Art inspired by Egyptian child mummy on display in London (ox.ac.uk) 

"An Egyptian mummy of an infant boy has been loaned by Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum to be displayed in an art exhibition inspired by his death 2000 years ago. Angela Palmer’s exhibition Unravelled is unique because of the highly unusual techniques that she has developed over the past few years. In July 2006, Angela put the mummy through a CT scanner at the MRI unit of the John Radcliffe Hospital to find out what was under the bandages. Little was known about the 3ft mummy before the scans. It was excavated by a British archaeologist in 1888 and housed in the Ashmolean Museum. However, after the scanning it was discovered to be a boy aged between four and seven and radiologists are still studying the cause of his death. The project combines art, medical science and archaeology: it is a collaboration between Oxford University medical scientists who are also radiographers at the John Radcliffe hospital; the University's Ashmolean Museum; and Angela Palmer, who has created a glass artwork based on the scan. The inspiration for Ms Palmer’s work came from the Nobel Laureate Dorothy Hodgkin, who in the mid 1940s drew the contour images of the penicillin molecule on separate horizontal sheets of Perspex to create a 3D representation. Ms Palmer, who lives in Oxford, realized that if she drew slices of the head and body on multiple sheets of glass and presented them on a vertical plane she could create a three-dimensional work showing the internal architecture of the human form...."

See the exhibit catalog: PDF

Woman's mummy displayed quietly in Ho Chi Minh City (thanhniennews.com) 

After complaints, Manchester Museum's Egyptian mummies are covered during Lindow Man exhibit (telegraph.co.uk) 

"One exhibit, the mummified remains of Asru, a chantress at the Temple of Amun in Karnak, has been seen unwrapped for 120 years. But now, along with the partially-wrapped male mummy of Khary and a child mummy, it is being covered after calls for more respect and dignity to be shown to the ancient remains at Manchester Museum. They will stay covered from head-to-toe during a consultation period, during which the museum in Oxford Road, Manchester, is asking for the public's views. Critics have branded the decision 'politically correct rubbish' that will make the museum a 'laughing stock'. The museum's collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts is world renowned and one of the largest in Britain...."

Shawnee museum moves Egyptian mummy to Idabel for exhibit (newsok.com) 

"Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art officials were making final plans Monday to use a hearse to move a 2,300-year-old mummy to the Museum of the Red River in Idabel. "She's definitely the oldest person we've ever moved,” said Kelly Carter, funeral director for the Conley-White Funeral Home in Idabel. "We'll treat her with the same level of high respect as any other deceased person we move — that's our business,” she said. The mummy is being loaned for free to the Idabel museum and will remain there until July, said Dalaynna Trim, curator of the Mabee-Gerrer. She is one of two female mummies collected during the world travels of the Rev. Gregory Gerrer, who after his ordination into the priesthood in 1900, was sent to Rome to study art. He later returned to Oklahoma, bringing his collection with him. By 1942, he had collected more than 1,600 pieces of art, Trim said. Trim said the Egyptian mummy is from the Ptolemaic Dynasty (400-300 B.C.). She said the hieroglyphics on her sarcophagus have not been translated so her name is unknown...."

Mütter Museum's "Soap Lady" gets a check up to discover her 130-year-old secrets (philly.com) 

It's one of those days!

Zagreb, Croatia: Mummified body of woman found in apartment 35 years after her death (cnn.com) 

"Governments have changed. War erupted and ended. Neighbors had children, and then grandchildren. But Hedviga Golik never left her tiny apartment in Croatia's capital -- until her mummified body was carried out this week, 35 years after she died. Police said Friday that no one ever reported Golik missing and no one has come to claim her body. Residents of her loft building in downtown Zagreb had broken into Golik's flat after deciding that the apartment should belong to them, and not to her. Startled by the remains in bed, they called police. Forensics experts said Golik likely died in 1973, about the time a neighbor last saw her. Expert Davor Strinovic said she seemed to have died of natural causes, but "it's almost impossible to say for certain" after so much time. Some of Golik's neighbors claimed she had talked about going abroad. Experts said her windows had been open, likely diminishing the smell. It remained unclear who -- if anyone -- was paying her bills and who exactly owned the apartment. In the 1970s, when Golik died, apartments were state-owned. Neighbors now argue the apartment should be divided among the remaining tenants. The discovery of Golik's body on Tuesday prompted media debates on how it is possible for a woman to die so long ago without anyone noticing. One local journalist said it showed people were becoming more alienated. "My dear neighbors! Please keep on being curious and a bit tiresome, as you have been so far," Merita Arslani wrote in the Jutarnji list daily...." 

Putney, England: Mummified body of man found on toilet in apartment 18 months years after his death (epsomguardian.co.uk) 

"The mummified body of an elderly man was found on the toilet in his council flat - up to a year and a half after he died, an inquest has heard. Wandsworth Council's system was called into question as Westminster coroner Dr Paul Knapman asked why no one noticed Kenneth Barker's death sooner. Police discovered the 62-year-old's corpse, along with that of his decomposed cat, at his home in Carslake Road, Putney, in February after a neighbor reported a bad smell. Mr Barker had not paid rent since October 2006, but council officials had not checked whether he was still alive. An earlier hearing heard grim details of the body's mummified condition...."

Harlech, Wales: Mummified body of man found in bed three months after his death (bbc.co.uk) 

"The case of a man, 57, who lay dead in his bed for three months was a "sad reflection" on society, a coroner has said. It was only after the owner of his rented property in Harlech, Gwynedd raised the alarm, that police discovered Ian Barclay's body. Dolgellau Coroners Court heard how the cause of Mr Barclay's death could not be found during the post mortem test. Coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones recorded an open verdict on Mr Barclay's death. The coroner said: "It is a sad reflection on an uncaring society that a man was lying dead in his bed for three months and rotting away when no-one showed any concern or made any enquires about him...."

Huge Egyptian exhibit set to open in Athens (canadianpress.google.com) 

Four salt mummies find permanent home in Zanjan Archaeology Museum (payvand.com) 

"The four salt men kept at the Rakhtshuikhaneh Museum in Zanjan have found a permanent home in the Zolfaqari House of the province. The salt men were placed inside windows of hygroscopic glass at the Zolfaqari House which has recently become the Zanjan Archaeology Museum, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday. Over the past decade, six salt men have been unearthed at the Chehrabad Salt Mine located in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan, Iran. "The first phase of the project is completed now despite the insufficient funding for renovation of the Zolfaqari House and the four salt men are transferred to the museum," head of the Archaeological team at the mine Abolfazl Aali told CHN. He added, "Except the First Salt Man which is on display at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, the other four are put on display at this museum." Aali also explained that the Fourth Salt Man has remained intact compared to the other ones, adding, "Before transferring the salt men, samples of the fourth one was submitted to Britain for additional studies." Studies on the Fourth Salt Man indicate that the body is 2000 years old and that he was 15 or 16 years old at the time of death. The Sixth Salt Man was left in-situ due to the dearth of equipment necessary for its preservation. It is still not clear when the other salt men lived, but archaeologists estimate that the First Salt Man lived about 1700 years ago. He is believed to have died sometime between the ages of 35 and 40...."

Professors to analyze Akhenaten and unknown museum mummy at Historical Clinicopatholoical Conference (baltimoresun.com) 

"Who will speak for the pharaoh Akhenaten, the builder of temples and cities who reigned over ancient Egypt 2,400 years ago? Who will explain his oddly shaped head, sunken eyes, pendulous breasts and a belly that made him look pregnant? That would be Irwin M. Braverman. The Yale medical school dermatology professor will address a University of Maryland medical school conference today on the genetic disorders that might have determined Akhaenaten's strange appearance. He has spent months pouring over images of Akhenaten and come up with a theory about the teenage pharaoh's peculiarities. "I think it's very exciting," he said. Braverman's forum is the Maryland's 14th annual Historical Clinicopatholoical Conference, held each year to diagnose disorders that afflicted prominent historical figures. The conference, open to the public, is designed to spark interest in pathology and encourage doctors to enhance their powers of observation when they diagnose disorders, according Dr. Philip Mackowiak, the UM professor who organizes the conference.... Dr. Barry Daly, a professor of diagnostic radiology at the medical school, will speak tomorrow about CT scans conducted on a mummy brought to University of Maryland Medical Center from the Walters Art Museum on March 18. Scientists are still evaluating the scans, but so far they appear to show the mummy was a woman between 40 and 60, and not a young girl as they once thought, said Regine Schulz, the Walters' curator of ancient art and director of international curatorial relations...."

Braverman's theory about Akhenaten can be tested with help of Egyptologists and DNA analysis of mummy (dailymail.co.uk) 

"One of ancient Egypt's greatest kings had a strikingly feminine body shape even though he fathered at least half a dozen children possibly including Tutankhamun. Images of Akhenaten, who introduced monotheism to Egypt and died more than 33 centuries ago, suggest that the pharaoh had breasts and wide hips were due to a genetic disorder, scientists were told today. The pharoah's female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused his body to convert an excessive number of its male hormones to female hormones, Dr. Irwin Braverman was due to tell a conference on the deaths of historic figures. Akhenaten's head was also misshapen - because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age. The husband of famous queen Nefertiti, Akhenaten was Tutankhamun's predecessor on the throne of Egypt in the mid-1300s B.C. - and either his father or his uncle. Dr. Braverman, from Yale University, analysed statues and carvings of Akhenaten for the annual conference at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The pharaoh had "an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters," the physician said.... This was largely due to familial gynecomastia, a hereditary condition that leads to the overproduction of oestrogen, he said.... Dr. Braverman said determining whether he is right could easily be done if Egyptologists can confirm which mummy is Akhenaten's and if the Egyptian government agrees to DNA analysis on the remains.  " 

The 8,000 Capuchin mummies of Palermo and their crypt to get makeover (telegraph.co.uk) 

"The eerie catacombs were constructed after the death of Silvestro of Gubbio, a famous 16th century monk. Four long limestone corridors underneath the Capuchin Church hold the mummies, hung from hooks by their necks and feet and wearing their best clothes. Dozens of long-dead infants, still in their baby clothes, line one hall, and many of the mummies have been posed, their heads bent in prayer. It has been rumored that the body of Velasquez, the Spanish painter, is somewhere in the catacombs. However, the Capuchin friars have never attempted any sort of restoration of the site, beyond fitting a simple set of bars to deter vandals. Now they are launching a project, co-funded by the European Union, to conserve the mummies. "This is a major tourist destination, but our facilities are no longer capable of welcoming so many," said Father Calogero Peri. "This is our very rare heritage which we must open up to academics from all over the world," he added. The site will also be fitted with an elevator, a fire alarm system and closed-circuit television cameras, and a glass walkway will lead visitors though the mummies...."

More on the Capuchin mummies (mailonsunday.co.uk)

Preserved dinosaur poop from the Jurassic era sold at NY auction (cnn.com)