subject: Coffin And Mummy-case Of Nespernnub [print this page] Nespernnub was a priest in the temple of Khonsu at Karnak in about 800BC. He held a variety of title, in particular libation-pourer of Khonsu and opener of the door of heaven in karnak. The latter doors were those of the shrine which contained the divine image. which were opened so that the daily rituals could be carried out for the deity.
In addition to the inscriptions on his coffin and mummy case, a graffito in the temple of Khonsu belonging to his son gives a date in the reign of king Takelot III of the Twenty-third Dynasty and a genealogy for his family. The location of Nespernnubs tomb is unknown, but many priests in the Third Intermediate period reused older tombs from the New Kingdom in western Thebes for family burials. They either reused older shaft or cut small new ones, sometimes making minor changes to the internal arrangement of the New kingdom chapel in the process. Nespernnubs mummy was enclosed in a close-fitting mummy- case of cartonnage ( molded linen and plaster) .
This was then placed in a wooden coffin. The mummy case is brightly painted with figures and symbols of gods who would protect his body. An Apis bull is painted on the underside of the foot-case. Latter coffins show this bull carrying the mummy of dead person on its back.
The mummy has been studied with CAT scans. With the aid of high-powered computers,1.800 sectional scans or slices through the body have been transformed into an interactive three-dimensional image of the mummy, so that it is possible to study it non-invasively, without damaging it. The carefully-made case and mummy can thus be kept intact for further investigations as techniques develop and improve. Nespernnub died at about the age of 40. he appears to have suffered from a disease which affected his skull, shown by the presence of one or more small holes in the bone, and this might have contributed to his death.
Some amulets and rings are visible on his body, and artificial eyes were placed in his eye-sockets. A pair of leather straps, as painted on the coffin of Denytenamun (see EA6660- pages252-3), with their Osirian symbolism, were placed on his body. An intriguing dark shape was observed in the 1960s X-rays of his head: the CAT scans revealed that it is a pottery dish, attached to the head. This is most unusual, and the most likely explanation seems to be that it contained resin or similar material, and was left there, and perhaps forgotten for a while, by the embalmers. When they attempted to remove it, it had become stuck fast to Nespernnubs head, so they simply left it and wrapped it along with the body. Carelessness in embalming was not uncommon, and there are mummies from the roman period with the wrong number of limbs, and even one of a child which on examination was shown to contain a cat.
Third intermediate period Twenty third dynasty 800bc
Almost certainly from Thebes Acquired in 1899
Coffin: painted wood , length: 192cm
Mummy-case: painted cartonnage , length: 173cm
EA 30720
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