Mummy, Baboon
date: label: Accession Date
content: 22 Jan 1992
label: Collection Date
content: 1959
name: label: Collector
content: Unknown
label: Donor Name
content: E F. Brylawski
notes: label: Notes
content: IN THE FORM OF A SEATED BABOON. PROBABLY FROM THE HELLENISTIC-ROMAN PERIOD AND OF THE TYPE PRESENTED AT CEREMONIES HONORING A GOD. THE BABOON SYMBOLIZED THE GOD OF WISDOM, THOTH. (THIS INFORMATION PROVIDED BT DR. GUS VAN BEEK, CURATOR OF OLD WORLD ARCHEOLOGY, NMNH, 1992). X-RAYS TAKEN IN 1992 BY DAVID HUNT, MUSEUM SPECIALIST IN PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, NMNH, SHOWED NO EVIDENCE OF SKELETAL MATERIAL. SURFACE BADLY ERODED ON LOWER PORTION.
label: Notes
content: From NMNH Exhibit Hall "Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt" label for this artifact, 2011: Baboon-shaped mummy, 332-30 B.C. This mummy looks like a baboon, but the CT scan shows only linen scraps and a wooden stick inside. Baboons went extinct in Egypt well before the fifth century BC, and Egyptians imported them from Nubia and other southern countries - something only the wealthy could afford. Baboon offerings honored Thoth.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 1 Apr 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Egypt, Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Egyptian, Late Period, Dynasty XXVI (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 390890
label: USNM Number
content: A542222-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Animal Mummy
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 31.5 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 24.5 cm