In a case of potential mistaken mummy identity, scientists uncover clues
You know how clothing stores prop up mannequins in windows, showing off the fashionable goods they have to offer? That might be the explanation behind a case of mistaken mummy identity.
During a trip to Egypt in the late 1850s, Sir Charles Nicholson an English Australian antiquarian, university founder and philanthropist bought a mummified body, coffin and mummy board, which he donated to the University of Sydney in 1860, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
The mummy was a socially esteemed woman named Meruah, according to the coffin inscription that dates back to around 1000 BC. A separate group of researchers discovered the coffin’s age in 1988.