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From: owner-taxacom
To: Multiple recipients of list TAXACOM
Subject: Drying wet mummy
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 1995 7:25PM

Fellow Taxacomers,
     This is not a systematics discussion, but a request for help on how
to dry an Egyptian mummy.  Since most of you have experience with
preserved collections or know museum specialists in your institutions, I
direct this request to you.
     At the National Museum in Brazil one of the galeries suffered a flood
due to restoration work being carried out at the roof.  As a result an
adult human male Egyptian mummy of about 3000 years became wet.  We would
appreciate any help on how to dry the specimen with minimal damage.  The
mummy is from the Intermediary (or Late) Period and probably belongs to a
sarcophagus which has been dated from the 21st dinasty.
     Any help will be appreciated, specially from those of you with
contacts in the British Museum, the Smithsonian, or perhaps even the Cairo
Museum.  Was Elaine Hoagland (from ASC) who once presented a talk on
collection care, which included information on several floods suffered
by North American Museums (e.g. the U.of Texas big Museum flood which
affected
their mammal collection)?  Anybody with first hand experience in this kind
of
problem?

Paulo A. Buckup
Dept. de Vertebrados
Museu Nacional
Quinta da Boa Vista
20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ
BRAZIL
e-mail: [log in to unmask]