Mummy Day Success




The Mummy Day Team, from left to right, Claire Gilmour, Gemma Kirkland, Samantha Sportun, Caroline Wilkinson and Lidija McKnight, and in front, Mark Hall, the Museum's History Officer.

On the 7th June the Museum hosted a gathering of experts and devotees to share the latest results on the Perth Museum Mummy. We called the day Ta-Kr-Hb Tales in honour of the Mummy and an enthusiastic audience listened to and questioned our five speakers on various aspects of the Mummy’s story. In the morning we heard from Lidija McKnight about the on-going analysis led by the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at Manchester University (including updates on her condition and health), Claire Gilmour (Glasgow University and Egyptology Scotland) about the meanings of ancient Egyptian coffins and Gemma Kirkland (our MGS Intern) who has catalogued the Egyptology collection here at the Museum. In her capacity as President of Egyptology Scotland, Claire also presented the Museum with a cheque for £245 as a contribution to the Mummy fund-raising campaign. Before lunch we then had a session in front of the Mummy with the speakers so that the audience could ask further questions and share their enthusiasm. After lunch we heard a further two papers. The first was given by Samantha Sportun (Manchester Museum, University of Manchester) on the conservation context and challenges facing the Mummy and the second was a look at a key aspect of her future interpretation: a facial reconstruction. We were led through this by one of our foremost authorities on such facial anthropology, Caroline Wilkinson (Dundee University). The day concluded with a wide-ranging discussion and a final chance to see the Mummy before she goes back into storage until her conservation treatment has taken place.