| Wenuhotep Human Mummy | |
| |
| Biographical Information | |
|---|---|
| Name(s) | Wenuhotep |
| Age | 685 B.C. |
| Sex | male |
| Status | |
| Height | 5 feet, 2 inches |
| Source | |
| Culture | Egyptian |
| Date(s) | |
| Site | |
| Current Location | |
| Location | Art Institute of Chicago |
| Catalog # | 1893.14 |
The mummy was originally brought to Chicago in 1892 by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, who donated a significant proportion of the museum’s collection of Egyptian antiquities.
In 1941 the mummy was lent to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and then to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum in 1959, where it remained on display until 2007. The mummy was then returned to the Art Institute, and became the focus of a study; the sarcophagus dates to the 26th Dynasty (664–525 BC), the mummification style of the woman’s body, however, is that of the Ptolemaic Period (323–30 BC). The hieroglyphs name the occupant of the sarcophagus as Wenuhotep, but perhaps the body inside is not Wenuhotep.
Mummification[]
The markings on the coffin indicated that it had belonged to Wenuhotep, daughter of the priest Thothhirthaw, and she lived about 685 B.C.
The mummy wore a gold mask and was wrapped in linen.
Studies[]
In November 1967 a portable X-ray seemed to reveal Wenuhotep had been in her late teens when she died, and that she had stood 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighed between 125 and 135 pounds, and had a bracelet on her right wrist.
CT image of the mummy's head
In 1988, using a portable CT scanner, research altered many of the conclusions from the earlier exam: the mummy was most likely 30 to 40 years old when she died, and she stood only 5 feet 2 inches tall.
In 2014, new CT scans were made of the mummy. It turned out that the occupant of Wenuhotep's sarcophagus was not even female. The male un-named occupant was mummified, and the accompanying decoration applied outside of the mummy’s wrappings, showed that he lived during the Ptolemaic Period, about 332–30 BC.
Additional[]
One of a large cache of mummies discovered in an ancient Egyptian burial site by archeologist Emile Brugsch in 1881.
Decorative elements include a mask, a foot cover, and two panels—one covering the torso and the other the legs—decorated with funerary scenes and divine images. Each is fashioned from cartonnage.
External Links[]
https://thehistory.childrensmuseum.org/collections/iconic-objects/mummy-wenuhotep
http://www.artic.edu/blog/2014/02/17/wenuhotep-mystery-mummy
https://www.academia.edu/26535869/Three-dimensional_computed_tomography_of_the_mummy_Wenuhotep