The story of the Leeds Mummy

Yorkshire Evening Post  (Neil Hudson)

It’s not every day the YEP gets to talk about the relics of ancient Egypt – but thanks to a tour of the British Museum’s Egyptian collection at Leeds Museum, Yorkshire’s curious connection to that period in history can be revealed.

The connection comes in the form of a mummy, Nesyamun, which has been in our possession since 1823 when it was donated to the City of Leeds by the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society.

They had acquired it some years earlier by way of an Italian antique dealer who was travelling through London. It was the era of empire and exploration, when the riches of antiquity discovered in the Egyptian desert found their way across the continent.

What is known about Nesyamun was that he was born in the Sudan about 3,000 years ago, circa 1100BC.