| Lady Hudson Human Mummy | |
| |
| Biographical Information | |
|---|---|
| Name(s) | Lady Hudson Our Lady of Hudson's Bay MacSkimming Mummy UWO Mummy |
| Age | 30+ |
| Sex | female |
| Status | elite |
| Height | 155cm |
| Source | |
| Culture | ancient Egypt |
| Date(s) | 30 BC to AD 395 |
| Site | Unknown |
| Current Location | |
| Location | Department of Anthropology
University of Western Ontario |
| Catalog # | none |
The Lady Hudson mummy (also known as: the University of Western Ontario (UWO) mummy, Our Lady of Hudson's Bay, and the MacSkimming mummy) is a Roman Period mummy paired with a Ptolemaic Period wood coffin. The mummy has been housed in the University of Western Ontario's Department of Anthropology since May 2003. It has been the center piece of mummy research at UWO, subject to multiple radiological (X-ray, CT, uCT, MR), endoscopic, histoligical, isotopic, laser scan, and macroscopic studies to learn about life and death in Ancient Egypt by means of detailed osteobiographical analysis.
The mummy is missing most of the torso and feet, and much of what remains has been unwrapped.
The mummy experienced very poor dental health in life and advanced osteopenia. Unfortunately, many of the traditional cues used to estimate age are not available, but she was probably not a young woman. The style of mummification indicates that she enjoyed a relatively high status in life. She was carefully wrapped in the herringbone style that was typical of the Roman Period.
Mummification[]
The brain was removed trans-nasally in this mummy. Damage to the left ethmoid air cells and left orbital wall indicates that the brain was removed through the left nostril. The left nostril is plugged with a wad of resin-impregnated linen. The brain is absent, while the dural membranes remain apparent. Resin is present in the maxillary sinuses and a large volume of resin is present in the cranial cavity, filling the posterior quarter of the cranial cavity.
The chest and upper abdomen are not preserved in this mummy, making assessments of the body cavity treatments difficult. In the lower abdomen, however, there is linen packing with what appears to be resin on the upper left side. The packing indicates that the internal organs were removed, and the position of the resin indicates that this process may have been performed through an incision in the left abdominal wall. The heart, lungs, intestines, liver, stomach, and kidneys are not intact in the body cavity and could not be assessed.
Additional[]
1963 - sold by a museum in Brussels, Belgium to a Mr. George Bannister of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The mummy was declared an ancient artifact (not human remains) by a Belgian judge to satisfy export laws.
1963-1974 - part of the Bannister Family collection in Ottawa.
1974 - moved to the MacSkimming Natural Science School in Ottawa, part of the Carlton School Board, following her donation to the board by Mrs. Dorothy Valliant (nee Bannister) on behalf of the Bannister Family estate.
1974-1999 - part of the MacSkimming Natural Science School. In the period between 1974 and 1983, some 225,000 school children visited the Natural Science School.
May 1999 - loaned to the Canadian Museum of Civilization for the traveling exhibit "Mysteries of Egypt". Preparation for the exhibit involved 71.5 hours of stabilization/consolidation of the mummy at the Canadian Conservation Institute, as well as radiocarbon (C-14) dating of her coffin.
June 1, 1999 - March 11, 2001 - part of a traveling exhibit. Venues included Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Macon, and Calgary. Over the course of the tour, an estimated 500,000 to 750,000 people saw the exhibit.
October 30, 2001 - transferred from the Canadian Museum of Civilization to the Royal Ontario Museum.
May 3, 2003 - transferred to the University of Western Ontario's Department of Anthropology.