Mummy of Seti I
The royal mummy of Seti I was buried in an elegant alabaster sarcophagus in his tomb (KV17) in the Valley of the Kings, West Thebes. His mummy was later moved to the Deir el-Bahari Cachette (DB320). Although the mummy’s skull was separated from the body by tomb-robbers, the head is still well preserved; the body, however, is in poor condition.
From an examination of Seti’s extremely well-preserved mummy, Seti I appears to have been less than forty years old when he died unexpectedly. The reasons for his relatively early death are uncertain, but there is no evidence of violence on his mummy.
An X-ray scan reveals that the left side of his chest was stuffed with hard black masses of resin-impregnated linen and the king still wears an amulet on his left arm. The mummy’s skin was brown when it was first uncovered in 1886.
His huge alabaster sarcophagus, carved in one piece and intricately decorated on every surface (including the goddess Nut on the interior base), is in Sir John Soane’s Museum.
New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Seti I, ca. 1290-1279 BC. Now in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), Cairo. JE 26213
