The Egyptian embalmers were masters of their art. The trial and error method they employed for 2000 years resulted in a scientific discipline for preserving bodies (Mokhtar et al. 1973). These embalming techniques required long hours of toil, expensive medicants, and fine linen wrappings. The costs were necessarily high. Because the majority of people who were mummified in the early dynasties were royalty or the rich and influential of the time, cost had little importance. As the poorer segments of the populace were allowed the privilege of mummification, these costs became prohibitive. For this and possibly other reasons, modifications were made in the classical mummification process, most being aimed at reducing the cost. The external form and appearance of the mummy remained the same but the fact is that mummification for the poor became less a preservative and more a symbolic exercise. Two examples of a common alternative method are presented: mummification with evisceration per ano. Both mummies were provided by David O'Connor, Department of Egyptology, Pennsylvania University Museum. Neither had known provenance or coffin. The first, designated PUM III, was an adult female; the second, a male child called PUMIV. They will be described separately.

PUM III

Radiography

Before the unwrapping, the mummy was examined radiographically (Kristen and Reyman 1980). The body arrived with the head unwrapped and separated from the body at the level of the fifth cervical vertebra, probably occurring postmortem. There was a healed fracture of the left second rib. Harris lines were present in the distal femora. The chest cavity revealed central densities suggesting the heart and lungs. The diaphragm clearly separated the thorax and abdominal cavities. A right upper abdominal mass appeared to be the liver. The remainder of the abdominal cavity contained irregular, speckled opacities. In the pelvis, a double shadow centrally suggested the urinary bladder with an air contrast lumen and the uterine body behind it. There were numerous air contrast lines in the thigh muscle, suggesting fissuring.