The collection of mummy bandages with the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead in Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala University
Museum Gustavianum (formerly Victoria museum) at Uppsala University holds a comprehensive collection of mummy bandages inscribed with texts and vignettes from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. It can be dated from the Ptolemaic period or slightly earlier (ca 400-100 B.C.) and comprises ca 250 specimens of various forms, types and size. The collection was purchased by Karl Piehl, professor of Egyptology, in the 1890ies, but remained untouched until his former student, Ernst Akmar Andersson, four decades later made a preliminary inventory. His publication, Les bandelettes de momie du Musée Victoria de Upsala (1932-9), remains a standard work in any study dealing with this object type.
The circumstance that the work of Akmar continues to attract a great deal of interest shows the need of a new comprehensive edition of the material that also answers to the demands of contemporary research. The present monograph provides a complete inventory and description of the entire collection, with a detailed publication of 22 individual sets containing in all 105 mummy bandages. Here is given information on owners, dating criteria, origin, identifications of the texts, hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic handwriting and phonetic transliteration with text critical apparatus, as well as a paleographical table. This work will be an important contribution to research within this field and finally offer a proper publication of one of the largest collections in the world.
The circumstance that the work of Akmar continues to attract a great deal of interest shows the need of a new comprehensive edition of the material that also answers to the demands of contemporary research. The present monograph provides a complete inventory and description of the entire collection, with a detailed publication of 22 individual sets containing in all 105 mummy bandages. Here is given information on owners, dating criteria, origin, identifications of the texts, hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic handwriting and phonetic transliteration with text critical apparatus, as well as a paleographical table. This work will be an important contribution to research within this field and finally offer a proper publication of one of the largest collections in the world.
Final report
During 2022/23, the applicant was granted a one-year sabbatical by the Riksbank’s Anniversary Fund (RJ) (SAB21-0070). The explicit aim of the project was to finish a previously started inventory and publication of 105 mummy bandages, inscribed with the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead and mainly dating to the Ptolemaic period. This material forms a part of a collection of ca 250 bandages, purchased in Egypt in the 1890ies by prof. Karl Piehl and later donated by him to the Museum Gustavianum. Despite a growing interest in the object type over the last two decades, the material had still not been properly studied and published.
In accordance with the project described in the application, the work resulted in a thorough inventory of the entire Uppsala collection (250 pieces), a revision of the inventory number system for the sake of consistency and clarity, as well as the full publication of 105 fragments, originating from 15 individual sets of bandages. High-resolution photographs of each piece were provided together with detailed information on 1. measures (length and height), 2. material (thread density pro cm2), 3. measurements of texts, vignettes and columns, 4. name and title of the owner and his mother (the latter affiliation normally included), 5. provenance and date (when possible), 6. typology, 7. identification of Book of the Dead spells (in some cases alternative texts) and vignettes, 8. hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic, 9. text critical commentary. A paleographical table of the hieratic writing, involving all 15 sources, is under preparation.
Each of the 105 bandages has been given a separate post with a high-resolution photograph and detailed description on Alvin (Platform for digital collections and digitized cultural heritage, Uppsala University). This means that any interested researcher or lay person easily can locate it on the platform by searching either on the inventory number, particular spell numbers, or the name of the owner and his/her mother. The hand-written text on the textile is crystal clear for any person interested in the original script.
For those interested in the full publication, including a transcription of the hieratic hand-written signs into hieroglyphics (using Jsesh 7.5.5.) together with text-critical remarks, it is likewise found open access on Alvin: Dressed for Eternity. Mummy Bandages with the Book of the Dead in the Uppsala University Collection. Vol. 1 (2023) (300 pp.). The text-critical commentary has been structured in accordance with standard methodology, where a comparison made with a number of parallel texts dating from different time periods, all considered tokened by a meticulous scribe, makes it possible to notify scribal variants in terms of additions or omissions, duplications, secondary additions, errors, or other personal scribal traits. Alternative texts/additions are transliterated and translated when needed. This first publication volume will also appear in print in the series Boreas at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University (accepted by the editor in chief, prof. Gunnel Ekroth, Uppsala).
The information provided in the publication makes it possible to study the mummy bandages from a variety of perspectives. Some researchers are mainly interested in prosopography, i.e. the identity of the individuals documented in the material. Due to the circumstance that most of the material can be traced from different areas of the country (northern Memphite or southern Theban region), there is always a possibility that the same person might be found in parallel sources. Another area is paleography, studying the hieratic script itself and its realization by the different ducti (scribal hands). Since the Uppsala material originates from a large number of different sets of bandages, i.e. prepared for different individuals, there is a great degree of variation in the way certain signs, going back on the same hieroglyph, can be written. The general community of Egyptology experiences a notable increase in the interest in these matters, not least reflected in the long-running project AKU (Altägyptische Kurzivschriften) at the Johannes Gutenberg university in Mainz, Germany. The different characteristics of the scribes might provide valuable insights into different contemporary workshops as well as new dating criteria.
Another major field of research is the transformation of ancient Egyptian funerary religion in the Ptolemaic period. The writing of the Book of the Dead on mummy bandages was an innovation at the end of the dynastic period (ca 400 BC), reflecting pervasive changes in the material culture during a time tokened by increased foreign influence and Hellenization. In this perspective, it is highly informative to see how the redactors of the different sets of bandages evaluated and adapted the age-old material for a new context. New vignettes could be included, the traditional spells be omitted or changed. Consequently, in the publication, full information and references are provided to other identified bandage fragments originally belonging to the same assembly, i.e. person.
The work during the sabbatical year could be accomplished mainly on site at the collections of the Uppsala University Museum, where the bandages are stored. A one-month work at the Egyptological research library in Leipzig, Germany, in April-May 2023 turned out to be invaluable for the project. This stay also involved a number of creative consultations with prof. Holger Kockelmann, an acknowledged world leading expert of this type of material. The contact with prof. Kockelmann and other experts among the staff at the Leipzig department will be utmost important in the future work on the second and final volume of the Uppsala mummy bandages. The results of this project have also been personally communicated to the scientific director of the AKU project in Mainz, prof. Ursula Verhoeven.
The results of the project were presented in August 2023 at the 13th International Congress of Egyptologist at Leiden, Netherlands, and will be published in the coming proceedings.
In accordance with the project described in the application, the work resulted in a thorough inventory of the entire Uppsala collection (250 pieces), a revision of the inventory number system for the sake of consistency and clarity, as well as the full publication of 105 fragments, originating from 15 individual sets of bandages. High-resolution photographs of each piece were provided together with detailed information on 1. measures (length and height), 2. material (thread density pro cm2), 3. measurements of texts, vignettes and columns, 4. name and title of the owner and his mother (the latter affiliation normally included), 5. provenance and date (when possible), 6. typology, 7. identification of Book of the Dead spells (in some cases alternative texts) and vignettes, 8. hieroglyphic transcription of the hieratic, 9. text critical commentary. A paleographical table of the hieratic writing, involving all 15 sources, is under preparation.
Each of the 105 bandages has been given a separate post with a high-resolution photograph and detailed description on Alvin (Platform for digital collections and digitized cultural heritage, Uppsala University). This means that any interested researcher or lay person easily can locate it on the platform by searching either on the inventory number, particular spell numbers, or the name of the owner and his/her mother. The hand-written text on the textile is crystal clear for any person interested in the original script.
For those interested in the full publication, including a transcription of the hieratic hand-written signs into hieroglyphics (using Jsesh 7.5.5.) together with text-critical remarks, it is likewise found open access on Alvin: Dressed for Eternity. Mummy Bandages with the Book of the Dead in the Uppsala University Collection. Vol. 1 (2023) (300 pp.). The text-critical commentary has been structured in accordance with standard methodology, where a comparison made with a number of parallel texts dating from different time periods, all considered tokened by a meticulous scribe, makes it possible to notify scribal variants in terms of additions or omissions, duplications, secondary additions, errors, or other personal scribal traits. Alternative texts/additions are transliterated and translated when needed. This first publication volume will also appear in print in the series Boreas at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University (accepted by the editor in chief, prof. Gunnel Ekroth, Uppsala).
The information provided in the publication makes it possible to study the mummy bandages from a variety of perspectives. Some researchers are mainly interested in prosopography, i.e. the identity of the individuals documented in the material. Due to the circumstance that most of the material can be traced from different areas of the country (northern Memphite or southern Theban region), there is always a possibility that the same person might be found in parallel sources. Another area is paleography, studying the hieratic script itself and its realization by the different ducti (scribal hands). Since the Uppsala material originates from a large number of different sets of bandages, i.e. prepared for different individuals, there is a great degree of variation in the way certain signs, going back on the same hieroglyph, can be written. The general community of Egyptology experiences a notable increase in the interest in these matters, not least reflected in the long-running project AKU (Altägyptische Kurzivschriften) at the Johannes Gutenberg university in Mainz, Germany. The different characteristics of the scribes might provide valuable insights into different contemporary workshops as well as new dating criteria.
Another major field of research is the transformation of ancient Egyptian funerary religion in the Ptolemaic period. The writing of the Book of the Dead on mummy bandages was an innovation at the end of the dynastic period (ca 400 BC), reflecting pervasive changes in the material culture during a time tokened by increased foreign influence and Hellenization. In this perspective, it is highly informative to see how the redactors of the different sets of bandages evaluated and adapted the age-old material for a new context. New vignettes could be included, the traditional spells be omitted or changed. Consequently, in the publication, full information and references are provided to other identified bandage fragments originally belonging to the same assembly, i.e. person.
The work during the sabbatical year could be accomplished mainly on site at the collections of the Uppsala University Museum, where the bandages are stored. A one-month work at the Egyptological research library in Leipzig, Germany, in April-May 2023 turned out to be invaluable for the project. This stay also involved a number of creative consultations with prof. Holger Kockelmann, an acknowledged world leading expert of this type of material. The contact with prof. Kockelmann and other experts among the staff at the Leipzig department will be utmost important in the future work on the second and final volume of the Uppsala mummy bandages. The results of this project have also been personally communicated to the scientific director of the AKU project in Mainz, prof. Ursula Verhoeven.
The results of the project were presented in August 2023 at the 13th International Congress of Egyptologist at Leiden, Netherlands, and will be published in the coming proceedings.