Post-mortem restorations in ancient Egyptian animal mummies using imaging

Abstract

Animal mummy bundles in museum collections are evaluated through the application of imaging and are categorised as true, those containing skeletal remains, and pseudo, those containing non-skeletal remains. True mummies exhibited a variety of compositions, and frequently contained less than one complete individual despite the external appearance; an explanation for which has been ancient forgery. The analysis of animal mummy bundles in the Ancient Egyptian Animal Bio Bank, University of Manchester, suggested that in some instances this explanation may be inaccurate. This paper discusses nine mummy bundles, which displayed a variety of post-mortem modifications interpreted in two ways: the necessity for physical completion and the concept of the mummy bundle (rather than the content) as the primary representation of the deceased.