Issue No. 599
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15 - 21 August 2002 Issue No. 599 Heritage |
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Mummies in Chile
"Do you know that we have an Egyptian mummy in Chile?" The question was posed by Samuel Fernandez Illanes, the Chilean ambassador to Egypt, whom I met this week along with the embassy's commercial attaché Roberto Abu Eid (who originally came from Palestine) and Samir Shoman, Egypt's ambassador to Chile. "No," I responded, "I didn't know that," and he proceeded to tell me that Chile was the first South American country to open diplomatic relations with Egypt during the reign of King Farouk.
"At that time Egypt gave the mummy as a gift to Chile," he said. "No one knows anything about it but it could be used to create wonderful publicity for both Egypt and Chile."
I wholeheartedly agreed, and recommended that we mount an exhibition entitled "Mummies: Magic and Secrets" -- the title alone would intrigue everyone.
We discussed the fact that mummies excite interest, but agreed that the exhibition should be both educational and entertaining and should encompass much more than mummies. I suggested that we could show the development of Egyptian tombs from the predynastic period about 4000 BC to the New Kingdom in 1550 BC, and that the model of a predynastic tomb could display a skeleton in the foetal position with some examples of contemporary pottery. Other models could be of private and royal tombs of the First Dynasty, showing those based on private tombs at Saqqara and the royal tombs at Abydos.
I explained that this would give us an opportunity to present the new discoveries at Abydos made by Gunter Dreyer, the director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. His findings show the Egyptians had writing skills even as far back as 150 years before the historical period began about 3000 BC. Dreyer also confirmed that Djoser, the owner of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, was the first Pharaoh of the Third Dynasty. He based this hypothesis on the discovery of his name inside the tombs of his father Khasekhemwy, the last Pharaoh of the Second Dynasty. He was also able to confirm that the Abydos tombs were royal tombs.
I suggested that the models and plans at the exhibition should give details of pyramid construction and show how the design developed from the mastaba-style to the step pyramid, and finally to the true pyramid. Scenes of daily life inside the private tombs could illustrate the ancient Egyptian concept of the ideal afterlife.
The main section of such an exhibition would, of course, cover mummification, the ancient Egyptian art of preserving the body in the belief this was necessary so it could be a permanent home for the ba (soul) of the deceased, and that he or she would live happily in the "Field of Iaru", the ancient Egyptian concept of Paradise. Finally, the exhibition would provide the background to the story of the Chilean mummy and how it ended up on the other side of the Atlantic. I suggested that Mahmoud Mabrouk would be best qualified to design such an exhibition, since he would bring ancient Egypt to life. Indeed, if we believe in reincarnation, we might imagine that Mabrouk was an artist in ancient times.
I have seen two exhibitions about mummies in the United States. The first was in the University Museum when I was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. David O'Connor and David Silverman arranged that wonderful show with mummies purchased by the museum from a private collection.
X-ray examination of two of these mummies revealed that the deceased had suffered from bilharzia. This disease, common in the agricultural areas of the Nile Valley, may have been the reason why the average age of the commoner in ancient times was only 35 to 40 years. By contrast, analysis of skeletons and mummies of noblemen found at Giza shows their average age was 50 to 60 years. Dr Moamena Kamel of Cairo University carried out a study on the bones of the workmen who were the pyramid builders and found that most suffered from bilharzia.
The other exhibition was arranged by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and this collection afterwards travelled to many different cities in the US. I attended the opening at the Natural History Museum in Denver, Colorado. Barbara Stone, the curator at that time, remarked that she had never imagined Egyptian mummies would have such a magical attraction.
I have never been in doubt that they do. I feel we have a lot to learn about Egypt's ancient culture from mummies, and I told the Chilean ambassador that I looked forward to seeing the exhibition in his country with the royal gift from Egypt as its focal point.
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