June 22, 2000
Burke Museum prepares to conserve, stabilize ‘Nellie’ the mummy
At the turn of the 20th century it was common for museums in the Western world to have broad collections including mummies. So it wasn’t that unusual when banker and University of Washington regent Manson Backus purchased a mummy and a non-related mummy case in Egypt in 1902 and had them shipped to the UW’s campus museum now called the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Backus purchased both items from the National Museum of Egyptian Antiquities at Giza and donated them to the Burke. The mummy was unearthed at Fayum, Egypt, and is believed to be the remains of an unknown adolescent woman. She lived during the Ptolemaic period, 305-34 B.C., which concluded at the end of Cleopatra’s reign. The woman is thought to have belonged to a wealthy family because of the embalming materials and elaborate linen wrappings used to preserve her body.
The 6-foot-long mummy case is about 1,000 years older, coming from the XXI Dynasty and was originally found in Thebes. Its occupant lived several hundred years after King Tut. The mummy case is made of sycamore and was painted with white stucco to provide a good surface for decoration. It is covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions and decorations referring to a number of gods and goddesses.
Over the years, the mummy became a popular attraction at the Burke and acquired the nickname of “Nellie,” apparently after Nellie Cornish, founder of Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. Nearly a century in the Northwest environment combined with the less than perfect embalming techniques on this mummy have taken their toll on the condition of the mummy and the mummy case, prompting the current effort to stabilize and conserve both items.
The conservation project was made possible by a group of friends of the Backus family who raised more than $27,000 last year and presented the money as a gift in the name of octogenarian Frany Backus. Backus was married to Manson Backus’ grandson. Before the mummy can be treated, the conservator needs to better determine the extent of the mummy’s deterioration. Next Monday’s CT scan at the University of Washington Medical Center, under the direction of radiology professor Dr. Udo Schmiedl, is expected to provide a clearer picture of Nellie’s physical condition.
Laura Phillips, the Burke’s archaeology collections manager, said the mummy has only been examined to any extent, in 1916 and 1962. F.S. Hall, the Burke curator and director, examined the mummy in 1916 and partially removed some of the deteriorated linen wrappings covering its back. Hall also removed several water lily bulbs that were found wrapped inside the mummy’s chest cavity. Water lily bulbs, symbolizing immortality, often were buried with mummies. A number of bones, including some vertebrae, also were removed from the mummy, but Phillips said it is not certain when this occurred.
“We have some bones that were removed from the mummy, but until we do the CT scan, we have no way of knowing how many bones remain wrapped in the linens,” she said
The 1962 examination was conducted by archaeologist Kent Weeks, discoverer of a vast complex of tombs belonging to the sons of Pharaoh Ramses II in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Weeks was a UW undergraduate in 1962, and only conducted an exterior examination of Nellie and the mummy case. According to Weeks, the mummy is a fine example of poor preparation and mummification.
Phillips said the mummy is currently in poor condition, adding that “it was likely in poor condition when it arrived in 1902 and the 1916 investigation may have exacerbated the condition, as did its public display.”
Linda Roundhill, owner of Arts and Antiquities Conservation in Woodinville, will do the actual conservation of the mummy and mummy case. Roundhill said her primary goals are “to understand what has been done to the mummy in the past and then determine what needs to be done to preserve it for the future.” Roundhill is a graduate of the University of London conservation program and is an experienced conservator who has worked with artifacts from a variety of cultures and time periods.
The CT scan will help her understand the extent of damage to the interior of the mummy from the 1916 examination. In addition, the scan is expected to help answer several questions about the mummy’s exposed feet, which are loose and are supported by metal posts. Roundhill said the feet are probably not original and appear to be made of plaster of Paris. Internal examination is required to determine exactly what has been done to the feet and what course of treatment will be necessary.
Conservation of the mummy case is expected to be more time consuming than the work on the mummy. Roundhill said stabilizing the case will be long and involved because it is physically unstable and the condition of the painted surface is very poor in places. The conservation project also includes the construction of new environmentally appropriate storage and display cases for the mummy and mummy case.
The CT scan also may provide some evidence to help answer several intriguing questions – the sex and approximate age of Nellie. Burke archaeologists can’t say with absolute certainty if Nellie was an adolescent female, as she was described when Manson Backus purchased her.
The CT scan also may provide interesting forensic clues to the health history of the mummy, as well as any physical conditions that might have led to Nellie’s death.
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For more information about the efforts to conserve the mummy contact:
Phillips at (206) 685-3849 or lphill@u.washington.edu
Roundhill at (425) 481-0720 or artconserv@jps.net
For more information about CT scan of the mummy contact:
Schmiedl at (206) 543-2739 or udo@u.washington.edu2
