An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud

Mødedato: Torsdag d. 25/4-2024 kl. 17.30– døren låses 17.20!

Antikmuseet på Aarhus Universitet,
Victor Albecksvej, Århus C, bygning 1414

An interdisciplinary approach to the study of a rare mummy with painted shroud, v. Daniela Picchi, Head or Curator of the Egyptian Collection, Archaeological Museum of Bologna

This study was promoted by the Bologna Archaeological Museum and Eurac Research, Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano (Italy), in the framework of the Bologna mummy project (BOmp). The mummy with a rare painted shroud (1st-2nd century A.D.) belonged to the collection of the Bolognese artist Pelagio Palagi (1875-1860), who offered over three thousand Egyptian antiquities to his hometown at a reasonable price through a bequest in his will.

The aim of the project was to return the mummy, which had been stored in the museum’s storerooms since the late 1970s, to the scientific community and the public. This project requested an interdisciplinary diagnostic approach to acquire the tomography computed (CT) scans of the bodies, to obtain the radiocarbon date (14C), to reconstruct the biological (e.g., sex, age at death) and the paleopathological profiles, as well as to insight the embalming techniques. Additionally, the mummy underwent a complex restoration work before being displayed in the museum.