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REVIEW BY ROGER FORSHAW
Frank Holt’s very readable account of Ankh-Hap, a Ptolemaic-era mummy appropriated in the 19th century from a tomb in Egypt, is a unique, informative, and fascinating contribution to the study of ancient Egyptian mummified remains. The narrative provides a salutary example of what occurred to many mummies in the 19th century: trafficked to America, displayed in travelling shows, broken up into parts, and sold to souvenir-hunters. The tragic mistreatment of ancient Egyptian human remains at that time was done merely to serve a wide range of commercial agendas. The sheer number of mummies that were present in ancient Egypt is sometimes hard to envisage: it has been roughly estimated that there were originally 8-10 million mummified bodies in the vast necropolis of Thebes alone – how many remain today?
The story begins with Holt coming across a relatively unknown mummy (Ankh-Hap) at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in the USA. With a team of dedicated volunteers, he conducted a careful, non-invasive scientific investigation of the very poorly preserved remains. A physical examination of the exposed parts of the mummy and a CT scan of the remains revealed Ankh-Hap to be a male who had survived a bout of anaemia as a child, displayed some evidence of arthritis later in life, and died probably in his late thirties. Although there was no indication of ancient parasites or insects within the remains, there was evidence of modern infestation by wasps. At some point, the body was rigged with a wooden support system, probably added to facilitate its public display.
Holt followed up the scientific investigation with meticulous archival detective work spread over many years, researching the history of Ankh-Hap within the larger context and forgotten world of mummy-trafficking in 19th-century America. An American entrepreneur named Henry Augustus Ward, brought Ankh-Hap to America. Ward had set up a company trading in mummies and mummy parts in Rochester, New York, one of a number of such operations in the USA at that time. Ward’s shelves were stocked with mummies, coffins, and ancient body parts such as mummies’ heads ($10 each), legs ($4 each), and arms ($5 each). Customers could piece together their own ‘mummy’ with authentic wrappings and amulets, which were sold separately. Ward later sold Ankh-Hap, who passed through a number of hands, at one point being exhibited as a spectacle in shows and shop windows, before finally reaching the safety of the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 1970.
The book offers readers a rare glimpse inside a dark chapter of mummy history, and provides a salutary example of what many mummies endured at that time.
A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits
by Frank L Holt
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2024
ISBN 978-0-19769-404-6
HARDBACK, £16.99
