Covering the mummies

Egypt at the Manchester Museum Blog

I stumbled across this blog more or less by accident. I had no idea that it existed, but it looks like a very good idea. The same sort of thing has been set up and maintained by several U.S. universities, which have worked out very well.

This particular post looks at the controversial decision to cover mummies which are on display in the museum's public-facing collections. There is a photograph on the blog of how this has been implemented, and I personally don't find it remotely sympathetic. I had heard that this was going to take place and already there are rumbles of disaproval from both the general public and professionals working in the field of Egyptology and/or museology, although most people would agree that handling the remains of the dead with sensitivity is an important issue to address. The comments that follow on from this post (scroll to the end of it) are particuarly interesting, and include reactions from some well known names.

The museum is looking for your reactions on its blog, so if you feel strongly about this subject please visit and leave a comment.

Last week, the unwrapped mummy of Asru, and the partially wrapped mummy of Khary, and the loaned child mummy from Stonyhurst College, were covered. The covering was carried out in order that the human remains be treated with respect and to keep the bodies on display in line with the Manchester Museum Human Remains policy.

The covering of the mummies coincides with the opening of the year-long exhibition of Lindow Man: A Bog Body Mystery, where the Museum has interpreted the bog body through the opinions of seven individuals involved with his discovery and analysis.

Back on the Egypt gallery the uncovered skeleton of Khnum-Nakht poses alongside the newly covered mummies. Opinions on the covering of the mummies have begun to come into the Museum…

A couple of other comments followed my February post about a suggestion on the BBC News website that Manchester was considering the removal of its mummies from display. I was so upset with the idea at the time that I went a bit over the top in my response, but I've left my comments there because they may not have been well expressed but they were heartfelt. I think that this is a very difficult issue, and one not to be tackled lightly.