Mummy Stories

What is your story of encounter with human remains?

Your Mummy Stories is the heart of the Mummy Stories community. It is a platform for anyone to share their stories of encounter with human remains, in and out of the museum. Want to write your own story? Everyone welcome!

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Guest blog: The Case of Irtyersenu, Lady of the House

Irtyersenu, the mummy of a c. 600 BC Egyptian woman, has long been a subject of interest in the academic community, from her original...

A mummy story from Liverpool

“There is no better place to learn about ancient Egypt.”[1] This is the bold claim made by the Liverpool World Museum on account of their...

Displaying the remains of soldiers in museums

The Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia displayed until recently the skull of an ANZAC soldier who died in 1917....

Faces of our ancestors, Edinburgh, Scotland

St Giles Cathedral in Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh was founded in 1124 and became a focal point of the Scottish Reformation in...

Guest blog: Are human remains in ethically safe hands?

This guest blog by Claudia von der Borch questions the conditions of Article 4.3 of the ICOM code of Ethics on human remains in museums.

Human remains in Russia

Several years ago, when reading the documents of the Apothecary Chancery, early modern Russia’s official medical department, I came...

Thinking of the mummies as people

When I first walked into the mummies’ room at New Walk Museum in Leicester, I did not immediately realise the peculiarity of what I was...

Mummies at the National Museum of Mongolia

My first encounter with the ‘Adidas Mummy’ was a Facebook post. It linked to an article from the Siberian Times, and I was excited...

Disposing of the senses

It was the smell that made me pause in our busy schedule and savour the moment. For the sweet spicy scent was gently emanating from the...

Collecting, displaying, returning skulls in museum collections

In February 2019, the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) hosted a one-day conference on the management of human remains from colonial...

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