The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle
Page 24
But I wanted my characters to visit the famous and beautiful Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor. And the hotel was, sadly, not built until 1886. So I have taken a liberty there.
The event where royal mummies were raised from an underground cache and taken by river to Cairo, causing an outbreak of grief and mourning among the local fellahin, did actually occur. But not until 1891. So, another liberty.
And one more. Convict transport to Australia ceased in 1868. So the Ravens couldn’t have been transported, however great their crimes. But I liked the idea!
However, the mummy unwrapping parties I describe were very real. In the late 1800s, mummies were readily available in salesrooms and auctions in England, and unwrappings did happen. I’ve seen an invitation to one:
One person who performed such unwrappings was Thomas Pettigrew, Professor of Anatomy at Charing Cross Hospital. He did this to learn about the methods of mummification used by the ancient Egyptians, and about ancient diseases and medicine. But he also sold tickets to his mummy dissections, to scientists and to members of the general public. In the 1850s these were social events, fashionable places to see and be seen.
Later, in the early 1900s, similar demonstrations were performed by a woman, Margaret Murray, an Egyptologist who had studied at University College, London. When she unwrapped the mummy of Khnum-Nakht, a Middle Kingdom official, to an audience of students, scholars and the general public, it was the first mummy unwrapping led by a woman.
The leisurely journeys up the Nile by travellers in the 1800s were also real, and a highly fashionable thing to do. To research these, I used the diaries of two intrepid women who travelled to Egypt in the winter of 1873 – 74: Amelia Edwards, A Thousand Miles up the Nile: a woman’s journey among the treasures of Ancient Egypt and Marianne Brocklehurst, Miss Brocklehurst on the Nile: diary of a Victorian traveller in Egypt.
Both Amelia Edwards and Marianne Brocklehurst collected antiquities on their travels. Amelia Edwards was unfortunate enough to have most of hers confiscated on her way out of Egypt. Miss Brocklehurst, however, managed to smuggle out a 22nd Dynasty mummy case of a temple singer named Shebmut, and brought it back to England. It can still be seen today in the West Park Museum in Macclesfield, in the north of England.
Marianne Brocklehurst returned to Egypt in later years, and in 1890 – 91 she was present when the royal mummies from the secret cache near Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahari were raised and taken by boat to Cairo. Miss Brocklehurst, who was an accomplished artist, painted two watercolour sketches while this was taking place. They are believed to be the only eyewitness records of the event.
Hattie was right when she predicted that, one day, mummies might be able to be studied without unwrapping, and thereby destroying, them. Today, sophisticated imaging techniques have almost eliminated the necessity of removing the mummies’ wrappings.
Scientists use CT-scanning techniques to study bandages, skin, muscles, skeletons and internal organs, as well as objects (such as amulets) placed inside the wrappings on mummies. They can also discover some health issues that the mummified person may have had, their age when they died, and the mummification process that was used on them.
At the end of the story, Hattie and Professor Helman discuss whether keeping mummies in museums, on public display, is the right thing to do. This issue has become a controversial one, and some museums, both in Australia and overseas, have taken human remains off display, or restricted the ways in which they can be viewed. In some cases, the remains have been returned to their places of origin. Other museums have continued to display human remains. There are arguments for and against both courses of action.
Groups such as Native Americans, Indigenous Australians and British pagan groups, including druids, believe that human remains currently in museums should be returned to their original communities. Some of these groups feel that when their ancestors’ remains are removed from their communities, their tribe is torn apart. Since 1996, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australian governments have worked together to return indigenous remains to Australia and New Zealand.
Another question is, what would the dead themselves have wanted? Would they have agreed for their remains to be on display? It’s hard to say. However, the ancient Egyptians, for example, took the issue of their wellbeing after death very seriously. Some people think that being removed from their tombs and put on display would not have been what the Egyptians wanted.
Archaeologists and scientists have other views. Some study human remains to better understand the people of the past: their causes of death, diet, diseases, and the environment they lived in. In some cases, they say, studying historic bones and remains has helped to prevent outbreaks of disease today, and to discover cures.
Tomb robbing didn’t only take place in the past. It continues today – for example, Etruscan tombs in Italy are regularly robbed. Tomb robbers are not interested in preserving the past. If tombs are not able to be left undisturbed, it is argued that human remains are treated with more respect in museums, and greater knowledge of the past can be discovered.
Some archaeologists believe it is their job, and their duty, to help us understand the past. Exhibitions create face-to-face encounters with history. They tell the stories of people of the past and contribute to a greater understanding of where we, as humans, come from. They also believe that, for young people, visiting museums and special exhibitions can inspire an interest in science and history. A lifelong fascination can be ignited by an intriguing museum display. A career may be generated.
Archaeologists and scientists point out that there are ethical and moral guidelines for dealing with human remains in museums. The 2005 document in the United Kingdom, Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums, gives suggestions and information for the respectful handling and display of human remains. Finally, they point out that a recent survey undertaken in Britain for English Heritage, on the public’s opinion of displaying human remains in museums, found that more than 50 per cent of people surveyed were in favour of museum displays that contained human remains (from any period of history). A further 27 per cent supported such displays if the remains were more than one hundred years old. Only 9 per cent of people surveyed were totally opposed to museum displays containing human remains.
So – should human remains be displayed in museums? What do you think?
The ancient Egyptians didn’t only want to live on in the afterlife, they wanted to be remembered in this life, too. So, written on their mummy cases, you will often find the words Say my name. Remember me. If you happen to be visiting a museum and you see an Egyptian mummy, his or her name will often be printed on the information card in the display. You can do something for that person who lived so long ago. Just say their name. Say “Hi, Horemheb”, or “Hi, Nefer”, or whatever their name might be. You’ll be making an ancient Egyptian very happy – because that’s what they wanted. To be remembered. To have someone say their name.
Ancient Egypt was a civilisation that lasted for a very long time, from around 3100 BC to 395 AD. Well over three thousand years. The period was divided into three main Kingdoms (Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom), with periods of instability in between, a prehistoric period before and Greek and Roman rule after. This timeline might make things a bit clearer!
Brocklehurst, Marianne, Miss Brocklehurst on the Nile, Millrace, Cheshire, 2004
Edwards, Amelia, A Thousand Miles up the Nile, Trotamundas Press Pty Ltd, Coventry, 2008
Taylor, John H & Antoine, David, Ancient Lives New Discoveries, The British Museum Press, London, 2014
Many thanks to:
Society of Women Writers NSW for providing the Di Yerbury Residency 2016 writer’s residency which enabled me to spend a month in England researching this novel.
The British Museum.
The Petrie Museum, University College London.
My agent, Pippa Masson, and all at Curtis Brown.
All at Walker Books Australia.
My first draft guinea pigs, Allison, Lyn and Peter.
Allison for first saying the magic words “Mummy Unwrapping Parties” that started the whole thing off.
And of course, my family. Without whose support and encouragement this book would (as always) have been written in half the time.
First published in 2020
by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd
Locked Bag 22, Newtown
NSW 2042 Australia
www.walkerbooks.com.au
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.
Text © 2020 Pamela Rushby
Illustrations © 2020 Nellé May Pierce
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The illustrations for this book were created digitally