Ancient Egyptian mummified head and neck
Date
251 BC-201 BC
Description
The Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology has two specimens of Ancient Egyptian origin; a head and a hand (516-500390). The mummified head comprises the skull, mandible and cervical vertebrae 1-6. Linen samples from the specimen have been dated to 250-200 BCE, and places this specimen in the Ptolemaic period (305 – 30 BCE) of Ancient Egypt. Based on the level of fusion of the sphenoid and occipital bones in the skull, and sexually dimorphic features of the cranium, the head is thought to be from an 18-25-year-old woman. Although these details are consistent with the museum’s mummified hand specimen, it is unknown if it is derived from the same person. Provenance has not been recorded, but it is probable both Ancient Egyptian remains came into the collection via Frederic Wood Jones, head of the University’s Anatomy Department in the 1930s. In 1907, Wood Jones worked with Australian-born anatomist Grafton Eliot Smith on a survey of archaeological sites in Egypt prior to flooding associated with the development of the Aswan Dam.
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Object detail
96 mm – maximum width of base profile
(neck and upper vertebrae)
159 mm – width (maximum dimension)
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