Mummy of an adult man

Mummy of an adult man, name unknown. The preparation has been carried out with great care and skill by the embalmer, and the rounded and shapely contours of a living body have been skillfully imitated.

The features of the face are painted upon the outermost wrappings. The fingers and toes are each wrapped separately; the forearms have a series of bandages applied in geometric patterns. The nipples, finger-nails and toe-nails are all gilded; a lotus flower has been painted on each knee. A waistband, armlets and anklets are decorated with plaited cordage and cross straps of similar material pass behind the neck and across the abdomen and thighs.

Skull – From the appearance of the nasal region, it may be deduced that the brain has been removed through the nostrils. The face and nose have been modelled in resin-soaked linen, and the nose unusually assumes its prominent form. Part of the skull is obscured, but there are obvious fractures, and the cervical spine is intact. Severe dental disease, with teeth missing and several abscesses.

Thorax and Abdomen – The thoracic upper aones have been packed with a dense homogeneous mass which is probably sand, mud and resin. A similar mass occupies the pelvis. The masses are inside the body-cavity. Between these masses are four dense cylindrical opacities. Two are in the lower part of the right hemithorax and one is lying horizontally above the pelvic filling. Just below the two objects in the right hemithorax is a less dense cylindrical object and in the left flank a similar but larger mass. The material used to accentuate the breasts is shown as a granular opacity in both mammary areas.

Arms – Extended at the sides of the body, the hands with extended fingers in contact with the outer aspect of the thighs. Legs – The menisci are opaque; otherwise the limbs are normal.

Roman Period, ca. 30 BC-395 CE. Now in the British Museum. EA6704