The Mummy Boy in Leiden

For the past fifteen years, he has been one of the highlights of the Egyptian collection in Leiden, the Netherlands. He is AMM 27c, dates from the Graeco-Roman period and has an incision in his stomach. Provenance: Egypt.

He is also a small child, a boy, and died when he was around six years old, and one of the museum objects that has been fascinating the public the most. Whenever I give tours at the museum, the children's eyes light up when I ask them "who's ready to see some mummies?!". Every group always asks me "what is his name?", as the children are trying to identify with him, saying he's quite small for a 6-year-old, and much smaller than their brother or sister.

This boy is more than just a museum object, and the fact that he is an unwrapped six year old boy has caused the curators to decide he will not be back on display after the reopening of the museum, a decision I fully support.

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Lonneke is a MA student in Egyptology in Leiden, where she studies horses in ancient Egypt (she's on her way to becoming quite the expert!) and is also interested in museum ethics related to Egyptology collections. She is starting an internship at the Museo Egizio in Turin this January and has previously worked as a guide at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and is the President of the Association for Students of Egyptology.

Read the museum webpage on this specific mummy here: http://www.rmo.nl/collectie/zoeken?object=AMM+27c Find out more about the Association for Students of Egyptology here: http://asegyptology.com/