expedition conducted by Moscow State University’ (№ 25-28-01025)

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