| Minirdis Human Mummy | |
| |
| Biographical Information | |
|---|---|
| Name(s) | Minirdis |
| Age | 14 |
| Sex | Male |
| Status | Son of Stolist Priest Inaros |
| Height | Unknown |
| Source | |
| Culture | Unknown |
| Date(s) | 500 BC |
| Site | Akhmim, located about 300 miles south of Cairo on the Nile |
| Current Location | |
| Location | Chicago’s Field Museum |
| Catalog # | Unknown |
An ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, from the Akhmim cemetery, on the east side of the Nile in Upper Egypt, yielded the gold-painted, lavishly decorated sarcophagus was acquired by Chicago’s Field Museum in 1925 from the Chicago Historical Society. According to the inscription on the coffin, the boy was named Minirdis. He was the son of Inaros, the hereditary stolist priest of Min, the Egyptian fertility god. Akhmim was one of ancient Egypt’s greatest cities and an important center of worship of Min.
As a stolist priest, Minirdis’s father was a powerful individual who was responsible for ritually washing and clothing the statue of the god.
Mummification[]
The burial mask and the blackened toes are the only visible part of the mummy. The rest of the teenage body remained wrapped in a yellowing embalming cloth.
Studies[]
Scans showed that the mummy was that of a boy, between 13 and 14 years old. Some time after the mummy was wrapped, it had slid down the coffin - perhapsomeone tried to stand the coffin upright - causing damage. The mummy’s legs had broken at the knees and the feet had fallen off. One of his heel bones had come off and had moved up and under his legs, pinning them up against the lid of the coffin. The cartonnage mask and panels had been dragged down to the left side, and his mask had rotated, and been partly crushed.
Pathology[]
Why Minirdis died so young is unknown.
According to Brown, he likely succumbed to some infectious disease or an organ failure. No evidence of malnutrition or disease is visible in the CT scan.
References[]
http://www.seeker.com/2500-year-old-mummy-of-teenage-boy-revealed-1769363054.html?slide=YfDjJi