| Amunet Human Mummy | |
| Biographical Information | |
|---|---|
| Name(s) | Amunet |
| Age | 34-40 years old |
| Sex | Female |
| Status | Priestess (probable) |
| Height | Unknown |
| Source | |
| Culture | Egyptian |
| Date(s) | c. 800 BC |
| Site | Tomb of Amunet (Deir el-Bahari) |
| Current Location | |
| Location | Ohio Historical Society Museum |
| Catalog # | |
When J. Morton Howell, America’s first Ambassador to Egypt, acquired Neskhonsupakhered’s coffin in 1925, her mummy already had been removed. Howell planned to donate the coffin to a museum in his home state of Ohio and felt it needed a mummy to be complete. He asked French archaeologists working at Deir el-Medinaif they had a surplus mummy, and they said they did. It was delivered, and installed in Neskhonsupakhered’s coffin and presented to the Ohio Historical Society as a set.
Mummification[]
Amunet was mummified and entombed in a shaft containing mummies belonging to high priests of the twenty-first dynasty.
Studies[]
Tattoos were located on the superior pubic region, on the mid frontal torso, and directly inferior to the right breast. There were also tattoos superior to the elbow joint, left shoulder, and thighs. The tattoos were in the form of dashes, dots, and circles. These tattoos prompted theories of “medical tattooing” for therapeutic purposes or simply tattooing for a ritualistic function. Egyptologist Salima Ikram reported, “It seems that women were primarily being tattooed. The [tattoos] from Deir el-Medina are on women associated with temples as priestesses, who had roles in singing and dancing and performance.”
Amunet was X-rayed in 1935 and again in 1984, followed by a CT scan in 2013 showing that Amunet died between the age of 35-45, a long life considering that most Egyptian died before age 40, and that she was a woman of some means because her joints do not show the damage that is typical of people who have engaged in a lifetime of manual labor. She still had her lungs, liver, kidneys, and researchers surmise the mummification was either an amateur effort or a rushed one.
It was discovered in 2013 that Amunet was not the original occupant of the coffin in which she now lies. The coffin is the middle, of three nested coffins that belonged to another woman named Neskhonsupakhered. Hieroglyphics on the coffin indicate she was the “daughter of the Doorkeeper of Amun Bakakhonsu and the House Mistress Heres.” The mummy was then dubbed Amunet by the museum staff, meaning "hidden one" since they can never discern her real identity.
Radiocarbon dating of the mummy wrappings put forth a date of c. 800 BC, the coffin in considerably older.
Pathology[]
No indication of cause of death.
Additional[]
Only about 12 tattooed Egyptian mummies have been found to date.
References[]
Angel, G. (2012, 12 10). Tattooing in Ancient Egypt Part 2: The Mummy of Amunet. Retrieved from UCL: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/2012/12/10/tattooed-mummy-amunet/
Riggs, C. (2014). Unwrapping Ancient Egypt. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Local Egyptian Mummy Undergoes CT Scan https://pitchengine.com/pitches/90f9522c-1bf8-47ac-8588-134e9ec2f08e