Takabuti’s Teeth - Dr Roger Forshaw
Channel: Takabuti Seminar
Date: 11/05/2021

The mummy of Takabuti is one of the best-known antiquities in the Ulster Museum, Belfast. Takabuti was a young woman who lived in Egypt during a tumultuous period, around 600 BC. Her mummy was unwrapped and investigated in Belfast in 1835. The results of the Takabuti Project (2007-2009 and 2018-2020) have culminated in the publication of a new book – The Life and Times of Takabuti in Ancient Egypt: Investigating the Belfast Mummy (available from Liverpool University Press - https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/54509/)
The project has demonstrated how researchers act as ‘forensic detectives’ piecing together a picture of the life and times of Takabuti. Questions addressed include – Who was Takabuti? When did she live? Where did she come from and where did she reside? What did she eat, and did she suffer from any diseases? Did she suffer a violent death, and how was she mummified and prepared for burial?
This video was part of a one-day online seminar to launch the book and bring the project to the public.

Dr Roger Forshaw was a dental surgeon in general dental practice before taking early retirement. He went on to study Egyptology at the University of Exeter and then at The University of Manchester where he obtained an MSc in Biomedical Egyptology and a PhD in Egyptology. Roger is at present an Honorary Lecturer in Biomedical Egyptology at Manchester and is involved with the new MSc online course in Biomedical Egyptology. His research interests include dental anthropology and dental care in the ancient world, healing practices in ancient Egypt, and a study of the Saite Period in ancient Egypt. His publications include The Role of the Lector in Ancient Egyptian Society (2014; Archaeopress) and a number of academic papers on healing practices, dental care and dental health in ancient Egypt. His latest book Egypt of the Saite Pharaohs, 664-525 BC was published by Manchester University Press in 2019.