The Egyptian Mummy in UK Museums: Cultural Histories and Object
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Technè La science au service de l’histoire de l’art et de la préservation des biens culturels 44 | 2016 Archives de l’humanité : les restes humains patrimonialisés The Egyptian mummy in UK museums: cultural histories and object biographies Les momies égyptiennes dans les musées anglais : histoire culturelle et « biographie d’objets » Angela Stienne Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/techne/993 DOI: 10.4000/techne.993 ISSN: 2534-5168 Publisher C2RMF Printed version Date of publication: 1 November 2016 Number of pages: 40-44 ISBN: 978-2-7118-6339-6 ISSN: 1254-7867 Electronic reference Angela Stienne, « The Egyptian mummy in UK museums: cultural histories and object biographies », Technè [Online], 44 | 2016, Online since 19 December 2019, connection on 23 July 2020. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/techne/993 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/techne.993 La revue Technè. La science au service de l’histoire de l’art et de la préservation des biens culturels est mise à disposition selon les termes de la Licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International. Archives de l’humanité – Les restes humains patrimonialisés TECHNÈ n° 44, 2016 Fig. 1. The mummy of Asru at the Manchester Museum. © Courtesy of Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester. Techne_44-3-2.indd 40 07/12/2016 09:32 TECHNÈ n° 44, 2016 Archives de l’humanité – Les restes humains patrimonialisés Angela Stienne The Egyptian mummy in UK museums: cultural histories and object biographies Les momies égyptiennes dans les musées anglais : histoire culturelle et « biographie d’objets » Abstract. Egyptian mummies are at the centre of attention of most Résumé. Les momies occupent une place centrale dans la plupart Egyptology collections. Their dual nature as bodies (human des collections d’égyptologie. Leur double nature de corps (restes 41 remains) and artefacts make them peculiar museum objects and, humains) et d’œuvres en fait des objets à part, laissés à l’écart consequently, they have been left out of the debate concerning the du débat sur la collection, la détention et l’exposition de restes collection, retention and display of human remains. This paper humains. Cet article relance la réfl exion sur l’exposition aims to reinvigorate the debate over the display of Egyptian des momies égyptiennes dans les musées autour de trois thèmes : mummies in museums by addressing three points: the ‘object habits’ le rapport à l’objet qui a conduit à constituer des collections of collectors which led to the building up of mummy collections, de momies, la spécifi cité des momies et sa prise en compte par the specifi city of mummies and how it has been addressed by UK les instances muséales anglaises et, enfi n, les nouveaux modes museum authorities, and fi nally, the new modes of display, de présentation. Les biographies d’objets contribuent making a case for a better understanding of human remains à une meilleure appréhension des collections de restes humains. collections through the use of object biographies. Mots-clés. Restes humains, collections de musées, momies Keywords. Human remains, museum collections, Egyptian égyptiennes, biographie d’objets, histoire culturelle. mummies, object biography, cultural history. At the turn of the 21st century, the collection, retention and space, and what are the variables involved in changing attitudes display of human remains in museums have become matters towards these objects? Examining permanent and temporary of serious contention. Human remains have generated emo- displays in the UK, this paper seeks to open up a debate tionally-charged reactions and been the subject of sensitive concerning the study and display of Egyptian human remains. repatriation claims. These lead to the question: how and why did these artefacts enter museum collections and do they still have a role in contemporary museum practice? Numerous Museum artefacts and medical corpses: publications in the United Kingdom have appeared address- the collecting of mummies ing precisely these issues1. However, there is as yet little consensus amongst historians, The extensive and diverse history of the mummy’s entry into contemporary practitioners and institutions as to the appro- European culture and its subsequent admission into scientifi c priate response to these concerns. The place of Egyptian Egyptology has meant that many of the reasons mummies mummies in museums, for example, has never been systemati- were collected have been lost or forgotten. The cultural his- cally examined, and more often than not, the public under- tories behind the building up of private and public collections standing of Egyptian mummies remains connected to images of Egyptian human remains, which have been dismissed as from popular culture. As Dr John Taylor, Assistant Keeper in accidental and with little incidence on both the reception of charge of funerary collections at the British Museum’s the mummy and the display of Egyptian human remains, Department of Egypt and the Sudan has pointed out, “while illustrate how the identity of Egyptian mummies was constantly they have had a major impact on the public perception about evolving as the mummy entered different contexts. The British Ancient Egypt, the mummies as a whole have not been con- Museum’s mummy collection, the largest outside of Egypt, sistently studied2.” was begun by its founding donor, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), An examination of the cultural histories and object biog- who collected at least three Egyptian mummies. It was, how- raphies of Egyptian human remains raises the questions: how ever, the donation of another collector, Colonel Lethieullier, is the identity of the Egyptian mummy framed in the museum a former member of the short-lived Egyptian Society in Collecter, valoriser, exposer Angela Stienne, doctorante, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester ([email protected]). II. II. Techne_44-3-2.indd 41 07/12/2016 09:32 Archives de l’humanité – Les restes humains patrimonialisés TECHNÈ n° 44, 2016 London, which attracted public attention on the opening of the dead in the United Kingdom (2013), which addressed the the museum on 15 January 1759. Thus, the origin of the ethical and practical issues faced by museums. On the matter British Museum collections lies in contemporary sociocultural of display, Woodhead stated that, “regardless of age, display practices that predate the museum. On entering the museum, must be mindful of the legal requirement that they must not however, with greater exposure to the public and evolving outrage public decency”, with ‘outrage’ being defi ned as institutional practices, the mummy was bound to change. A something “disgusting and offensive” to the public, variables further change would take place a century later when most that are subjective and dependent on cultural background other human remains were moved to the new British Museum and personal feelings. Woodhead pointed out that skeletons (Natural History), ensuring that the Egyptian mummies at from archaeological excavations as well as mummies are the British Museum would be perceived as archaeological, “unlikely to outrage public decency”, a statement that dem- rather than biological, remains. onstrates that mummies are nowadays distinguished from This biological aspect was developed to a high degree in other more recent or sensitive categories of human remains5. the eighteenth century when the identity of the mummy as a The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) corpse was fostered by authoritative fi gures in the medical Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums provides 42 sciences. The fi rst published account of a dissection of an advice on the reasons and circumstances for public exhibi- Egyptian mummy by John Hadley (1731-1764) was based on tions, while the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) a procedure conducted by John Hunter (1728-1793) at the Code of Ethics ‘4.3 Exhibition of Sensitive Material’ suggests Royal Society of London in 17633. The mummy’s foot from that human remains should be “presented with great tact and this dissection survives at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal respect for the feelings of human dignity6.” The Museum College of Surgeons in London. Less than thirty years later, Association’s own Code of Ethics (2015) observes the sensitivity in 1791, it was questions of race and human origins that encour- of visitors and advises on sign-posting human remains aged Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) to dissect displays7. mummies. The mummy’s identity was changing according to Despite these attempts to provide a secure professional society’s questions not simply about Egypt but about itself and position on working with human remains, much depends its culture. Later, highly theatrical unrolling sessions staged upon the professionalism and sensitivity of staff. However, of by Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823), Augustus Bozzi particular interest here are the implications for Egyptian Granville (1783-1872) and Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (1791- mummies which, while they are clearly not being amongst 1865) would again reposition the mummy in society as an the most politically sensitive of human remains, nevertheless object of mystery and performance. Denigrated as evidence risk being drawn into the same ethical debate. This distinc- of mummymania, these rich cultural contexts have often been tion, which has received little attention, can be verifi ed by omitted from histories of eighteenth and nineteenth century visitor studies that have concluded that displays of mummies engagement with Egyptian mummies. However, it is evident in the UK are generally accepted, if not expected, by the visit- that the practice of revealing bodies through dissection and ing public8. As a result, few museums have re-examined their unwrapping contributed directly to contemporary understand- holding of mummy collections. The Manchester Museum ings of Ancient Egypt4. initiated a review of its display of Egyptian mummies in 2008. A modifi ed display was conceived with the prospect of rede- fi ning the idea of respect, not only toward the visitor, but also Displaying human remains in UK museums: toward the deceased.