DOI Artikel:
Smith, Grafton Elliot: A contribution to the study of mummification in Egypt: with special reference to the measures adopted during the time of the 21st dynasty for moulding the form of the body
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11325#0043
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body packed tightly in sawdust or coarser fragments of wood a
large part of the abdomen and the pelvis still remained without
any organs. This région was then tightly stufîed with sawdust
and the opening in the left flank was then closed. This was
done in two of my séries of cases by bringing the edges of skin
together and sewing up the opening with a continuons running
thread : in ail of the rest the wound was allowed to gape and no
attempt was made to bring its edges together. In most cases the
flank incision was covered over by a plate—sometimes wax, some-
times métal—bearing the conventional eye-design. This plate was
often carved with great care (Pl. XIX, figure 3) but in other
cases the wax was merely scratched in a very rough manner.
In none of the mummies of the earlier period (ie. those of the
new Empire) have I seen plates bearing the eye-design used for
this purpose—in some of the royal mummies, as also in that of
Yuaa there was a leaf-shaped plate of gold covering the flank -
incision.
In most of the mummies of the 21st dynasty the whole surface
of the body was painted—in the case of the women yellow, in
the case of the men sometimes red but at other times yellow.
Dr. Schmidt analysed some of the yellow paint and found it to
be a mixture of chrome yellow and gum.
In several cases in which the mummies of men were not painted
red a sheet of red linen was wrapped around the body external
to the innermost layer of circular bandages.
Most of the mummies in wThich this curious packing and
moulding of the form have been found belong to the period of the
21st dynasty. In the brief sketch of the finding of thèse mummies
given by M. Maspero in his "Guide au visiteur" (op. cit. supra)
it is stated that the style of the cofiins indicates the time as
being that of the 21st and 22nd dynasties (p. 142). In the
mummy of a Chanteuse d'Ammon named Tentamout unrolled at
5
body packed tightly in sawdust or coarser fragments of wood a
large part of the abdomen and the pelvis still remained without
any organs. This région was then tightly stufîed with sawdust
and the opening in the left flank was then closed. This was
done in two of my séries of cases by bringing the edges of skin
together and sewing up the opening with a continuons running
thread : in ail of the rest the wound was allowed to gape and no
attempt was made to bring its edges together. In most cases the
flank incision was covered over by a plate—sometimes wax, some-
times métal—bearing the conventional eye-design. This plate was
often carved with great care (Pl. XIX, figure 3) but in other
cases the wax was merely scratched in a very rough manner.
In none of the mummies of the earlier period (ie. those of the
new Empire) have I seen plates bearing the eye-design used for
this purpose—in some of the royal mummies, as also in that of
Yuaa there was a leaf-shaped plate of gold covering the flank -
incision.
In most of the mummies of the 21st dynasty the whole surface
of the body was painted—in the case of the women yellow, in
the case of the men sometimes red but at other times yellow.
Dr. Schmidt analysed some of the yellow paint and found it to
be a mixture of chrome yellow and gum.
In several cases in which the mummies of men were not painted
red a sheet of red linen was wrapped around the body external
to the innermost layer of circular bandages.
Most of the mummies in wThich this curious packing and
moulding of the form have been found belong to the period of the
21st dynasty. In the brief sketch of the finding of thèse mummies
given by M. Maspero in his "Guide au visiteur" (op. cit. supra)
it is stated that the style of the cofiins indicates the time as
being that of the 21st and 22nd dynasties (p. 142). In the
mummy of a Chanteuse d'Ammon named Tentamout unrolled at
5