Horemkenesi Unwrapping
In 1976, staff at the museum realised that the mummy of the man Horemkenesi was rotting. The choices they had were to unwrap the body and learn from it or leave it to rot without studying it. The museum decided to unwrap the body to find out as much as possible.
What would you choose to do today?
Leave the mummy as it is Unwrap the body Use non-destructive technology
Leave the mummy as it is... You will learn nothing more than you can see, but the mummy (or what is left of it) can be studied in the future when techniques will have advanced and you can learn more through non-destructive analysis. The ancient Egyptians believed that the body had to be intact to enjoy everlasting life. Not unwrapping the mummy would respect that belief. What we discovered: 1. We could see that the bandages were rotting but did not know what was causing it 2. The worst damage was on the left arm at the elbow, where the bandages were crumbling and falling away to reveal the body inside. 3. From the outer layers of the mummy we could see that the final layer of bandages was wrapped in a decorative pattern of red bands
Unwrap the body... You can study how the body was mummified and bandaged. Pollen and plants in the wrappings might give clues to when in the year and where the body was mummified. By studying the body you can find out about the person’s health. Unwrapping will destroy the mummy, so it can only be unwrapped once and something important might be missed. The whole mummy can never be studied again, even if better techniques become available in the future. What we discovered: 1. One of the bandages had Horemkenesi's name written on it. 2. Carrion beetles were eating the body. They were wrapped in the bandages and began to eat their way out. They died before they reached the outer layer. 3. The embalmers had wrapped one bandage around the head and twisted the end to look like a beard. 4. The embalmers left some of the natron, which dried out Horemkenesi's body, in the bandages when they wrapped him up. This was the cause of the rotting bandages. 5. The embalmers wrapped the limbs in the first layers of bandaging. They did not wrap the fingers and toes individually – this was perhaps to make the mummification cheaper. 6. There was no sign of damage to Horemkenesi’s nose or the base of the skull, so the brain had not been removed. 7. The embalmers had packed the chest cavity with mud to reshape the body after the removal of the internal organs. 8. The medical report on Horemkensesi stated that he was in his late 50s, was overweight, suffered from various illnesses such as malaria and had mild arthritis and a spinal problem
Use non-destructive technology... Medical technology can reveal information without destroying the wrappings and body. X-radiographs have been used for over 100 years. Scanning is a new tool and can give computer-aided reconstructions of the body in the bandages. Medical technology may miss some information as some evidence will not show on a scan or X-radiograph, or may be difficult to interpret. It is too late to apply new or future technologies like scanning to the mummy of Horemkenesi, as his body was unwrapped in 1981.
What we discovered: 1. The body was that of a man, in his fifties when he died. 2. He had a form of osteoarthritis in his spine, but no other evidence of disease or trauma. 3. His teeth were very worn and he had abscesses in the jawbone, which were probably very painful. 4. There was no sign of damage to his nose or the base of his skull, suggesting that the brain had not been removed. 5. The chest was difficult to X-ray because it was packed with something very dense. 6. No amulets were visible on the X-rays.
What would you choose to do today?
Leave the mummy as it is Unwrap the body Use non-destructive technology
Leave the mummy as it is... You will learn nothing more than you can see, but the mummy (or what is left of it) can be studied in the future when techniques will have advanced and you can learn more through non-destructive analysis. The ancient Egyptians believed that the body had to be intact to enjoy everlasting life. Not unwrapping the mummy would respect that belief. What we discovered: 1. We could see that the bandages were rotting but did not know what was causing it 2. The worst damage was on the left arm at the elbow, where the bandages were crumbling and falling away to reveal the body inside. 3. From the outer layers of the mummy we could see that the final layer of bandages was wrapped in a decorative pattern of red bands
Unwrap the body... You can study how the body was mummified and bandaged. Pollen and plants in the wrappings might give clues to when in the year and where the body was mummified. By studying the body you can find out about the person’s health. Unwrapping will destroy the mummy, so it can only be unwrapped once and something important might be missed. The whole mummy can never be studied again, even if better techniques become available in the future. What we discovered: 1. One of the bandages had Horemkenesi's name written on it. 2. Carrion beetles were eating the body. They were wrapped in the bandages and began to eat their way out. They died before they reached the outer layer. 3. The embalmers had wrapped one bandage around the head and twisted the end to look like a beard. 4. The embalmers left some of the natron, which dried out Horemkenesi's body, in the bandages when they wrapped him up. This was the cause of the rotting bandages. 5. The embalmers wrapped the limbs in the first layers of bandaging. They did not wrap the fingers and toes individually – this was perhaps to make the mummification cheaper. 6. There was no sign of damage to Horemkenesi’s nose or the base of the skull, so the brain had not been removed. 7. The embalmers had packed the chest cavity with mud to reshape the body after the removal of the internal organs. 8. The medical report on Horemkensesi stated that he was in his late 50s, was overweight, suffered from various illnesses such as malaria and had mild arthritis and a spinal problem
Use non-destructive technology... Medical technology can reveal information without destroying the wrappings and body. X-radiographs have been used for over 100 years. Scanning is a new tool and can give computer-aided reconstructions of the body in the bandages. Medical technology may miss some information as some evidence will not show on a scan or X-radiograph, or may be difficult to interpret. It is too late to apply new or future technologies like scanning to the mummy of Horemkenesi, as his body was unwrapped in 1981.
What we discovered: 1. The body was that of a man, in his fifties when he died. 2. He had a form of osteoarthritis in his spine, but no other evidence of disease or trauma. 3. His teeth were very worn and he had abscesses in the jawbone, which were probably very painful. 4. There was no sign of damage to his nose or the base of his skull, suggesting that the brain had not been removed. 5. The chest was difficult to X-ray because it was packed with something very dense. 6. No amulets were visible on the X-rays.