From Princess to Prince
Thursday, October 25, 2007
When an international team of forensic experts and Egyptologists recently finished its study of the Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s 2,300-year-old mummy, they knew a few things for certain.
Paramount was that the once-vaunted “Princess of Thebes” had to be changed to “Prince.” She, it turns out, is a he. According to LSU forensic anthropologist Mary Manhein, her team examined X-rays of the pelvic region to determine the sex, as well as the back of the mandible. Our mummy’s flared out, which, along with never asking for directions, is a tell tale sign of maleness.
In the interest of biography, the Ptolemaic-period Egyptian was discovered near Thebes on the Nile, and given to LASM in 1964. He stood 5 feet 6 inches, weighed about 130 pounds, and was between 25 and 30 years old at the time of death, which may have been caused by a crushing blow to the thorax because several of his ribs are fractured. Because his body was preserved naturally in the desert heat for an extended period before he was officially mummified, 225 likes to think he was a cunning warrior who died valiantly in a fierce battle far from home and was carried on a stretcher back to Thebes by a grieving band of brothers.
To preserve the mummy, LASM keeps his tomb in the Egyptian exhibit at 70 degrees and 55% humidity. A hygrothermograph, checked daily, is kept inside the tomb to record any fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Here, 225 reviews the mummy’s funerary style.
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