3,000-yr-old mummy crying for attention

Times of India (Neha Shuckla)

The state museum's 3,000-year-old mummy, one of the six in the country, is wearing off.

The chipped off outer peel of the mummy's skull is for everyone to see. The curious onlookers might wonder at the sight of a lock of hair visible from outside the glass-case that contains the mummy while few would try hard to pry if it is a shred of unwrapped linen.

The museum authorities, however, deny any such thing. "It's not wearing off," said Rakesh Tiwari, acting director of the museum.

The curators maintain that it was always like this. But this doesn't deny the mummy's need for restoration. It's the mummy of a 13-year-old girl with unwrapped toe in one of the feet.

The Lucknow museum had purchased it in 1952 from a UK national, J J E Potter. But after all these years, the frayed edges of its cotton bandage might be unwrapping. The environmental factors like humidity, temperature, light and pollution are gradually affecting the preservation of this mummy.