Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Aidan Cockburn
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Introduction
- PART I Mummies of Egypt
- 1 Mummies of ancient Egypt
- 2 Disease in ancient Egypt
- 3 Dental health in ancient Egypt
- 4 A classic mummy: PUM II
- 5 ROM I: mummification for the common people
- 6 Egyptian mummification with evisceration per ano
- PART II Mummies of the Americas
- PART III Mummies of the world
- PART IV Mummies and technology
- Index
4 - A classic mummy: PUM II
from PART I - Mummies of Egypt
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Aidan Cockburn
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Introduction
- PART I Mummies of Egypt
- 1 Mummies of ancient Egypt
- 2 Disease in ancient Egypt
- 3 Dental health in ancient Egypt
- 4 A classic mummy: PUM II
- 5 ROM I: mummification for the common people
- 6 Egyptian mummification with evisceration per ano
- PART II Mummies of the Americas
- PART III Mummies of the world
- PART IV Mummies and technology
- Index
Summary
The traditional Egyptian mummy is one on which all the arts of the embalmers have been employed; the organs have been preserved, the body is wrapped in linen, and everything is contained in a highly decorated sarcophagus. Such was mummy PUM II. It belongs to the Philadelphia Art Museum and was lent to the Paleopathology Association for dissection and study through the courtesy of David O'Connor of the Pennsylvania University Museum, thus its name PUM II, being the second mummy from that museum. PUM II is now on display at the Pennsylvania University Museum, complete with the sarcophagus and photographs of the unwrapping and the autopsy findings.
Little is known of the provenance of this mummy (Figure 4.1). It was brought to America about the turn of the century by John T. Morris, a wealthy Philadelphian, who donated it to the Philadelphia Art Museum (Cockburn and Ballard 1992), but its origins in Egypt are unknown. The sarcophagus was highly decorated but lacked the name and any details of the person inside (Figure 4.2). The unwrapping and autopsy of PUM II took place on February 1, 1973, as part of a symposium (Death and Disease in Ancient Egypt) that was held at Wayne State University Medical School, Detroit, Michigan (Cockburn 1973). Radiographic and xerographic examinations at Mt Carmel Mercy and Hutzel Hospitals, Detroit, were performed prior to and following the autopsy (Kristen and Reyman 1980). The mummy seemed to be well preserved.
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- Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures , pp. 69 - 90Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998
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