The F.B.I. and the Mystery of the Mummy’s Head
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:28 am
The F.B.I. and the Mystery of the Mummy’s Head
A museum wasn’t sure whose head they had put on display. That’s when the F.B.I.’s forensic scientists were called in to crack the agency’s oldest case.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
April 2, 2018
In 1915, a team of American archaeologists excavating the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Deir el-Bersha blasted into a hidden tomb. Inside the cramped limestone chamber, they were greeted by a gruesome sight: a mummy’s severed head perched on a cedar coffin.
The room, which the researchers labeled Tomb 10A, was the final resting place for a governor named Djehutynakht (pronounced “juh-HOO-tuh-knocked”) and his wife. At some point during the couple’s 4,000-year-long slumber, grave robbers ransacked their burial chamber and plundered its gold and jewels. The looters tossed a headless, limbless mummified torso into a corner before attempting to set the room on fire to cover their tracks.
The archaeologists went on to recover painted coffins and wooden figurines that survived the raid and sent them to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1921. Most of the collection stayed in storage until 2009 when the museum exhibited them. Though the torso remained in Egypt, the decapitated head became the star of the showcase. With its painted-on eyebrows, somber expression and wavy brown hair peeking through its tattered bandages, the mummy’s noggin brought viewers face-to-face with a mystery.
Image
In 1915, workers with an expedition sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Harvard University opened an entrance to Tomb 10A, where the severed head of Djehutynakht was found.CreditMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston
“The head had been found on the governor’s coffin but we were never sure if it was his head or her head,” said Rita Freed, a curator at the museum.
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The museum staff concluded only a DNA test would determine whether they had put Mr. or Mrs. Djehutynakht on display.
“The problem was that at the time in 2009 there had been no successful extraction of DNA from a mummy that was 4,000-years-old,” said Dr. Freed.
The rest, with photos, here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/scie ... i-dna.html
A museum wasn’t sure whose head they had put on display. That’s when the F.B.I.’s forensic scientists were called in to crack the agency’s oldest case.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
April 2, 2018
In 1915, a team of American archaeologists excavating the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Deir el-Bersha blasted into a hidden tomb. Inside the cramped limestone chamber, they were greeted by a gruesome sight: a mummy’s severed head perched on a cedar coffin.
The room, which the researchers labeled Tomb 10A, was the final resting place for a governor named Djehutynakht (pronounced “juh-HOO-tuh-knocked”) and his wife. At some point during the couple’s 4,000-year-long slumber, grave robbers ransacked their burial chamber and plundered its gold and jewels. The looters tossed a headless, limbless mummified torso into a corner before attempting to set the room on fire to cover their tracks.
The archaeologists went on to recover painted coffins and wooden figurines that survived the raid and sent them to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1921. Most of the collection stayed in storage until 2009 when the museum exhibited them. Though the torso remained in Egypt, the decapitated head became the star of the showcase. With its painted-on eyebrows, somber expression and wavy brown hair peeking through its tattered bandages, the mummy’s noggin brought viewers face-to-face with a mystery.
Image
In 1915, workers with an expedition sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Harvard University opened an entrance to Tomb 10A, where the severed head of Djehutynakht was found.CreditMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston
“The head had been found on the governor’s coffin but we were never sure if it was his head or her head,” said Rita Freed, a curator at the museum.
ADVERTISEMENT
The museum staff concluded only a DNA test would determine whether they had put Mr. or Mrs. Djehutynakht on display.
“The problem was that at the time in 2009 there had been no successful extraction of DNA from a mummy that was 4,000-years-old,” said Dr. Freed.
The rest, with photos, here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/scie ... i-dna.html