While most museums contain one or two examples of animal mummies, the Museo Egizio in Turin has one of the largest collections of these artefacts. Unlike other collections, many were excavated and their provenance well-documented. This lecture will present the Museo’s new initiative that is documenting and studying this collection of animal mummies, using state-of-the-art technologies as well as traditional techniques, and some of the information that has been derived from these studies.
Prof. Salima Ikram is Distinguished Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo and Extraordinary Professor at Stellenbosch University. She has worked as an archaeologist in Egypt since 1986. She has co-directed the Predynastic Gallery project and the North Kharga Oasis Survey, and has directed the Animal Mummy Project, the North Kharga Oasis Darb Ain Amur Survey, which focuses on rock art, and the Amenmesse Mission of KV10 and KV63 in the Valley of the Kings. She has also worked in Egypt, Sudan, and Turkey as an archaeozoologist and archaeologist. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Ikram has published extensively in both scholarly and popular venues (for adults and children) on diverse subject matters, ranging from traditional Egyptological subjects to zooarchaeological topics. Currently her research focuses on the changing climate of Egypt as reflected in the fauna, relying on evidence derived from pictorial, textual, archaezoological, and climatalogical evidence; changing food sources and eating habits; rock art; and funerary customs. "
